One year after the presidential elections that brought former general and president Mohammed Buhari back to power, the impatience of Nigerians is starting to be felt. They do not see the changes promised in the election campaign. An endemic fear begins to make business. There is a devaluation of the naira (Nigerian currency, ed.) by 45% compared to 2015 against the dollar, with a consequent increase in import costs, aggravated by the price of oil, a fundamental economic voice of government revenues.
The Nigerians are pawing, but in less than a year, it is impossible to reassemble what has been destroyed in eight years. We are talking about the period of Jonathan Goodluck, under whose leadership corruption reached exorbitant levels: where the cost of a military vehicle was priced at $ 200.000, they paid $ 1.000.000! Period of deception and kickbacks. Money then evaporated and exported to Switzerland and Dubai.
It was from Dubai that Buhari began his policy of returning capital stolen illegally by former ministers and senior officers of the armed forces. To give an idea, the former oil minister Dieziani in just 2 years it would have appropriated $ 19 billion.
Buhari initiated a foreign policy aimed at restoring the credibility of Nigeria, previously known mainly for corruption, Boko Haram e Mend (Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, ed). Thanks to his travels between the USA, Great Britain and France to which must be added a meeting with Prime Minister Renzi in Abuja, he countered to increase political reliability by giving the idea that he really intended to limit the negative phenomena that hovered over the Country. Just with Italy, it has signed a collaboration agreement between the police for the fight against terrorism, illegal immigration and prostitution. The Nigerian mafia is well branched in Italy.
This did not stem the migratory flow of Nigerian illegal immigrants, who are seeking asylum because of Boko Haram or other alleged conflicts. The phenomenon Boko Haram è ormai delineated and confined solely and exclusively in the northeastern region, in the state of Borno, bordering Cameroon. Most of the Nigerian asylum seekers come from the southern regions, geographically distant about 3.000 km from the area affected by terrorism.
As a field reporter, I can testify that there are no large-scale wars taking place in Nigeria.
All this is countered by the phenomenon of the secessionists of Biafra and MEND, paid by the government during the Goodluck presidency to remain quiet as well as the criminal groups that used kidnapping to threaten the oil companies.
The new government, in a clear financial crisis, does not intend to negotiate with the MEND who has sworn an open battle to the federal government, establishing a new rebellion force called Delta Avengers, referring to the characters of Marvel.
I Delta Avengers they demand the right financial compensation for the exploitation of the lands of the delta of the Niger river and of the south-south areas, rich in oil.
As mentioned, the phenomenon is added to this Biafra, as already reported on these pages (more), financed by the political defeats of the PDP, which however remains the majority party in the south. The PDP fights with demonstrations and web radio the federal government led by the Muslim from the north, Mohammed Buhari, "guilty" of not favoring the growth of the country by keeping the now poor north with money from the rich oil areas of Biafra and the south.
Biafra, as happened 37 years ago, calls for a political split to found a new and reborn independent Republic of Biafra. The MEND claims the same issues and, having access to abundant black gold, has made known the splinter will, inviting all those born in the south to return to their homeland, and promised to hunt, even using systems of ethnic cleansing, all Nigerians of the north currently residing in the south. The MEND also presented the new currency and the new management and exploitation policy of its fields, raising the fees to the major oil majors.
While the so-called spreads Nigerian Way, that is the natural tendency to complain of the average Nigerian citizen, opposition foment discontent, decrying in any way possible the role of the government in power that, despite everything, is trying to do everything possible to contain the endless problems of the country.
(photo: US DoD)
