Prosecuting treasury looters has got to take priority over the cases of hungry warehouse looters

Ayo Akinfe

(1) All of a sudden we are hearing a lot about the need for law and order in Nigeria. Of course we all welcome that but this desire for us to be governed by the rule of law has got to be applied in a uniform manner across the board

(2) Across most states today, hunger-starved masses have been reduced to scavengers looking for warehouses to raid in search of food. Our people have been so dehumanised that they are even looting roofing tiles, toilet seats and slippers of the rich

(3) When a bag of rice costs nearly as much as the minimum wage, it is inevitable that people will be dependent on food aid to survive. These Covid-19 palliatives could mean the difference between life and death for many people, hence why our people are so desperate to lay their hands on them

(4) Most Nigerians are still desperately trying to understand why food was hoarded in warehouses while the masses starve. It just gives you an insight into how ruthless and heartless your ruling class is

(5) Now that the security forces have been mobilised to pursue looters, can this new-found enthusiasm please be extended to treasury looters too. I expect to see the EFCC go into overdrive over the next few weeks

(6) If Nigeria did not have treasury looters in the first place, we would probably not have warehouse looters today. It is the lack of visionary leaders with the capacity to grow our economy that has got us where we are today

(7) For instance, when the current government came into office in 2015, Nigeria had a gross domestic product (GDP) of about $400bn. If they had a five year plan to double that to $800bn by 2015, we would not be having all these social convulsions today. A GDP of $800bn would have allowed to cushion the effects of Covid-19

(8) One thing our elite do not appear to get is that they lack the credibility to attract the trust of the masses. This is why the #EndSARS protesters refused to take their word for it when the government said it would scrap the police unit. To regain a bit of trust and credibility, for every warehouse looter that is arrested, two treasury looters need to be prosecuted by the government

(9) Personally, I am not too optimistic. As things stand, our elite is too jittery and I can see them consolidating their position further with heavy reprisals against the masses. Given the nonchalance of the security forces when the masses invaded their homes, I can see our ruling class stepping up the funding of Janjaweed-style militia groups like Boko Haram, Macban, etc to protect them

(10) I have wracked my brain repeatedly over this and I simply do not see how next year’s protest will not be twice as fierce. When I look at the Covid-19 economic slowdown, the collapse in oil prices, Nigeria’s growing debts that require a lot of servicing and the fact that we remain a mono-economy, global petroleum prices will need to rise to about $200 a barrel for Nigeria to avoid major social convulsions in 2021. Gaining a little bit of credibility might just help the elite assuage some of the anger, so going after treasury looters would help immensely