BY DON OKEREKE, SECURITY ANALYST AND CONSULTANT

At the risk of making sweeping statements, many Nigerians will agree that the healthcare system in Nigeria is moribund, not fit for purpose and tantamount to events in the Animal Farm narrative. Scores of Nigerians die incessantly from preventable, treatable diseases while political leaders and affluent Nigerians embark on ‘’medical tourism’’ to treat mundane health challenges that can be treated in Nigeria. It is safe to conclude that these well-off Nigerians have no iota of confidence in Nigeria’s healthcare system and medical professionals. The quest for greener pastures and improved wellbeing is the reason scores of Nigerian are traded as slaves in Libya. It accounts for why 26 Nigerian girls perished in the Mediterranean Sea en route Europe recently. It is profoundly hypocritical hearing privileged Nigerians in corridors of power press Nigerians in abroad to return to home whereas they journey abroad for quality medical treatment.

_{PART FOUR}

_{BUHARISM AND THE FIERCE URGENCY OF NOW}

_{“It is now common knowledge that whenever Mallam Muhammadu Buhari holds sway at our national arena, he is usually brushed aside by more powerful and more intelligent people…”}

_{PART THREE}

_{SERIES: BUHARISM AND THE FIERCE URGENCY OF NOW}

_{“Institutions are the weakest, where there is no country such as is currently the case with the lower and upper Niger – known simply in the pre-amalgamation era (before 1914) as THE NIGER AREA.”}

BY DON OKEREKE, SECURITY ANALYST/CONSULTANT

Drivers of Instability, Agitations in Nigeria

Newton’s third law of motion says ‘’for every action, there’s an equal and opposite reaction’’. A groundbreaking study by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) titled, ‘’Journey to Extremism in Africa: Drivers, Incentives and the Tipping Point for Recruitment’’, published September 2017 reveals that ‘’Marginalization, perceived abuse of power is pushing Africa’s youth to violent extremism’’. Due to space and time constraint, I may not be able to fully expatiate how Buhari’s parochialism, ‘’northernization policy’’, inability to manage diversity and patent marginalization of Biafrans catalyzes, escalates the Biafra agitation. Cast your mind back to President Buhari’s 97% and 5% gambit and also reconcile it with his lopsided appointments, including the recent NNPC appointments. I will write on marginalization of Ndigbo in my subsequent treatise. Similar to the patent nepotism, marginalization, injustice as some of the drivers of recurring agitations in Nigeria, is also that of unprecedented youth unemployment currently bedeviling the country, especially parts of the southeast.