SirK,
I'd be very careful what you say about national staff coming down sick or come down with malaria/malingering. Not all of us have the luxury of living in company-provided, supposedly secure, air-conditioned accommodation where mosquitoes can be more easily controlled
The disparity between Port Harcourt and Lagos is well known, but that's more than likely because the senior management always feel they're immune to robbery or attack (conveniently forgetting what happened to Clement).
Meanwhile the even more senior management, otherwise known as Nigeria's political elite continue to fiddle while Rome burns, seemingly unmoved by what's happening to our country
FOR a town known as “home of peace”, Maiduguri, the capital of Borno in northern Nigeria, is seeing a lot of violence. It stands at the centre of an insurgency by Boko Haram, an Islamist outfit trying to establish a caliphate, and its fate is being closely watched in Western capitals.
Several towns in the state, including Gwoza and Bama, are now under the insurgents’ control. Maiduguri, home to as many as 2m people, seems to be their ultimate target. Recent attacks have been directed at Konduga, a town roughly 35km (22 miles) outside the city. “The only route going into and out of Borno now is the Maiduguri-Kano road,” says one Western embassy official. The other main roads to the capital are controlled by militants.
The army appears to be more serious about defending the city than surrounding settlements. This week it captured hundreds of militants. But the momentum may still be against it. The 7th Division, created in 2013 to defend Maiduguri, is poorly equipped, disillusioned and dwindling thanks to desertion and losses, even taking into account the reported deployment of 500 new troops. This month 12 soldiers from the division were sentenced to death by firing squad for mutiny.
“The army probably only has 8,500-12,000 combat-ready troops in the state, which might not be that much more than Boko Haram,” says Jacob Zenn, an analyst for the Jamestown Foundation, an American think-tank. “If Maiduguri falls then consider Borno in Boko Haram’s hands.” The risk of the city falling is alarming Western governments, worried about the stability of Africa’s most populous country and of the wider region. “What do we do if Maiduguri falls?” asks one senior diplomat. “We can’t let Nigeria collapse,” adds another.
An extra concern is the rising flow of refugees. Maiduguri is still a sanctuary for people from surrounding settlements, and officials reckon that 58,000 people are now seeking safety in the city. Public schools in Borno are closed, international aid agencies have long since fled and farming has ground to a standstill, pushing up food prices. Costs will rise further now that the majority of roads have been taken over, says Patricia Donli, a lecturer at the local university. One unhappy consequence is that militants may be pushed to raid farther afield for food and money, much of which comes from looting towns and convoys. “If they take Maiduguri,” says a diplomat, “they are going to have to go outside of Borno for their booty.”
It is even possible that violence could delay the presidential vote due for early next year. Local press reported earlier in September that David Mark, the senate president, had said there was “no question of elections” because the country was at war. That comment was swiftly retracted. But despite such talk, there is little to suggest that Nigeria’s political and economic elite are paying the insurgency much heed, possibly because the problems in the north-east are perceived as being mostly removed from the commercial and political centres of Lagos and Abuja.
There are signs that the government is realising the severity of the situation, but it is proving slow to act. “I doubt that currently there is the political and military support to bring an end to the problem,” said one civil-society leader. “It requires the highest level of political engagement but I don’t think there is the interest at present to solve it.”
For the moment locals in Maiduguri remain calm. But unless the army convincingly pushes the militants back, that may not last long.
the Economist