THE escalation of violence in Nigeria has been attributed to injustice meted out to some individuals or groups in Nigeria, according to a group discussion on human rights.
During the meeting organised by Global Rights, a civil society organisation based in the United States of America ahead of the National Mourning Day in Nigeria.
The digital conference themed Not Yet at War: A quick examination of the threshold of violence in Nigeria held on Wednesday had several human rights organisations in attendance discussing the level of violence in the country.
Chris Kwaja, United Nations Human Rights Council rapporteur said that every violence either large or small scale has an agenda behind them.
He said although not all violence are revenge-driven but most times, individuals or groups who felt injustice has been meted out to them come back as militant groups.
Kwaja said the individuals feel they do not have access to justice and since they’ve seen people get away with crime, they also can do the same.
“The way victimhood is addressed in Nigeria is the cause of the level of Violence we now have in Nigeria,” Kwaja said.
He likened violence in Nigeria to a Chinese or Indian movie when a teacher is killed and 30 years later the student comes back to hunt the killer of his teacher.
Kwaja added that violence has been democratised in Nigeria as each region has its own form of violence.
‘In the North East you have insurgency, North central you have kidnapping and Farmers-Herdsmen clashes, in the Southeast you have Independent People of Biafra (IPOB) and so on,” he said.
Cheta Nwanze, a lead partner with SBM intelligence who is one of the panelists lamented the level of military engagement with perpetrators of violence in the country.
He said the military are taking over policing from the Nigeria Police Force hence the constant news of killing of soldiers.
“Military are taking over policing and when perpetrators are having constant engagement with the military it helps them build their confidence,” Nwanze said.
He noted that ungoverned spaces are also part of reasons for escalated violence in the country.
He said in many states in Nigeria, there are concentrated development and governance as mostly governance doesnt spread beyond capital of states.
The Executive Director of Global Watch, Abiodun Baiyewu in her remarks said the country’s threshold of violence is abnormal when conpared to countries that are at war.
She faulted the government for not doing well enough to protect lives and properties which is their primary objective.
According to Baiyewu, Nigeria has been so far ruled by mafia and not leaders.
“We have been governed by mafia and not leaders, there has been a succession of mafia to mafia,” she said.
Baiyewu noted that the country has continued to lose soldiers and police officers who are supposed to protect the citizens because even the security officers are not protected.
Lukman Abolade is an Investigative reporter with The ICIR. Reach out to him via labolade@icirnigeria.org, on twitter @AboladeLAA and FB @Correction94