The last mile syndrome (Part 1)

• Published date: 15 January 2023
• Publication title: Nigeria - The Nation

Risk Assessment/Risk Management Versus Abandoned Project)

By Bashorun J.K. Randle

This is obviously a crucial point/crossroads in the chequered history of our nation. The Last Mile of the election/democratic cycle has crept up on us. We are at our most vulnerable economically, financially and every otherwise ranging from terrorism, banditry, kidnapping, sabotage, and fear as well as INSECURITY of lives and properties. Everywhere, poverty and crimes have taken over vast swathes of our sovereign territory. In the East, some warlords have declared that elections will not hold while in the North, some Local Government Areas are directly under the control of bandits who extort taxes and levies from hapless and utterly bewildered citizens.

What we are confronted with are the old demons of ethnic jingoism and religious intolerance superimposed on corruption and lawlessness.

The stark choice before us is whether to conclude that our nation is already beyond redemption/salvation or to summon our collective patriotism which would compel us to intervene to restore peace, order and justice. What looms on the horizon is a fierce competition between anarchy and chaos that would rapidly take us back to the civil war which raged from 1967 to 1970. The massive loss of three million lives and millions more of limbs would have been in vain if we are now still battling with the same issues (and worse) over fifty years thereafter.

If we fail to intervene now, no matter the cost, our children and grandchildren will not forgive us. The mutual suspicion and gaslighting have already commenced in earnest.

The already toxic environment is being further contaminated with influx of drugs, weapons and ammunition on an unprecedented scale. The gathering storm is of truly epic dimensions.

We have been thoroughly clinical with the SRESS TEST as a precursor to the forthcoming elections and we have had to restore to AI (Artificial Intelligence); computer simulations; scenario planning; machine reading and analytics. The outcomes are consistent - the ALARM BELLS are ringing.

The red flags are everywhere. We are neither blind nor deaf.

Our patriotic duty is a sacred obligation - to intervene before it is too late rather than wait until the crisis has crystallized into conflagration which would rapidly engulf our entire nation.

This is the most expensive election in the history of mankind. If we are lucky we may have a 'winner' but nobody appears ready to be a loser.

Already, the buying of voters cards...