Emerging from Crises in Nigeria
I am writing this with much joy and excitement, having come out of a long, chaotic political tension. On Friday, May the 29th, a new democratically elected government took over1 in Nigeria, against all odds.
The most powerful countries around the world had predicted and warned that Nigeria would split and that another war was inevitable. That had brought about the exodus from Nigeria of both foreigners and nationals. It had been predicted that some states in northern Nigeria would go extinct because of a series of insurgent attacks by the terrorist group Boko Haram.
It was a dreadful period in our nation’s history. Time and space will not allow me to write in detail all that happened.
It affected our RC Communities in some northern states, because the government banned, for security reasons, any gatherings apart from religious ones. Most schools in most northern states were under lock and key.2 The abduction of over two hundred Chibok3 girls from their hostels was frightening. (They have yet to be fully rescued from the terrorist group, but we Nigerians are more hopeful than ever.) The Ebola crisis was a threat, too. It touched one of our safest states, Lagos state, which happens to be where I reside.
All these things and many more stirred up lots of feelings, but RC tools, support groups, and sessions helped us all to navigate well. They helped us to keep thinking in such a bleak situation. They helped us to empower people around us with what we have in RC.
Lagos, Nigeria
1 "Took over" means assumed control.
2 "Under lock and key" means being kept locked.
3 Chibok is a town in northeastern Nigeria.