The Nation Newspaper

Tag: change

  • Not yet CHANGE

    When the All Progressives Congress (APC) was inaugurated in 2013, many local and foreign political analysts banked on its political ideology to pose great challenges as an opposition in curtailing the excesses of the then ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP). And as it played out, APC defeated PDP in the 2015 general elections capitalising on its numerous campaign promises such as revamping the economy, and fighting corruption to a standstill.

    Consequently, the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration has devised strategies to make Nigeria better, but its change programmes, especially on economy and corruption, have been widely criticised. The fight against corruption in particular is said to be a one-sided crusade against the enemies of APC, and defenseless citizens.

    Having stated this, the question to ask is, if the cleaning exercise in our political quarters as a nation is genuine and transparent. This government will only get its credit if it achieves all its aims to combat the nation’s defects with regard for the constitution that governs the land and protects the people. The president and his CHANGE team must present themselves as law abiding citizens, even as they clean the mess in the country. They have to clean without getting dirty. If the anti-corruption campaign against the corrupt judges and looters of the nation’s treasury in the past regime is slightly justifiable, how about the killing of the members of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) and the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB)?

    The PDP and its supporters warned against President Muhammadu Buhari ruling as a dictator, and now he has not proved his critics wrong in some of his actions and inactions. The Shiites leader, Sheikh Ibrahim El Zakzaky, has been detained since December 12, 2015 without being charged to court on the alleged accusations that his followers blocked the motorcade of the Chief of Army Staff, Lt Gen Tukur Buratai, in Zaria. The protests to demand for the release of their leader at Kano-Kaduna Expressway in Kano on November 15, 2016, also resulted in the killing of these people by policemen. The police reported that the protest was causing a civil unrest, which degenerated into clash between the Shiites and the police, and the only option was to shoot at people including children and women. A similar occurrence was the case of extra-judicial killings of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) members by the Nigerian Army, when they marched to commemorate the 49th anniversary declaration of the defunct Biafra Republic in May 2016. Meanwhile, the IPOB leader, Mr. Nnamdi Kanu, is still in detention despite both court rulings and peoples’ calls that he should be released.

    The president should note that Nigerians would continually support him if his fight is clean. If truly these people – Sheikh Ibrahim El Zakzaky and Mr. Nnamdi Kanu – are guilty of their respective alleged crimes, they should be tried in the court of law according to the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. And whatever the verdict of the court of law is, it should not be altered by individuals or groups! Nigeria as a country under this administration has begun to treat fairness, equity and justice with contempt. This is the whole essence of this piece and why we should put our house in order. This government should learn from the past before its CHANGE turns against it.

    • Biodun Busari is a Geography graduate from the University of Ibadan. He resides in Lagos.
  • Akeredolu: change is here

    Akeredolu: change is here

    Change is here, says Akeredolu as INEC declares him winner

    Ondo State Governor-elect Oluwarotimi Akeredolu yesterday promised not to fail the people when he assumes office on February 24.

    Akeredolu, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), made the pledge in his acceptance speech read at his home in Owo amid jubilation after the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared him winner of Saturday’s election.

    Returning Officer and University of Ilorin Vice Chancellor Prof. Abdul-Ganiyu Ambali, who announced the result around 1.20pm, said Akeredolu polled 244, 842 votes to beat Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate Eyitayo Jegede with 150, 380 votes and Alliance for Democracy (AD) candidate Olusola Oke, who scored 126, 889.

    APC won in 14 Local Government Areas. AD won in two (Ilaje and Okitipupa) and PDP in Ondo East and Ondo West councils.

    The APC won in Akure North, Akure South, Ile Oluji/Oke-Igbo,

    Ifedore, Ose, Akoko South West, Akoko South East, Akoko North East,

    Akoko North West, Owo, Idanre, Irele, Ese-Odo and Odigbo Local Government Areas.

    The Returning Officer said of the 1, 647, 973 total registered voters, only 584, 997 were accredited. There were 551,272 valid votes and 29, 615 votes were rejected.

    “Having polled the highest number of votes and having satisfied all requirements, I hereby declare Oluwarotmi Akeredolu the governor-elect of Ondo State,” Ambali said.

    Akeredolu praised President Muhammadu Buhari “our national leader” and the “principled” National Chairman of APC, Chief John Odigie- Oyegun and members of the National Working Committee (NWC).of the party.

