In recent times, there has been a wave of ritual killings that has left the whole country shocked, afraid and flabbergasted. It is particularly saddening that many of the perpetrators of these dastardly acts are teenagers and youths. Though a lot of people have blamed the menace on poverty, I believe that it is not the only reason.
It is disheartening that according to the British-founded organisation, Oxfam, the five richest men in the country valued at about 29.9 billion dollars combined have enough resources to end extreme poverty on a national scale. Despite this, five million Nigerians still face hunger and 112 million Nigerians live in poverty. This means a poor child is on the streets begging for alms or hawking wares while watching the convoy of the richest man in Africa, who would need 42 years to spend all his wealth if he spent one million dollars daily.
Social media is also another place where many young people get the wrong ideas about wealth. Since it is common to see many people without verifiable sources of income flaunting wealth on the Internet, many impressionable and gullible youths also want to make a lot of money without necessarily working for it. For many of those youths, they are not even looking for money to make a positive impact on the world, they just want to spend them on mundane things such as expensive champagne, private jet trips, sex and illicit drugs.
Until we address the yawning wealth inequality in the country, I daresay that we would continue to see 18-year-olds ruthlessly and callously cutting off the heads of their girlfriends and any other person they can get their murderous hands on.
Indeed, the country is in dire need of an urgent reawaking and re-orientation. Young Nigerians have to be repeatedly told that they can be wealthy through legitimate means, provided they are ready to work towards it.
The nation’s political elite can also not be left out of the blame for our current predicament. A situation whereby a man who is struggling to even feed suddenly gets into public office and practically become a millionaire within the twinkling of an eye is not ideal. That is why many young people can go to the extent of killing their fellow human beings just to get power and amass ill-gotten wealth.
Beyond the loss of innocent lives to this ‘culture’ of ritual killings, it is also leaving a serious dent on the image of Nigeria in the comity of nations. Though this is not new, it is affecting many young people who are working hard to make ends meet on the international scene. For example, some writing and freelancing agencies have put tougher restrictions on Nigerian writers because of the soiled reputation some of our unscrupulous compatriots have earned us.
Until the high rate of unemployment in the country is addressed, frustrated Nigerians who don’t have jobs may continue to look for ways (either by hook or crook) to make money, we will be stuck with Internet fraud and other social vices. It also does not help that these days, society worships money, regardless of the source it comes from. It is high time we start paying more importance to integrity than money.
Religious beliefs and superstitions that promote a belief in ritual killings also have to be curbed. There is fire on the mountain and we have to put it out because not everybody can run out of the country.
Indeed, ending ritual killings requires a total system overhaul. Internet fraud and mindless killings are just symptoms of our damaged system. To effectively ‘cure’ them, we have to start from the root cause, which is the glorification of money over all else.
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