The looming perils of terrorism to our generation

Have you ever wondered what would have become of Great Britain if the Gunpowder plot of 1605 had been successful? Or America, had Osama bin Laden succeeded in bombing the Pentagon and the White House?

It can not be overemphasized that terrorism wields the capability of ruining and exterminating a prosperous state thereby turning it into a failed state through gradual process of terror attacks.
Of all the challenges of mankind, terrorism is one that has long been ingrained in every part of the globe and has always been a major problem. Here, we shall see the looming dangers of terrorism to our planet if governments of the world continue to handle it with levity.

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To begin with, we will briefly look at what terrorism means.Terrorism as defined by the Oxford Advanced Learner's dictionary, is the unlawful use of violence and intimidation, especially against civilians, in the pursuit of political aims.From the definition, we could see that terrorism is referred to as being unlawful, thereby making it a crime. Hence, people who participate in the act of terrorism are criminals and are called Terrorists. Terrorists are very deadly people and they employ different ways in executing their acts ranging from Kidnapping, rape, killing of innocent citizens, bombing of public places, destruction of properties, guillotine and other evils to mention but a few. Examples of terrorists are the Islamic state of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in the Middle east and the Boko Haram sect in Northern Nigeria.
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The act of terrorism is not a new issue in the history of mankind, it is one that has been in existence for a long period of humanity. Few terrorism attacks include : The Jacobins' guillotine which killed over 40,000 people during the French Revolution in 1793, another case is the Islamic terrorist group Al-Qaeda's crashing of Airliners into the World trade centre complex in America which killed thousands of people, and more recently is the kidnapping of about 200 Chibok schoolgirls in Borno, Nigeria by the dreaded Boko Haram terrorists in 2014.
The aftermath of every terror attack is so devastating that even a sane man would not wish something of such to befall his enemy. For instance, on February 15, 2014, An attack blamed on the Boko Haram sect rendered more than 100 people dead in the mostly Christian village of Izghe in the north-eastern state of Borno, Nigeria. Also, terror attacks in Nigeria have been a major hindrance to the nation's progress in areas of Religion, sport and even education. On June 29, 2014, Suspected Boko Haram gunmen riding on motorcycles targetted a number of churches during Sunday mass, opening fire on worshippers and chasing them into the bush. This event produced dozens of corpses of the worshippers, also, one would not easily forget the June 17, 2014 attack in Damaturu, northern Nigeria in which 21 football fans were killed when a bomb ripped through the viewing centre where they were watching the World cup. This was also identified to be the handiwork of the dreaded Boko Haram. In April 14, 2014, Gunmen kidnapped 276 female high school students in Chibok, Borno state. As a result of this and other subsequent attacks on schools, parents and guardians have caught the flu of not sending their wards to school out of the fear of losing their dear children. This has contributed immensely to a decline in the education sector in Northern Nigeria.
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Another evil of terrorism is its ability to destabilize the masses' trust in their government because of insecurity and this may likely lead to revolt against the government. Looking at the outcome of the recently held Presidential election in Nigeria which led to the defeat of the then incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan justifies my aforementioned claim. It should be noted that insecurity was one of the major propaganda decry the opposition party used in their campaign. Thus, in a nation where terrorism exists, the chances of her peoples' faith in their leaders are very thin.

Also, terrorism proves to be very fatal to the economy of a nation and even the world at large. Research shows that most terrorists employ the tactic of crippling the economy of a nation to achieve their goals. Wikipedia reports that The destruction of the World Trade Center and nearby infrastructure during the September 11 attacks masterminded by the Al-Qaeda terrorists group, caused serious damage to the economy of Lower Manhattan and had a significant effect on global markets, resulting in the closing of Wall Street until September 17 and the civilian airspace in the U.S. and Canada until September 13, 2001. Also, According to the World Investment Report (WIR) 2013, FDI flows into Nigeria dropped by 21% in just one year from $8.9 billion in 2011 to $7 billion in 2012 due to the incessant attacks of Boko Haram. The loss of $1.9 billion for a country in desperate need of money such as Nigeria was a staggering blow.
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  Lastly, mass killing which is a major feature of terrorism could lead to World depopulation if governments of the world do not solidify to suppress the high rise of terror attacks around the globe. Recently, in April 2017, At least 68 children were among the 126 people killed in a terror attack in Syria, in 2015, the Nigerian army reported that not more than 150 people had been killed when Boko Haram attacked the town of Baga in Borno although Western media outlets reported that "over 2,000" people are thought to have been killed in that attack. These disturbing numbers of victims of these attacks are enough to wane the population of the world if terrorism continues to thrive in consistency.

With the high number of displaced children and victims of terrorism, the rate of poverty, crime and illiteracy will continue to skyrocket thereby leading to a dystopian generation if people of the world do not unite against terrorism. Measures to be taken in combating terrorism include effective and favourable governmental policies, discouragement of abuse of power and human rights, provision of proficient security personnels in order to boost security, and most importantly, promotion of religious tolerance, peace, unity and love.
If we say we want a generation void of terrorism, then Love, tolerance, peace and cooperation should be our guidelines. IMAGE SOURCE

REFERENCES: Wikipedia.com

Thanks for reading. I look forward to your views and critic in the comments.