    He said: “I wish to express my profound gratitude, first, to the Almighty God whose infinite grace has allowed us to see this day.

    ”This victory is of God through the people. It is not for me or the APC alone; it is a victory for the people of Ondo State, irrespective of which side of the divide you stood during the election. For me, it is a challenge to perform. It is a call to rescue our state and reverse it fortunes.

    ”I thank the people of my dear state for their steadfastness. I have heard their messages throughout the campaign to all the nooks and crannies of the state. Today, you have spoken with one voice. You have walked your talk. You have voted for me as your governor for the next four years.

    ”Today, change has come. I hereby make a solemn pledge that this collective mandate shall address all issues with keen determination. The welfare of our people alone shall be the directive policy of the government.

    Today’s victory is a confirmation of the willingness and readiness of the people of Ondo State to change and seek a better life. I thank you for your faith and confidence in me. I thank all those whose uncommon sacrifice, contributed in no small measure to the success of the exercise. A special show of gratitude must be extended to our security agents for their patriotic duty.

    ”I shall in few months be saddled with the task of providing responsible leadership, a leadership that would take our people from poverty and stagnation to productivity and prosperity, from pains and lamentation to joy and laughter.

    ”It is the sole reason you have voted for me and by the grace of God I will not fail you.

    ”There was jubilation in many parts of the state, especially in Akure and Owo. Members of the APC trooped out to celebrate Akeredolu’s victory. Most of them held brooms and danced round major streets, singing.

    Many also converged on the party’s secretariat on Oba Adesida Road and at the Akeredolu campaign office at Oyemekun Road, where they sang and danced.

    Residents of Owo took to the streets to celebrate the coming of another indigene as governor.Second Republic Governor of the old Ondo State, the late Chief Adekunle Adekunle Ajasin,  hailed from the ancient town. Many APC chiefs besieged Akeredolu’s residence to celebrate with him, among them Senator Tayo Alasoadura, Victor Olambitan, Tola Oworh, Gbenga Adefarati, Olalekan Odere, Wale Akinterinwa, Femi Agagu, Olayemi Omosuyi, Timileyin Adelegbe, Ifedayo Abegunde, Yemi Olowolabi, Saka Yusuf, among others.

    Also in Owo yesterday was Minister of Mines and Steel Dr. Kayoode FayemiImmediately, the result was announced, Akeredolu in a convoy joined his kinsmen, who were already jubilating.They moved from Akeredolu’s residence at the Government Reserved Area (GRA), through Fajuyi Road to Ehinogbe, Iloro and ended it at the Palace of Olowo of Owo, Oba Folagbade Olateru-Olagbegi III.

    Members of the Boys Brigade were also in the party.

    Akededolu’s agent Dr Benson Enikuomehin,  said the election was free and fair.

    ”The result of the election showed that people are against Mimiko and his government. From the result, we could see that in Akure where the PDP candidate comes from, the party lost. Even in Mimiko’s hometown, the PDP won with a slight margin. This is to tell you that the people of Ondo State are tired of Mimiko and his hegemony,” he said.

    But Jegede’s agent,  Mr. Ayo Fadaka, said INEC was too hasty in conducting the election. According to him, the election was conducted less than 48 hours after Jegede was declared the PDP candidate.

    Fadaka alleged that “some individuals were used to truncate the future of the people of Ondo State by teaming up to work against the common interest of the people.”

    “They came to Ondo to work against us and eventually gave our government to the APC.”

    He said Jegede and the party would consult widely and decide on the next step to take, adding that “for now, we have not decided on what to do as a political party, but as time goes on, we shall take appropriate action.”

    ”INEC collaborated with the judiciary to deprive the good people of Ondo State good government, which the Olusegun Mimiko administration has ensured in the last eight years. Knowing full well that the electoral body has up to January, next year to organise the election, INEC still went ahead to conduct the election despiteunfavourable conditions,” Fadaka said.

  • Where are the choristers of change?

    SIR: Those who vociferously supported President Muhammadu Buhari during and after the general election in 2015 are beginning to sing discordant tune, grumbling and snivelling; even family members are not spared. Members of the ruling party have been in a secret war, murmuring and wailing over appointments, kitchen cabinet and all manner of political quandary. It does not go well with some members who felt cheated in spite of their huge contributions to the success of the party.  But what kept one wondering is that, APC is threading on the same path they condemned in PDP in their 16 years. Same new wine in an old bottle!

