STAMPEDE SEASON: Bad governance, Economic Struggles and Looming Doom

Stampede news, disorderliness-full story

Top of the news in the past few days is the couple of stampedes that have occurred in about three zones in Nigeria, claiming over 60 lives. As known, many governmental and non-governmental organizations host annual fun fairs, Christmas parties and end of the year giveaway events as part of their outreach efforts to support and engage with vulnerable and underprivileged communities. This year is no exception as various organizations, religious establishments and even individuals have organized outreach events at the local level in celebration of Christmas and new year in view.

However, the story this year takes a different and sad turn, as these outreaches have claimed lives in not only a region in the country, but three different regions — Ibadan in Southwest, Abuja in North-central and Anambra in the Southeast.

Ibadan Stampede

The Children's Fun Fair, held at the Islamic High School in Bashorun, Ibadan, Oyo State on December 18th, was hosted by the Women in Need of Guidance and Support (WINGS) Foundation, founded by Prophetess Naomi Silekunola, the former queen of the Ooni of Ile-Ife.The event was exclusively designed for children, with the organizers promising exciting prizes, including scholarships, and numerous other generous gifts.

However, reports were gathered that the event was scheduled to start by 10am but some locals had already been at the venue a day before and slept there, some were said to have travelled all the way for Osun state in order to attend and many arrived the venue since about 7am to 8am the morning; making the venue filled hours before the event commenced- the crowd was at least 5000.

The surge was reported to have started when the organizers of the event started sharing food and gifts, people trod over each other as they struggle for the freebies and in the process, about 35 people including multiple children were crushed, suffocated and killed in the process, leaving many injured.

Abuja Stampede

In another news, at least 10 people, including children were recorded dead while many others sustained injuries from another stampede that happened at Abuja church on Saturday, 21st December. The stampede which happened around 6:30am in the morning was as a result of the overwhelming crowd at a giveaway event organized by Holy Trinity catholic church, Maitama, for the vulnerable and elderly residents. The uncontrollable crowd broke through order, scrambling to receive palliatives and in the process, crushing people to death.

Anambra Stampede

Anambra state has also reported the loss of about 20 people’s lives in a similar stampede occurrence. The Stampede happened at the gate of the Obijackson Centre, Okija, Ihiala local government, Anambra state, during a palliative distribution event. The event was organized by Obijackson Foundation, known to annually share palliatives during Christmas period in order to bring joy and relief to those in need.

Whose fault are the stampedes, the government or the organizers?

The events organized by these philanthropists above and the following occurrence point to many realizations. The first logical consideration of many netizens on why the stampedes happened, was the fact that the country is hungry, people are starving and would do anything possible to lay their hands on freebies. Recall that the Endsars protests by youths across the country in 2020, at some point, was hijacked by mobs with ill intentions and used as an opportunity to loot warehouses and people’s shops, the supposed explanation was that the country’s economy was bad and the people, hungry, hence, the government's fault. 

However, whilst we can blame the government for the bad shape of the Nigerian economy and the corruption that has eaten deep into the system, we must not use it to explain the greed of people. The Ibadan stampede further reveals the disturbing level of greed and disorderliness among many Nigerians. This conclusion is based on the fact that the event was organized for kids but it was reported that many adults were also there to struggle for freebies, many slept at the venue a day before and many even travelled down from a neighboring state in order to attend the event. This further affirms the realization that greed has eaten deep into many Nigerians and this trait would bring nothing but doom.

Blaming the government for the worsened economy and Nigerians, for their greed, is not to say that the organizers would be let off the hook easily. In everything, proper organization and adequate planning is key. I once attended a 10,000-capacity event where everyone moved in order and got free supplies without any hassle; all it took was training enough people on human management and there were also lots of plannings and smooth executions. We agree that the events have been organized in previous years without or with less casualties, and that the situation in the country presently is enough to make people hustle selfishly, however, that should have prepared them more and be more strategic with their crowd control plans and emergency preparedness.

The Looming Doom

A reflection on the reality we face with the low quality of life in the country, as well as thoughts on the economic situation of the country and ow it might have contributed to the recent unfortunate stampede occurrences, can only mean that worse events have the possibility of happening. These looming dooms include:

 Starvation: if average Nigerians could manage fine before prices of things skyrocketed, it must have become much harder to make ends meet now, and if the poor could at least live from hand to mouth then, it must be hard to keep up with a normal meal plan in a day now. The point is, the rich have been reduced to average, the average have been reduced to poor and the poor have become even wretched. If the state of the economy remains in the depths that it has been plunged into, many people who do not have sources of living will suffer starvation, which can lead into chronic sicknesses and death.

 Increase in crime rate: although we can agree that the crime rate in the country has been on the rise since previous years, its even clearer now that there is tendency that the crime rate will increase more. A hungry man they say, is an angry man. According to the hypothetical state of nature as propounded by Thomas Hobbes, before orderliness was established in the society, every man lived for himself with the instincts of survival. Man fend for himself and protected anyone could take anything even if it belonged to another, all in the means to not starve. Nigeria is not an hypothetical country and the happenings are not fictitious either. Whether we like it or not, uncontrolled and unhelped starvation is like a ticking bomb, once its time is up, it bursts out leaving severe impacts.

 Full Prisons: increase in crime rate will definitely lead to increase in the number of offenders and hypothetically, increase in the number of inmates. When prisons become fuller than facilities provided, the prisoners risk living very low qualities of lives, like lack of proper meals, poor living conditions, lack of proper health care and even accessibility to rehabilitation.

 More protests: Possible violence: the events of the 2020 endsars protest are still remembered till date, the violence that occurred, the injuries sustained, the deaths recorded, the lootings of properties might just happen again. In other words, at some point, the hardship in the country might just make history repeat itself.

 More brain drains: many educated and talented Nigerians have sought greener pastures in other countries, the hopeful ones who have decided to wait for a better Nigeria might change their minds when the hardship hits even harder. What would happen then? Simply, the country will continue to lose young talents and will be left with the ‘availables’ rather than the ‘qualifieds’

In conclusion, Nigeria's bleak economic outlook portends greater challenges, however, to avoid these catastrophic outcomes, it is imperative that the government takes decisive action to address the country's economic and governance challenges. If hunger is eradicated, the world will come a step closer to being a better place.