They are happiest wherever there is a crowd and preferably activities – at construction sites where they help in lifting the heavy stuff; at event and worship centers where they help with parking cars; at the markets when you need a helping hand. They can come in handy during disasters as well. They are, for example, the ones who will provide a wooden bridge when erosion has divided a road, or a wooden plank to provide a walkway on a flooded road- some have been known to provide their backs as a human ferry; or a pathway when the main road is damaged. All of these for a fee of course with the price range depending on your level of desperation or your ability to haggle. They also benefit from disasters. You will find them when a building is on fire, looting under the guise of putting out the fire; they will descend like vultures on unfortunate victims in a road accident, stripping victims of valuables and allowing life, the most valuable asset, to slip away. They have learnt to spot opportunities in almost everything and benefit most in a mob. They have learnt to travel light. Its their mode of survival. And just as they have an eye for opportunities, they have a nose for danger. Many walk the trapeze of criminality for quite a while without falling off. They live rough sleeping wherever sleep catches them and eating whenever food finds them. They are devoid of family, love and compassion – many were never nurtured on that softer side life. This makes them value self-preservation above societal values or even humanity. They are also largely without skills except self-taught survival ones. We should not be surprised if they are low on self-esteem and therefore place little or no premium on life. We should not be surprised if they hate people who enjoy what they don’t have. We should not be surprised if they have no ideology; or a stake in the Nigerian enterprise.

They are available for hire and no contract fazes them as long as money is involved. They are the people politicians use to cow opponents and in some cases, the government at the center. They are the ones organisers of protests use to add numbers to their ranks and in some cases, to threaten the establishment. They are the ones the establishment itself uses to counter protesters and in some cases, meet violence with violence. Society rides the tiger by using and dumping them because they see the huge sums of money that come out during these encounters and the longer any chaos reigns, the more they can make from all sides. One day, they might refuse to be reined in. They also form alliances and kinships while on the street. It is how they move from petty crimes to more deadly ones. It is how they start out as informers and graduate to kidnaping. Every Nigerian, to a man, is afraid of kidnappers because almost every Nigerian is vulnerable these days. But what I didn’t know until now, is that pets, specifically dogs, have become vulnerable as well. That is the new low to which our youths, the ones we refused to train; the ones we refuse to guide, have sunk.

I was skeptical when I was first told about this until I spoke with someone whose dog was kidnapped. This lady has a pretty, fluffy dog that is known in her neighbourhood because it goes out for recreation most evenings. The dog survived the first kidnap attempt but not the second. The first time, it jumped out of a moving sienna bus before the vehicle could gather speed thereby breaking a leg. The bus even stopped momentarily to try to retrieve it but sped off when neighbours shouted. The second time had armed, fierce looking men who forcefully took the dog, poured petrol into its mouth to quieten it before putting it into a bag. The distraught owner was confidentially told to go to a place called Odo Iya-alaro in Ikeja, Lagos State to see if she could negotiate the return of her dog. A small army of youths volunteered to go with her. She was not prepared for what she met. She was accosted by fierce, belligerent youths in what looked like a modest settlement. They threatened to strip everything on her and throw her into the nearby stagnant water for daring to come into their den. She stood her ground although she was shaking like a leaf and begged them for the release of her dog. The dog made things easier. Somehow, it heard and recognized its master’s voice. It came out, limping and unbelievably dirty to the side of its master and refused to be prised away. That was when they asked for a ransom. But what they asked for was nowhere near what she had on her. This infuriated them again. In the end, a truce was reached. She had since been told that unclaimed dogs would usually be sold for food to those who delight in dog meat. Fearing they could come again, she later went back with ‘a proper settlement’ of food and money and begged them to look out for her dog while thinking of a more permanent solution.

Area boys, street urchins, miscreants and hoodlums are but a few of the names we call these people. They certainly were not born with those appellations. They were conceived and born amidst joy and celebrations like other children in our homes. They are therefore our children and heirs whether we want to accept that uncomfortable truth or not. They became whatever they have become because of parents who put other priorities over training and nurturing of children and a society which failed to provide a safety net for youths who for some reasons, take the wrong turn in life. It is to our shame that we have so many out- of –school children who grow to become unskilled and uncared-for youths. It is to our collective shame that we expose them to drugs instead of books early. And the uses to which we sometimes put them – to fight our dirty battles for us- should haunt us.

This protest tagged #Endbadgovernance is about over to all intents and purposes. I hope the message of hunger and disconnect which the protests espoused and which found empathy, has gotten through. Another message, another matter arising, is the need to do something urgently about this growing army of youths roaming the streets in search of survival. Otherwise, the next protest might have a different colouration. It also might not be easily quelled.

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