    In the last one year, the Nigerian economy has witnessed series of shrinking, contrasting, technically and finally went into recession. All the economic indicators from the first quarter to the third quarters have been on a red alert. The business environment has been scorched to the ground. Hunger and starvation have become daily companions of many people to the point that family members are exchanged for food to survive. Crime rate ranging from kidnapping, robbery, manipulations in the oil industry and other social vices has reached a crescendo, and I ponder over this, the essence of the change is to correct the errors of the past before it and not to aggravate it. As it is, the change is not felt in all directions and some Nigerians are concluding that the President’s ‘change begins from me’ launched recently was to reaffirm the negative impression of the public about the change mantra. Do we really have problem with the name?

    As it is at the moment, the managers of Nigerian economy kept on floundering and dawdling in tactics with no substantial clue to come out of the box. This has in recent times led to several policy somersaults ranging from rigidity of forex management to flexibility that is still currently not leading us out the economic quagmire. And of course we have so many people making silly excuses and defending the administration that Nigerian situation would have been worse under any other president and in several occasions, blaming the past administration instead of hitting the ground running. This government must realize that government is a continuous process, you continue from where your predecessor stopped.

    The APC appears to be in political miasma, from the state to the federal level, they are polarized and disjointed. And if this political hullabaloo and the interest continue, it will definitely shake the foundation of the party and as the President’s wife Aisha Buhari puts it, the party may be heading to Golgotha coming 2019 general election.

    The President must listen to the advice of the well-meaning Nigerians to be able to navigate way out of the troubled economy.

     

    • Alifia Sunday,

    Ilorin, Kwara State.

  • Where “Change” begins in Nigeria

    The “change begins with me” campaign of the federal government of Nigeria is running into obstacles. One of the latest undesirable hitches is plagiarism of President Obama’s speech in the text of President Buhari’s statement delivered at the recent launch. News, opinions, reports, commentaries and jokes in print, electronic and online media are full of subtle and scathing attacks on the campaign.

    A major argument of some critics is that change begins with the leadership that had promised change but is backpedalling on its responsibility for it, and turning it over to the populace. Another line of criticisms is that the targeted change is undefined, nebulous and opaque. The nuts and bolts of “change begins with me”, it is argued, are as unclear as many policy issues that the President Buhari administration pursues. Put together, the contextual issues around change do not align with the new campaign.

    In communication theories, change is a well-trodden area. Human communication is replete with uses of communication to effect change of knowledge, attitudes, practice and behaviour. Change communication underlies the intellectual discourse of behaviour and social modifications as a critical step towards change. The “change begins with me” campaign, whether stated or not, is premised on the thesis that change of behaviour by Nigerians can and should result in change of the Nigerian society. The behaviour change of citizens will, over time, aggregate to social change of the Nigerian nation. It is, theoretically, a solid basis to build an action programme. This must have been what Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, had in mind.

    It is widely accepted that change of behaviour, and ultimately change of society, is complex. It is hardly linear. It requires collaboration of communication with sociology, psychology, anthropology and related fields of human interactions. Extensive studies in change communication show that “good intentions” are far from adequate. In other words, no matter, how well intentioned a change idea is, it does not by fiat materialize into acceptance by the community or society where the change is advantageous or sensible.

    In development communication, examples of good intentions leading to bad outcomes are soberly common. Whether it is smoking, driving while intoxicated or use of seat belts, change of habits and behaviour is arduous. For example, health promotion campaigns that focused on negative health impacts of smoking achieved little for decades. Facts on the nefarious health effects did not discourage reasonable, knowledgeable smokers. The breakthrough came in many countries by making smoking appear so “un-cool”, unfashionable, repulsive, anti-social to “right –thinking” persons. And it was combined with treatment medications, psychosocial approaches, alongside policies and legislation that made cigarettes expensive; smoking was barred from public spaces; and smokers were restricted to corner spaces of undesirability.

    Campaigns against driving whilst intoxicated are witnessing increasing successes in countries that combine special attention to what should be done when one drinks – designate a driver who does not drink alcohol at that occasion, have colleagues monitor each other’s alcohol consumption levels, have bar tenders take charge and restrict drunk drivers, use taxis to return home – with stringent checks by police officers as people leave parties and drinking places. Tough legislations penalize drunk driving, including heavy fines, temporary or permanent ban from driving.

