Maiduguri, a ghost city
Maiduguri, also called Yerwa by its locals, is the capital and largest city of Borno State, northeastern Nigeria. The economy of this ancient city, with an estimated population of one million as of 2007, is largely based on services and trade with a small share of manufacturing. It is the principal trading hub for northeastern Nigeria.
The city, popularly called ‘Home of Peace’, has one of the best layouts in Nigeria, and values of land and property here are high. A survey of property markets in Nigeria (2009) positioned Maiduguri as the third most expensive for buying and renting in the country, next to Abuja and Lagos.
Academically, Maiduguri has one of the best-equipped universities in Nigeria – the University of Maiduguri. Its College of Medical Sciences is among the top five best medical schools in Nigeria.
Today, this city, regrettably, is a direct opposite of virtually all it used to be following the loss of its vibrancy to the terrorist activities that have not only desecrated its cultural values and shattered its social harmony, but also ambushed its economy, stunting its growth and development. Due largely to its loss of appeal and, to a little extent, because of the ‘facelessness’ of the terrorists, the city has garnered the sobriquet ‘a ghost city’. What is happening in that ancient city, whatever the intents, gives cause for concern.
What happens in Maiduguri at the moment is a vivid reflection of the picture painted by John Pepper Clark in his poem ‘The Casualties’, a product of early post-civil war literary activism. According to the poet, the casualties of the civil war were not just those who lost their lives in the war, but also those who lost limbs, wives, husbands and children as well as those who suffered social dislocations as a result of loss of their homes, etc.
In the case of Maiduguri, the victims or casualties of the raging terrorist activities, to us, are not just those who have been killed by sporadic bombings. We see casualties in the people who live in perpetual fear of the unknown; people who are in a state of siege with heavy and menacing security presence; people who are daily traumatised by unprovoked bombings that claim lives and destroy property. We also see victims in the education system which is frequently disrupted, and above all, in the economy which has been battered, shut-in and laid prostate.
As an enterprise that values sectoral and regional contributions to the growth of the national economy, we are as concerned as we are pained by the situation in Maiduguri. A visit to the ancient city bespeaks of a comatose economy epitomised by an almost sleeping international airport, locked shops, suspended construction activities and scanty human and vehicular traffic on smooth and well-paved roads.
We take exception to the popular belief that the terrorists are ‘ghosts’ or faceless individuals because these persons live in areas known to the natives or residents of the city and these areas are not exclusively inhabited by the terrorists. We align with superior arguments that there could be an end to the carnage that has become a common feature of most parts of the North. We are of the opinion that the easiest and surest way to end this terror lies in the capacity of the natives to rise in one accord and denounce the group, by whatever name called, that has turned an otherwise ‘Home of Peace’ into a theatre of war.
We also urge the Federal Government to employ all reasonable means possible to put an end to this and, indeed, other anti-social activities going on in any other part of the country. It is our firm belief that beyond the pecuniary gains of today lies a bright future with possibilities and opportunities.