The man on the stretcher seemed lifeless at first. His face seemed quite serene albeit a bit swollen. His shirt was completely unbuttoned showing a massive stomach which drooped at the sides and bobbled as the stretcher was wheeled. The stretcher was pushed by a nurse who seemed a bit reluctant or nonchalant. The nurse’s apparent disdain was in contrast to the agitated woman with disheveled hair who tagged meekly behind the nurse. I suspected that this was his wife. I looked closely at the man and could not make out the customary heaving of the stomach which signaled that some life still flowed within him.
The beds at the emergency unit of the hospital were completely taken up by accident victims in various forms of bandaging. So the man was left on the stretcher by the reluctant nurse who disappeared mysteriously into an adjoining office. After 15 minutes or so, she reappeared with a stethoscope and a thermometer. She placed a hand on the wrist of the supine man, looked mysteriously at a hand held clock and shook her head as if in relief. Next she needlessly tucked a slim looking thermometer under a bulging armpit and so on. This ritual is called the checking of vital signs. The subsequent verbiage between the nurse and the agitated woman dispelled any fears that the man was actually dead. He was merely under in some way. Stilled by alcohol.
My curiosity was pricked. What did the nurse really hear in the fluttering earpiece of the stethoscope that told her that the apparently lifeless man was still alive? Was whatever that was heard distinguishable from a mere hum? Dr. Chika Amobi explained that the difference between the heart beat of a healthy person and that of someone who was under was probably a matter of “volume” through the medium of the earpiece of the stethoscope. Here, volume refers to the level of hearability or loudness. A person who is under would have a weak heart beat difficult to discern by the untrained but the dup dup – dup dup would still be noticeable with a shsh – shshsh to signal the breathing.
The above scenario no doubt underscores the importance of checking vital signs not only in the sphere of medicine but in other spheres of human existence. The almost lifeless alcoholic would probably be an expert in checking the vital signs of a bottle of beer. And yes, a bottle of beer does have vital signs. Something to watch out for to ensure that the said bottle was not a fake or a “spoilt’ beer. Checking the vital signs in my own thinking starts with the opening of the beer cap and being vigilant to notice the sometimes inaudible hiss that transpires between the bottle cap and the invading opener. Kola Oseh however puts the vital signs before the actual union between the opener and the beer cap. If the beer bottle is shaken a bit before any invasion, one can see the tiny bubbles rising towards the neck of the bottle. This is more like checking the pulse of the beer.
Vital signs tell us what is happening before they happen. A man whose heart beat is barely audible is probably on a fast lane to the great beyond. A beer that has no pulse or that does not hiss will probably taste flat. Vital signs are therefore pointers and an illuminating factor that eliminates the element of surprise and ignorance.
In June 2011, a loud boom was heard within the premises of the Police Headquarters in Abuja. Another bomb had exploded. It was not unlike the explosion that had marred the independence celebrations of Nigeria about 8 months before. Several explosions had earlier occurred during the 2011 elections in Suleja and in Maiduguri. These explosions were not unlike other explosions in 2009 in Lagos and in 2010 in Bayelsa. Perplexed analysts have been befuddled with the recurrent puzzle of how this could have been possible. A little digression: the last explosion in June 2011 has thrown up a lot of security debate about whether it was a suicide bombing or not. Security analysts, especially those who had scrutinized the video have assured Nigerians that it was not a suicide bomb attempt. Nigerians should therefore heave a sigh of relief that the Nigerian was incapable of self sacrifice. The only problem with this conclusion is that it conveniently forgets the ‘hot pants’ scenario concerning a Nigerian in an American bound flight on the 29th of December 2009.
So how could all these explosions have been possible? Is there a sudden and new found rascality among Nigerians? A good beer drinker does not wonder why the beer does not have a pulse; he simply does not open it. In the same way, could it not have been possible for Nigeria to have read the signs. Reading the vital signs takes more than the analysis of individual incidents. It also entails keeping an eye on the bigger picture. Let us consider these statistics. Between 1986 when a mysterious letter bomb tore down the brilliant Dele Giwa and 2005 which records the first bomb explosion in Bayelsa state, there have been a total of 14 incidences of bomb blasts. This time line is within a total of 19 years. Between 2006 and the last explosion which hit Maiduguri in July there have been a total of 25 incidences of blasts. And this is within only 5 years! By incidences, I refer to cases where a bomb was involved, detonated or not. In any case only few incidents were averted and thus did not result in an actual blast.
The statistic tells us a lot. It does not tell us that it is either Boko Haram or MEND or some other misguided thug. However the statistic reminds us that the incidents of the use of explosives as a leveling tool as against the gun has increased drastically in the last 5 years. Malcolm Gladwell in one of his collection of essays made a strong case that the September 11 attack could have been averted if only the dots had been connected. In Nigeria, are there dotted puzzles that can be connected? Will the dotted puzzles tell us where the next bomb explosion will take place?
In 2011alone there have been 11 incidences of bombing. The bombings have been oscillating between Jos, Bauchi, Kaduna, Maiduguri and Abuja. Maiduguri has the highest number of blasts so far. Does it signify that the Boko Haram, the faceless group which is said to have claimed responsibility for the attack is based in Maiduguri? Is there an Al-Qaeda training ground in Maiduguri or are neighboring countries providing launch pads for these attacks. What informs the locations for attacks? Being that Boko Haram means that western education is haram, would western schools be hit? Why hasn’t any school been hit so far? Why has there been only one recorded foiled attempt on a church?
Now let us readjust the frame of our lens a bit to accommodate a larger picture. Olisa Akukwe in his essay, vision 2020 and the new society predicts that an army of hate will be recruited in the north due to the gap in education between the south and the north and the attendant gap in standards of living. This raises an interesting question about what goes on in mind of an average Boko Haram ardent. What is the means by which they are recruited and indoctrinated? Is it possible to deconstruct the process from recruitment, indoctrination and attack? What channels of communication are used by these explosive lovers? Can these channels be infiltrated and alternative messages fed through them? Do we clamp down on the criminals or analyze them. More succinctly, how can we clamp down on the criminals without analyzing them?
The supine alcoholic is resuscitated and a rigorous path towards detoxification is pursued. He is made to avoid usual haunts where the kind proprietress would be willing to dole out cupfuls even when the man cannot pay. The family’s involvement is not played down. The recovering alcoholic is allowed to exist in a genial supportive environment. The treatment of the alcoholic does not therefore end in his resuscitation when he manages to pass out. It is more holistic. In that same vein, the holistic approach to solving the incidents of bomb blasts would not lie in just creating a more intelligent security system but in addressing the ills that engendered them in the first place. This calls for a government that can read the signs.
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