    Advertisers and marketers, to mention a few, use change communication extensively to create acceptance of new products, or to effect change from existing services to newly available ones. It works.

    Success in change of behaviour and society is grounded in theoretical understanding of people and society, and adaptation of knowledge from empirical studies. Behaviour modification and change does not happen quickly. There are short, medium and long term phases, and some successes can be recorded, even in the short term phase when norms begin to be questioned and re-ordered.

    Without enough understanding of the work – theories, studies, processes – that inform Nigeria’s “change begins with me” campaign, it is difficult to say much about it. However, given the official actions and criticisms of it, some points are well in order.

    President Buhari and his All Progressives Congress (APC) party was voted in on the platform of “change”. The massive voters’ support confirmed that change was awaited and would be supported. How will change occur? The first positive signal is that the leadership should demonstrate change.

    Whilst the government, during its 16-month tenure, succeeded convincingly in dealing decisively with Boko Haram, it is yet to show that it can deal with security in its many ratifications. See how long it took to have any serious official pronouncement on herdsmen who ravage farms and villages, kill and maim people.

    Also, whilst government struggles to rein in the spreading kidnap menace, the Niger Delta insurgents appear to thrive under various names. And the initial official commitment to locate the abducted Chibok Girls has fallen by the wayside. Rather, the Police harass peaceful protesters who serve as a constant beacon of the historic tragedy bleeding the nation.

    Corruption, another pillar of the campaign manifesto of the government, has seen some positive efforts at curbing it. But even the consternation and anger of people as revelations of massive looting were revealed is now being dulled by time and inconclusive lengthy processes that drag on. It is apparent that some officials, especially civil servants and law enforcement agents, are falling back wilfully into old ways of public bribe-taking and oppression of the people for the slightest reasons. Not only national budgets are “padded” under the nose of the change leadership, contracts are being padded heavily again. The fight against corruption is being cast as “Buhari’s thing”. His immediate entourage, collaborators and, especially, state governments are not even remotely part of any obvious anti-corruption efforts.

    The dark cloud that covers the nation right now is economic and financial difficulty. It hangs like a giant elephant tusk on the neck of the masses and so-called middle class. It drags people down, into anger, intolerance and hopelessness. The people want to hear more on how and when it will change.

    Candidly, everything seems right about the wording and need for “change begins with me”. But political communication of contradictory verbal and non-verbal exchange is problematic. The entirety of change should be manifested in many more areas and should be read, heard, seen, and interpreted – without doubt. The government, with its main pillars of change agenda in doubtful suspense, cannot expect its subjects to trust that it can lead or sustain change.

     

    • Makinwa is former Africa head of United Nations Population Fund.

     

  • The illusion of Change

    The illusion of Change

    SIR: History will remain history, whether or not you spray it with marketing communication jargons. Like bonded slaves, our political elites are copying what their former masters have tried and failed. The historiography of behaviour change and social change dynamics, beginning from General Yakubu Gowon administration, the post – Nigeria civil war slogan of No victor No vanquished and its twin pillars of reconstruction, rehabilitation and resettlement could not address and assuage the fears of the Igbo’s within the nation. By the same token, the Buhari regime of 1984/85 and it is campaign slogan of Andrew no check out, Nigeria go better, glamourised by the Nigeria Television Authority(NTA), could not stop the mass tide of brain drain ever witnessed in Nigeria.

    Also the Obasanjo Heart of Africa project and the Good People, Great Nation of Yardua /Jonathan administration  failed on arrival because the fundamental  pathways to nation – building were not attend to and they were narrow vision sacrificed at the altar of political convenience and urgency of now to position government in the eyes of the people.

    The tragedy is that the victims are the hapless Nigerians, which they have defrauded repeatedly, but who cannot go back on their mandates at least for now, as well as the youth, who waged the wars as touts, and, are still being, used as political weapons to promote fraud in the traditional and social media.

    We really do have a challenge with our leaders (past and present), and particularly with this new slogan. They should order a small commission to find out what is happening to Nigerians and they way various institutions work. To what extent have politicians corrupted them? Why are Nigerians, so glued to trashy ethnic sentiments and mediocrity? What happened to truth and justice?

    When will our leaders study and rewrite a national rebirth document that address the fundamental issues of nation-building, truth, reconciliation and the politics of covetousness that dot the landscape. When will they?

