Nigeria can overcome boko haram - Dr. Austin Tam-George

Dr. Austin Tam-George, a former lecturer at the University of Cape Town, currently the Executive Director of the Institute of Communication and Corporate Studies, Lagos, discusses with Sunday Vanguard. His PhD from the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa, was based on the Niger Delta crisis. He spoke with Jide Ajani, Editor

Boko Haram is waging a war and seizing territory in Nigeria.   How did we get into the insurgency in the North East?
Boko Haram is not just a security threat. It poses the most serious existential threat to Nigeria since 1967. To continue to underestimate this insurgency is an extremely perilous mistake. But to tackle this menace, we must understand its origins. Despite their fundamentalist rhetoric against Western education, Boko Haram ultimately has its roots in politics and poverty. 

If the politics of a country is seen as a form of warfare, then masters of violence will dominate it. This is why thugs, the military, extremist clerics, ethnic bigots, touts and militia of all stripes have dominated Nigeria  s politics since 1960.   So you could say Boko Haram is the latest child of a toxic political tradition that is at least five decades in the making.

In its current form, Boko Haram is a vicious, nimble enemy with suicide bombers and a hateful ideology. It feeds on a global narrative of terror, and has aspirations for its own caliphate. There is credible suspicion that Boko Haram receives support from local politicians in Nigeria. They probably have jihadist networks that stretch as far as Syria.   But Nigeria can defeat Boko Haram.

We need to see a decisive, ironclad determination to confront this threat from its roots to its branches.   All Nigerians must work to confront this threat, with President Jonathan acting as the tip of the spear in this fight. We cannot continue to watch in powerless perplexity as towns are razed, and hundreds of innocent men, women and children are murdered.

The President has said that the military is holding back from launching an all-out operation because it wants the abducted Chibok girls back alive.
I understand the President’s sentiment and the moral horror he faces with every hard choice he makes on this insurgency. But there is a fast-changing reality on the ground. Since the abduction of the 219 Chibok girls, more than 400 innocent people have been killed, more have been abducted, towns have been razed, and thousands of Nigerians have fled to neighbouring countries as refugees. So why hold back?   Which is the greater evil? Why watch a virulent cancer spread?   We need to stop this sickening barbarity by Boko Haram.

In your opinion, what specific actions should the President take?
There are two main ways of resolving any conflict – negotiation during which the parties reach a compromise; or the greater force prevails.
In the case of Boko Haram, it is difficult to see the grounds for compromise since its goals are extreme. Boko Haram is driven not even by Islam, but by bloodlust.

It wants to impose a medieval caliphate on Nigeria. It rejects any form of modernity. It rejects education for children, especially for women and girls. It kidnaps people, bombs crowded markets and schools, rapes and kills at random in pursuit of these goals. How do you negotiate these?

The President must do all he can to neutralise this threat. But the government must act urgently to create opportunities for the millions of jobless youth who feel an acute sense of economic alienation in their own country. We need to do away with the current economic system which seems to create only a few billionaires overnight, while leaving almost everyone else in desperate poverty.   Studies show that Nigerians had a better quality of life in 1960 than in 2014.

We need to invest massively in education through skills training and mentorship programmes for young people nationwide.   If we eliminate or reduce the corruption and waste at all levels of government, we can pay unemployment benefits to the jobless, provide free, universal healthcare and other social safety nets that prevent people from falling headlong through the cracks. This means we will have to develop a broadly representative and accountable governments that truly serve the people.

Ultimately, we all need to work towards an egalitarian society where everyone who works hard and plays by a fair set of rules can have a good shot at life.

Do you believe our military can defeat the Boko Haram insurgents?
Yes, I think so. What it needs is the right political leadership, superior firepower and motivation.   I do not think the insurgency is beyond our capability to overcome. We survived a civil war. With blood and treasure, Nigeria saved Sierra Leone and Liberia from their fratricidal wars. We helped liberate South Africa.

We held off the French and Cameroonian gendarmes for decades in the Bakassi Peninsula until Obasanjo  s disastrous handling of that conflict.   With ECOMOG, Nigeria showed an example of how a regional army could stamp out insurgencies. I believe our military can end this insurgency in a few months with the right motivation.

