Nigerian social critic Martins Vincent Otse, popularly known as VeryDarkMan (VDM), has outlined what he believes is the only lasting solution to terrorism and insecurity in the country.
In a video posted on his official Facebook page on Monday, VDM attributed the persistent security challenges to a lack of education, particularly in northern Nigeria. He claimed that most individuals involved in terrorism come from the region, arguing that expanding access to education would reduce the number of young men drawn into criminal activities.
He said Nigeria needs a leader who is willing to dedicate at least four years of an eight-year tenure to enforcing widespread education in the North.
The only solution to terrorism is to educate the Northerners. Any Nigerian leader that will take four years out of his eight years to educate the North, force education on them, has solved terrorism problems,” he said.
According to him, knowledge would empower young people and reduce their vulnerability to manipulation.
“Let them have the knowledge because knowledge is power. Until then, Nigeria may suffer more in years to come. They don’t go to school in the North; rather, they study religion. That is why the fewer people that are educated keep using the uneducated as their weapons,” he added.
VDM also claimed that the large population of out-of-school children in northern states makes it easy for criminal groups to recruit.
“If I want to start terrorism today, I will go to Maiduguri, Zamfara or somewhere. If you go to the North, you see a lot of young people in the streets begging. You can easily pack ten thousand of them and bring them to Abuja,” he said.