    Change begins with me is meaningless urging that would not stand close examination. Common citizens toil endlessly in order to afford a single meal in a day, and for the cost of fuel and travel, most Nigerians have been hard hit. It is unreasonable in the extreme that change will begin with me, when some cabinet ministers who have rigged elections in the past are still in government. Why should change begin with me when we practice a unitary government in democracy? Why should change begin with me where those who appropriate the nation blind in the last 56 years are preaching divisiveness? Again, why should change begin with me where government officials who hold town halls meeting cannot engage with the people and please, why should change begin with me, when the National Assembly cannot pass the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) for years.

    Going forward, the leadership must be sober-minded and show sound governance doctrine with an uncommon integrity and incorruptibility. In order for true spirit of nation-building to happen, there has to be awareness of the past, acknowledgement of the harm that has been meted out, atonement for the causes, and action to change behaviour.

    These are trying moments, but let’s take responsibility for our actions and inaction and reflect on the collective heroism that inspires truth and reconciliation. Change does not begin with me!

     

    • Samuel Akpobome Orovwuje,

    Lagos.

  • Whose idea is Change Begins With Me?

    Dear Editor, I have followed with great interest the allegations of plagiarism made against Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the Honourable Minister of Information and Culture and the rebuttals made by his office. I am constrained to write in respect of same with a view to setting the records straight having had privileged knowledge and information about the conception of the Change Begins With Me campaign.

    I watched the launch of the campaign by President Muhammadu Buhari and silently chuckled to myself that the honourable minister had finally been able to launch it.  It was almost with a sense of de javu as I listened to PMB launch what Alhaji Lai Mohammed had started to conceptualise even before his swearing in as minister for information.

    I was therefore shocked, surprised, bemused, most concerned and puzzled when I read online allegations and strong claims of plagiarism that the change campaign was the brainchild of other people and that the honourable minister has “stolen” their idea and concept.

    I recall very clearly that I met with Alhaji Lai Mohammed on the morning of November 10, 2015 in his hotel suite at the Hilton in Abuja.  It was a day before the swearing in of the cabinet. I had called Alhaji Lai Mohammed seeking a meeting with him primarily to congratulate him on his nomination as a minister and also because of speculation that he was going to be Minister for Information and Communication.

    Alhaji Lai Mohammed was pretty confident that morning that he was going to be assigned the information portfolio but said nothing about communication. I also recall that I had the pleasure of meeting his wife and sister who were also in the suite.

    After exchange of pleasantries and rubbing minds on the state of our nation and expectations of the new cabinet, he gave me a detailed breakdown of his strategic and tactical plans to re-orientate our people to achieve the required paradigm shift and new thinking to take Nigeria to the promised land. His discussion was centred around change and how it needed to be implemented. Alhaji was very clear about the critical role social media would play and he promised that as soon as he settled down, he would seek my assistance to meet with the mobile operators to explore how technology and social media will help propagate the change message and re-orientation of our values.

    Truth be told, I was initially sceptical as it sounded like War Against Indiscipline (WAI) all over again but as he espoused more and more, I understood very clearly what he wanted to achieve and the direction he was going. He was very emphatic and it was the first time I heard “Change begins with me”.

    I committed to helping him and also undertook to rally the mobile telecommunications industry to support in propagating the change message as I was part of the leadership of the Association of Telecommunication Operators of Nigeria  ‘ALTON’ and a senior Executive of MTN Nigeria at the time. After the swearing-in on November 11, 2015, I again met with the Honourable Minister in his office on November 17, 2015 this time in the company of my then Boss, Michael Ikpoki, the immediate former Chief Executive officer of MTN Nigeria. It was a courtesy visit late in the evening at the Ministry of Information. The minister reiterated the change initiative and again sought the cooperation of the mobile industry.

    Shortly after this meeting, I separated from the services of MTN Nigeria Communications Limited. The minister remained in touch and we continued to brainstorm on the change campaign. Sometime in January, I met with the honourable minister at his home on Isaac John Street GRA Ikeja early on a Saturday morning. His son Folajimi also joined us as we did more brainstorming on how best to achieve his objectives. The honourable minister then requested that I prepare a submission for him on how we could deploy technology and social media to drive the change campaign with focus on the youth population.

    We continued to speak and on February 22, at 11.12pm, I sent a deck of slides to aid his engagement with mobile operators for the propagation of the Change Begins With Me campaign.