Nigeria is now rated the biggest economy in Africa, ahead of a South African economy that is diversified with strong tourism, mining, agricultural and other sectors, how can tourism, for instance, contribute to broadening Nigeria  s economic base?
The tourism is under-developed in Nigeria. This is mainly because of neglect by government at all levels. Even private investors have shown only half-hearted commitment to the sector.

If we want to move beyond an extractive economy, then our current negligent attitude towards other sectors, like tourism, agriculture, education, health, needs to change. With over 400 ethnic groups, Nigeria has a rich cultural tapestry that we can showcase to the world. We must see Nigeria  s vibrant diversity as our greatest source of strength. Since 1960 we have done little more than problematise our diversity.

We need to change this perception that we are too different to live together. We can orchestrate a powerful national symphony out of our current jangling discord. But to achieve this, the divisive and anti-development character of our politics will have to change.

To boost tourism, we also need to invest in infrastructure. For a country not at war, Nigeria has one of the worst infrastructure deficits in Africa. We can change all that through a single-minded commitment to develop and standardise our roads, bridges, canals, airports and telecommunications penetration. These will create millions of jobs and increase mobility of internal and external tourists to all parts of the country.

Does Nigeria have a tourism development policy?
Yes, Nigeria has always hoped to develop tourism.   A Tourism Master Plan was drafted in 2006 under President Obasanjo. The problem has always been to actually implement a tourism plan. Even the best policy is meaningless without implementation.

So why has Nigeria not developed the tourism sector despite its huge potentials?
We have been over-reliant for decades on oil and gas which still accounts for over 80 per cent of Nigeria  s GDP. Agriculture which is the largest employer of labour in Nigeria contributes less than 20 per cent to the GDP, because it is still at a largely subsistent level. Despite its vast potentials, tourism contributes even less to the overall GDP.

A recent trend by state officials to equate tourism with simply organising carnivals in cities also complicates the problem for the industry. Tourism is much more than a colourful and episodic fanfare.

We need to develop, protect and inventorise traditional and other heritage sites across the country, and improve access to them. We need to standardise our hotels, airports, and other public spaces and improve customer service delivery across the board. Everywhere in the world tourism is an industry linked to national pride. National pride is like a totem that collectivises us. Do we have that deep sense of pride yet? Can a family from Calabar go on a vacation in Maiduguri without trepidation? We must work to develop a country that we can all be proud of.

Further, we need to train and retrain workers from hotel managers, translators, tour guides to transporters. We need to improve private and public security, as well as review the legal framework for the sector.

Clearly, tourism is a huge industry with many stakeholders, including local communities. No government can run it alone. Government could catalyse progress in the sector through provision of infrastructure and regulatory oversight.   But if you manage a hotel, you do not need a government official to remind you to have fresh bedding or faithfully return items guests forget in your hotel. We need to develop strong business ethics.

Why do tourists still flock to countries like Israel, Egypt and other countries in spite of their political and security problems?
No country is perfect, but each country has its attraction.   America losses more people to gun violence every year in Chicago than the number of soldiers they lose in combat in Afghanistan. Yet people seem to want to visit America at all costs.

Tourists visit places for recreational, religious, historical or other sentimental reasons. Israel, Egypt and Saudi Arabia have sites that have deep religious and historical resonance for many people across the world. So except their lives are directly threatened, tourists will probably always go there. Despite a rape pandemic   and high levels of violent crime rate in South Africa, the country hosted probably the best World Cup in 2010 and continues to earn billions of Dollars in revenue from tourism each year.

This is because despite its problems, South Africa works. It has world-class infrastructure from hotels to roads, airports, universities. I schooled and worked there, so I know.
If Nigeria is not a tourist  s favourite destination it is because, frankly, we are still trapped in strategic dysfunction. For example, the 3000MW of electricity we generate for a population of 170 million people is far less than what is consumed in Johannesburg alone.   We have a leadership crisis, so we face tremendous problems on many fronts.

But we cannot let ourselves be hostages to despair. All these can change once we get our acts together. We are a creative, resilient and restless people. The best of our literature are studied in every corner of the world. Nigerian professionals are among the most educated and distinguished immigrant groups in the USA and Britain.

Nollywood, Nigeria  s vibrant movie industry is testament to our creative genius despite all odds. Technically imperfect as it is, Nollywood provides employment to nearly two million people in Nigeria and is a $5-billion industry. We started a cinematic revolution in Africa from someone  s living room in Aba.
If we set Nigeria on the right course, we can achieve anything.