Lagos — Nigeria is indeed a funny country. Its residents are funnier. I recently put up a question on facebook. I had asked: "if you were to enter just three words that best describe Nigeria@50 for a competition to win N100m, what would you write?"

I had expected some poetically elevating answers. But I was disappointed. Some of the responses I got read thus: A Good Deathbed. Wild Wild Country. Axis of Evil. Cabals Deceiving People. Big Blind Country. Wastefully Degenerating Country. I had thought that those who saw Nigeria from these prisms were being conceited, but when I remember Prof. Joseph Waswa, a Ugandan academic who took me on lectures in existentialism and his postulations that human judgements are formed from existential and experiential realities, I only but hide my shame.

No doubt, those who volunteered answers must have had some experiences that led them to such conclusions about their country. One of my greatest disappointments however is that none of my respondents spared any thoughts for Dora Akunyili's 'good people, good nation' mantra. Somehow, it is possible that existential realities from Plateau state, experienced between January and March, have helped form the opinion of the people of Nigeria to such an extent that no one is ready to remember Dora's campaign. At times like these, her rebranding campaign becomes a pleasurable waste of time. They make no meaning.

I have followed arguments and statements credited to Fulani people arrested by the police in the wake of the March 7 barbarisms in Dogo Nahawa, Jos. Some of these statements tend to justify the attacks, which only make people from medieval Africa more civilized. And one justification which I find quite insulting and desecrating of humanity is the valuation of human life with those of cows. Some of the 'confessionals' from the arrested fighters, seem to suggest that the attack on Dogo Nahawa was in retaliation for an earlier attack on Fulani in which cows (beasts) were killed.

A Fulani leader and Secretary of Sultan's Farmers/Cattle Rearers Conflict Committee, Alhaji Sale Bayari, addressing a press conference in Abuja last Thursday, made allusions to the fact that his people (Fulani) and cows were killed during the January conflict in Jos. For him, cows equate human beings especially women and children. Those already in Police custody are asking questions as to why no one made any noise when their cows were killed.

Beyond this, they also alleged that Fulanis were randomly and clandestinely picked out and killed in Jos. So far, there is no evidence to back this but they have published a list of 209 names said to be Fulanis killed during the January mayhem. I am not holding forth for anyone. I am also not making any denials for any group. If the Fulanis were randomly killed as alleged, then, a proper investigation must be carried out to identify those behind the killings and punish them accordingly. In the same manner, those who killed at Dogo Nahawa, should be fished out and equally punished. As it is, nothing justifies the killing of humans, whether to retaliate the killing of cows or retaliation for killing human beings too.

Pictures from Dogo Nahawa were clear enough on the method adopted in the killings. No guns were used. Machetes and axes were deployed here. Some of the confessions published over the weekend quoted some of the arrested fighters as saying that they used mostly machetes in the killings. This means, they simply used human beings to sharpen their artistry in killing cows. Human beings were slaughtered like cows. That is where the pains are deeper. And this is where oral history, when told, will leave memories and inflame emotions. Come to think of it, the attacks were planned to ensure that mostly women and children, the most vulnerable demographic group, are eliminated. This, to my mind, is a strategy to ensure a drop in population growth of a people.

But what masterminds of the Dogo Nahawa killing probably failed to realize is that the pain of the March 7 attack will take time to heal. And pray, that survivors decide to forget. Human societies thrive on oral history. Certainly, that event will be transmitted. And the living will eventually seek revenge. The implication is that the killing will continue like a cycle until government develops the political will to do what is right and sensible.

Government has a role to play. Improve security in the country. The situation where human beings are seen, treated and killed like cows say a lot about the value which government attaches to human life. Successive governments in Nigeria see its people as cows and that is why it is possible for the Fulani to see fellow humans as cows. If government had shown deeper care for, and love for its human population, it probably would have trickled down to the Fulani and other ethnic groups. But a situation where lives are wasted by armed bandits and hired assassins for political reasons leave any potential murderer with the understanding, and argument, that nothing will happen. Of course, most often, nothing happens.

Government must therefore begin to show seriousness in punishing and not rewarding such heinous crimes. And such punishment must start from the political masterminds who always make dividends from such crisis, not just the ordinary folk who was recruited to do battle for the 'African big man' (apologies Prof Maurice Iwu).

This recurring Jos crisis can not be divorced from the age-long indigene-settler dichotomy that has torn most states apart. This phenomenon, though unfortunate, is as real in Jos as it is in many other states of the federation. But quite differently, these other states have not expressed their frustration with this ideology in the way and manner those affected by it in Jos have done so far. This point to the fact that indeed, finding eternal solution to the problem in Jos, may not be far fetched. I think it demands that people open themselves to the reality of the times they live in and understand that accommodation and engagements are two ideologies now driving the world. I do not think that Barack Obama was scared of war when he moved away from the war mongering policies of his predecessor in office and opted for engagement and dialogue. That ideology alone, won him the Nobel Prize for peace. It is therefore possible that our political leaders can actually emphasise and build on ties that bind. Not ties that divide.

In the end, we may have to return to the recommendations of past three panels set up to investigate the Jos crisis. The Justice Niki Tobi panel had said in its recommendations that: "The Commission firmly believes that non-implementation by Government of the Reports of previous Commissions of Inquiry, and in particular the Report of the Commission of Inquiry into the riots of 12th April, 1994 in Jos Metropolis (the main features of which are very similar to the September, 2001 Civil disturbances), is a sure recipe for a repeat performance of such disturbances. The Commission therefore recommends that the Government should take seriously and implement diligently the recommendations of this Commission of Inquiry. Non-implementation will embolden the perpetrators of the crisis and their sponsors to tread on the same path again and again.'

One of several recommendations made by the commission was that: " All persons who were alleged before the commission to have participated in the crisis by engaging in the commission of offences as detailed in chapter 4 of this Report should be handed over to the police for thorough investigation and possible prosecution on the advice of the Ministry of Justice. Conspiracy, murder, arson, inciting public disturbance and the like are very serious offences and unless those found to have committed them are appropriately punished, those who have the propensity of making themselves available for use in perpetrating these crimes will not be deterred and there will be no peace in the State."

The Commission also recommended that " both Christian and Muslim leaders should be admonished through the inter-religious Committees to educate their members on the consequences of killing human beings or destroying their properties and on the need for religious tolerance generally. In particular, members of the Islamic faith should be educated on the true meaning of "Jihad" and the need to abstain from the use of derogatory language in describing the adherents of other religions for example, the use of the term "arne" or "arna" to describe non-muslims. This is provocative." But you know what? These have not been done.