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Still on teenagers’ descent into barbarity

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3 years ago

RECENTLY, a tragic story unfolded in Lagos as men of the state police command paraded a 14-year-old housemaid who had allegedly strangled her mistress’s six-month-old baby kept in her custody. The suspect, by any standards still a child, was among the scores of suspects paraded at the police headquarters over alleged murder and kidnapping. If a 14-year-old strangling a baby was bizarre, even much more so was her reason for committing the heinous act: she was acting on the instructions of members of her cult group. Over to the Lagos State police command’s spokesperson, Adekunle Ajisebutu: “The girl confessed that some cult members ordered her to kill the baby and bring her blood, which she complied with.” Terrible. Utterly preposterous!

Is the Nigerian society taking note of the rapidity with which teenagers are becoming criminals? Before now, it was the ugly spectacle of 17 to 19 year-old boys severing the head of a girl to conduct money ritual that astounded the nation. This time, we have the ugly spectacle of a 14-year-old maid strangling her boss’s baby for the most transparently demonic and absurd reason: her cult members asked her to do it! Time was in this country when it was unheard of for teenagers, especially pre-pubescent ones, to be cultists, but the times are changing rapidly and anything—and we mean to be taken literally–can happen. Nowadays, the Nigerian society has become a lawless, criminally overrun jungle. School children, including infants, are routinely kidnapped by devious individuals engaged in occult manipulations for money, and it is a rare parent today who thinks that secondary school pupils trekking the distance from home to school, however short, is a completely safe exercise.

And speaking of safety, it is not even a commodity to speak of in a light tone. Safety has taken flight. Death stalks the streets literally, and just any home can be invaded by outlaws. These days, contrary to what a Yoruba proverb says, you can be right in your home and get your neck fractured. But that, bad enough as it is, is not the real story: the real story is that homes have broken down almost irretrievably and countless families are breeding and nurturing outlaws cloaked in the garb of childhood. Whether because of poverty, broken marriages, the death of parents or a combination of these factors, many individuals are being churned out of families today who lack basic decency, and the situation is not helped by popular culture. These days, movies and music videos promote warped values and their practitioners take up arms at the slightest hint of criticism. They are that tactless and hopeless.

As we noted in previous editorials, stories of desperate quests for instant wealth in Nigeria never end. Everyone wants to “hammer” or “blow”, as it is infamously said in the country. The mission is not far-fetched: work easy or do not work at all, but make fast and big money and live large! Worse still, we added, celebrity entertainers do not make things easy; they glorify quick wealth, applaud ostentatious living and praise-sing the “big boys” whose source of wealth is either unknown or dubious. It is a stinking culture. Is the society blissfully unaware of the underage persons who go about in posh cars, patronising expensive bars, clubs and lounges to show off their riches? They buy expensive drinks and wear exotic stuff and their parents ask them no hard questions, yet a dig into their backgrounds will show that they do not have any tangible career, job or business. And so Nigeria’s case has become a classic example of the proverbial Longe: danger lurks in Longe’s farm, but Longe himself is danger writ large.

Just so we are clear, a society with teenage cultists risks so many things. Blood lust at such a young age bodes ill for society. If history proves anything, it is the fact that individuals going off track in their youth need to be stopped before they assume a cloak of invincibility. In any case, there seems to be a distinct possibility that Nigeria’s teenage criminals are being emboldened by the impunity of herdsmen, the terrorists called ‘bandits’, Eastern Security Network (ESN) murderers and other outlaws who kill with impunity. When crime is not punished, it festers. The powers that be, ensconced in matters of personal interest, look the other way while the country literally rots. But they are getting their comeuppance, though: their children have become drug addicts, gambling away the property they acquired through theft.

But yet another question inevitably arises: why should a girl of school age have to work as a maid in the first place? Isn’t there supposed to be universal free education covering children of that age? Why are young, impressionable individuals being thrust upon social hardship and struggle in defiance of child rights laws? It is time state governments woke up to their responsibilities and steered young people along the right path. In doing that, they themselves must drop their pretences to patriotism and embrace the right values. They must work hard at promoting family and ethical values and treat social deviance in accordance with the laws of the land.

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