Greetings!
How safe is my country and my current city?
Regarding my country, Nigeria, insecurity is the order of the day. News of crises is a daily occurrence, and it seems to sell more. There was a time I wrote for a news platform, and it was crime news that gave me the biggest pay. This insecurity is very serious; it's happening in every state, with each state having its area of "specialization," such as banditry, kidnapping, and others. Banditry is particularly rampant in the northern part of Nigeria, where, for sure, once you hear that someone is living there, you have to give accolades to that person. Even if the bad events aren't occurring directly where they live, the effects are felt somehow.
It's not that I'm painting my nation in a negative light, but the level of insecurity is so high that I can't keep quiet when asked about it. Can you imagine, there was a day—a Sunday morning—when bandits entered a church and opened fire on the congregation, killing most of them and injuring others. What happened? What led to that? Who initiated it? Up till today, we don't know.
In my region, which is the southern part of Nigeria, kidnapping and ritual killings are prevalent. It's so bad that we hear news of kidnappings and killings constantly.
As for my place of residence, I think it's manageable to an extent, or maybe it's because I'm used to the area. It's a developing city, and the worst scenarios that happen often are inter-community fights. Oh yes, these happen very frequently over land disputes. Once this kicks off, slaughtering is almost inevitable, and with that, we always end up under a curfew, unable to travel or use the roads leading to the neighboring city involved in the fight. I remember earlier this year, the issue flared up again, and up to seven people were killed.
Apart from this, we are used to the usual occurrences of kidnapping, so we no longer consider it a major issue. We just tread with caution, avoiding certain areas at specific times, especially at night, and you're relatively safe.
Thanks for reading.
This is my entry to #indiaunited contest