A Nation of Hot Takes: How Nigeria's Insecurity Exposes Our Shallow Thinking
Every time insecurity makes the headlines, I go online, and what I see is not analysis—it is a flood of shallow thinking dressed as wisdom. Twitter threads, WhatsApp broadcasts, YouTube gurus, and even mainstream media anchors—people who should know better—are suddenly security experts.
Everyone is shouting. No one is thinking.
I have watched video after video, read comment after comment, and one thing is clear:
Many Nigerians have not taken a single moment to understand the complexity of the insecurity crisis. They just want an emotional outlet, not a solution.
The loudest argument online today is this simplistic and dangerous chorus:
"Why is the government negotiating with terrorists? Why not bomb them all? Why engage? Why dialogue? Why bring Sheik Gumi? Why talk to criminals?"
To everyone making this argument, let me ask a very simple question:
When bombs drop, do they magically separate terrorists from abducted schoolchildren?
Bombs are not surgical tools. They cannot distinguish between a bandit and a 12-year-old girl tied to a tree.
If you bomb a camp where abducted children are held, you kill the children you claim to be fighting for.
Is that the "solution" you want? Is that your grand strategy?
WHO SHOULD KNOW THE TERRAIN? THE SOLDIER OR THE LOCAL LEADER?
Another shallow argument is the idea that:
"The federal government should know where the bandits are.
They should go in. They should find them. They should strike immediately."
Really?
Let me ask you:
Who knows the forests, footpaths, farmlands, streams, and hideouts? Who lives among these communities year after year? Who mobilizes voters from those same villages? Who visits those communities during campaigns?
It is not the President. It is not soldiers. It is not the federal government. It is the local leaders.
The traditional rulers. The councillors. The local government chairmen. The state government machinery.
These are the people who know the terrain intimately.
But where are they after elections? They disappear with monthly allocations. They abandon the wards they begged for votes from.
They pocket funds meant for rural security, vigilantes, community policing, and intelligence gathering.
Then when chaos erupts, they all turn to Abuja and shout:
"The President must fix it!"
THE TRUTH NO ONE WANTS TO SAY
Before a community becomes unsafe, someone at the local level already knows. Before a camp of bandits forms, ward councillors already know. Before kidnappers settle into a forest, village heads already know. Before terrorists establish a base, traditional rulers already know. Before violence explodes, local government chairmen already know.
So I ask all the social media "experts":
Why are you not angry at the local leaders who kept silent? Why are you not asking the councillors who know the terrain what they did with that knowledge? Why are you not asking the chairmen who receive billions monthly why they did nothing? Why are you not questioning the state governors who swallow security votes like water? Why is the outrage reserved only for the federal government?
Do you think the President is a spirit? All-seeing? All-knowing?
Omnipresent? A supernatural drone who knows every valley in Zamfara and every cave in Katsina?
This is the shallow thinking I am talking about.
THE HYPOCRISY IS ASTOUNDING
Local leaders know these criminals:
They know their houses. They know their sponsors. They know their markets. They know their movement routes. They know their supply lines. They know the forests inside out.
But instead of demanding answers from those leaders, Nigerians log on to social media to shout:
"Bomb them! Bomb them! Bomb them!"
You want bombs? Fine. But tell me:
Where were your councillors when the terrorists first came? Where were your chairmen? Where were your district heads? Where were your governors? Where were the state intelligence units? Why do you leave them out of the conversation?
THIS IS WHY OUR CONVERSATIONS ARE SHALLOW
Because they are emotional, not intellectual. Reactive, not reflective. Driven by pain, not by understanding.
We make noise, but we don't ask the right questions. We attack the wrong people. We shout at the President while ignoring the people directly responsible for local safety.
The insecurity crisis did not begin in Abuja.
It began in:
villages without governance, forests abandoned by states, wards neglected by councillors, LGAs crippled by corruption, states drowning in stolen security votes, communities living without police presence.
We blame the roof when the foundation has collapsed.
A FINAL WORD TO SOCIAL MEDIA COMMENTATORS
Before you tweet, post, rant, or go on air next time, ask yourself:
Do I actually understand this issue, or am I just loud? Am I thinking, or am I performing anger? Why am I not holding local and state leaders accountable? Why do I expect the President to do a job that the councillor, chairman, and governor failed to do?
Nigeria's insecurity has exposed the failure of our institutions— but it has also exposed the failure of our thinking. It is time to think with depth. Not with noise. Because noise has never saved a nation—
and it never will.
***************************************************************************************************
Bukola A. Oyeniyi
*****************************************************************************************************
Missouri State University
College of Humanities and Public Affairs
History Department
Room 440, Strong Hall,
901 S. National Avenue
Springfield, MO 65897
Email: oyeniyib@gmail.com
***********************************************************
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue+subscribe@googlegroups.com
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to
.
.
