I am getting quite despondent about the state of affairs in our dear dear country. In fact, I am in so much despair that a terrible feeling is welling up in me. It is a feeling of sadness and anxiety about the ever burgeoning blanket of insecurity thrown over our dear country. These feelings make me feel trapped, as if in an enclosed concrete structure with no openings. I feel overwhelmed and subdued. These feelings are worsened by the optics emanating from the way our security challenges are being managed, and this is what is leading me to the conclusion that our insecurity problem is assuming the nature of our electricity conundrum.

Well, you, dear reader, know quite a bit about our electricity issues. You know that our Minister of Power that just resigned told us of his target of achieving 12,000 mega watts of electricity this year. A measly 12,000MW is the target of the Federal Government whose leader told all of us that he wants to achieve a One Trillion Dollar economy. We remain without light for days, weeks, even months, in 2026, more than 25 years into the 21st century. In my part of Lagos, there is a street whose residents have not had electricity in the last three years since the transformer serving the area blew up, and threw them into darkness.

On my own street, we get electricity supply for just three hours every 48 hours. And the bill says we’re on Band D. I disagree. We must be on Band Z or any band named with the alphabet that comes after Z, if that exists! As a result, many co-residents of the area are opting for the solar alternative, as expensive as it is. It is just as well that the Power Minister resigned, apparently to pursue his ambition of becoming the next governor of Oyo State. I pray he succeeds in his endeavours. But his success will come with the downside of inflicting his cluelessness  in the Power sector on the people of Oyo. 

Since there is no vision and plan to light up Nigeria with reliable power supply, I am also beginning to despair about the insecurity situation. Earlier in the week, on Wednesday, we held the annual Vanguard Economic Discourse. The theme was on food security. Many participants at the conference expressed grave fears about going to their farms, as roaming bands of herdsmen, insurgents, and other killer groups armed to the teeth roam the bushes and forests and attack farmers at will without let or hindrance.

A report by the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety) noted that at least 450 people had been killed in terrorist attacks from January 1 to April 6, 2026. Let me give a brief chronology:

-January 6, 2026 – New Year Massacres: Reports indicate that over 50 people were killed in fresh attacks in various communities.

-February 3-4, 2026 – Kwara State Massacre: Extremist militants attacked the villages of Woro and Nuku in Kwara State, killing at least 162 to over 200 residents. The attacks followed the residents’ refusal to adopt a specific version of Sharia law.

-February 15, 2026 – Niger State Village Attacks: Armed gunmen carried out coordinated attacks on multiple rural communities in Niger State, killing 46 people, abducting residents, and burning homes.

-March 16, 2026 – Maiduguri Bombings: A bombing incident in Maiduguri resulted in 27 deaths.

-March 29, 2026 – Plateau State Attack: Gunmen attacked the Angwan Rukuba community in Jos North, Plateau State, killing over 28 people.

-April 10, 2026 – Military Base Attack: A Nigerian army General and several soldiers were killed during an assault on a base in the North-East.

-April 13, 2026 – Air Force Misfire: According to reports, at least 100 people were killed in the North-East after an air force “misfire” on a market.

And there is no end in sight. It seems that the whole nation is being washed in a bloodbath being perpetrated by Boko Haram, ISWAP and armed bandits, often targeting farmers and rural communities. My despondency is fuelLed by the recurring rhetoric dished out after the incidence of a major killing. When President Tinubu went to Plateau State on April 2 after the Angwan Rukuba attacks of March 29, he promised that this attack will not happen again. His words: “This experience will not repeat itself”.

The terrorists must have laughed hard at the president, for on April 10, a brigadier-general of the Nigerian Army and several of his troops were killed when insurgents attacked a military base in Borno. Since the president’s promise was made hollow by terrorists, more terror attacks have occurred. A Kwara traditional ruler was abducted from his palace after he was robbed, while pirates abducted students on a boat ride to their exam centres to write this year’s UTME. It gets worse everyday, and the inability of the state to deal with this issue gets curiouser and curiouser. No be so? TGIF.