    On February 23, the honourable minister requested via SMS that I forward the slides to two of his aides namely Segun Adeyemi and Adeleye Williams.

    Electronic communications leave an indelible trace. It is therefore very surprising that anyone would suggest that the Change Begins With Me campaign was not the brainchild of the honourable minister. I state without any equivocation that Alhaji Lai Mohammed had discussed the Change Begins With Me campaign extensively as early as November 10, 2015. It is therefore impossible that the idea of the campaign was first proposed to the minister at a meeting in December. Absolutely impossible.

    I have no doubt that the minister is the subject of unending unsolicited proposals as anyone in a position of authority in Nigeria can testify. Best practice is to have a policy for managing unsolicited proposals.

    I have elected to state the above for the records because I believe it’s the right thing to do.

     

    • Goodluck is a former telecommunications executive.

  • Change begins with all of us

    SIR: The Change Begins With Me campaign kick-started by President Muhammadu Buhari is being misunderstood as if the President is shifting the change he promised to the doorsteps of Nigerians. The impression I get when I speak to friends or read their write-ups is that President Buhari is abdicating in his responsibility to bring the desired change his promised the people of Nigeria. They say that the campaign is an attempt to divert the attention of Nigerians from the real issues. That the President is blaming them for the economic crisis they never created in the first place.

    Those who know better tell us that change will not come if we continue to wait for other people. They tell us that change will elude us if we continue to procrastinate and continue to shift it to some other time. They tell us that we are the ones we have been waiting for. They tell us that we are change we desire, the change we seek and the change we want.

    As a father, activist, leader, and elder I have seen it all in Nigeria. I have seen why things seem to remain the same even when we try to move forward. I have seen why Nigeria is not working. I have concluded that even you brought all the money in the world to Nigeria, we may not make it because we need attitudinal change. We need to change our character. We need to change our mindset. We need to love this country and work for it to bring the desired change we all need.

    I am told that our foreign exchange reserves plummeted from $62bn in 2008 to $30bn by 2015, at a time when oil prices were at a historic high, reaching a level of $114 per barrel in 2014. By comparison, Indonesia, another oil producing economy with a high population, increased its reserves from $60 billion in 2008 to $120 billion in 2015 about the same time. Now who is to blame? You blame the government, the rats in NNPC, the rats in the MDAs, the rats in the budget office, their cronies and associates, their hangers on etc. They are all Nigerians.

    A professor from the University of Lagos once took a weighing machine to the markets in Lagos to verify the claims of manufactures concerning the weight of their products. None of the products passed the simple test. Now who is to blame? Fathers and mothers who pay for their children to go to special centres to write their examinations are not government officials. What about doctors who run baby factories where under-aged girls are lured with say N50,000 to get pregnant after which the babies are sold to would-be buyers for prices ranging from N500,000 to N1,000,000? Are they not ordinary Nigerians citizens? What about the lawyers and judges including well respected SANs who run from one court to another to defend those who looted the nation to bones?

    What about those who go to collect our scarce foreign exchange earnings promising to use it to import raw materials only to take the dollars to the black market and make millions just for making phone calls to the right people in the corridors of power?

    The truth is that some of us used to say that Nigeria is what it is today because of what our past leaders have made it whether they are civilians or military but today I am singing a different song. The truth is that all have contributed to the mess we find ourselves today. The little wrongs things we have been doing in our homes and offices have magnified in no uncertain terms to become the big problems we have today as a nation. A nation fails because we have failed as a doctors, engineers, lawyers, teachers, soldiers, police, fathers, mothers, presidents, ministers, senators, house of reps members, governors, commissioners, artisans etc. Governance is a collective responsibility. Government must show the way and the citizens must obey the law and do the needful. Citizens must change their attitude and mindset for this country to join the comity of developed nations.

     

    • Joe Igbokwe,

    Lagos.

  • Change: Duel over nothing

    Change: Duel over nothing

    Today marks the 12th day of dueling over Buhari’s latest campaign chariot inelegantly christened – Change Begins with Me. With pretty few concrete deliverables since riding into office on the crest of ‘change’ nearly 16 months after, most Nigerians, at least from the range of opinions expressed thus far, would appear to have neither the patience nor the stomach for the Buhari administration’s latest foray into the ethical arena. First is the avoidable tango over the conception of the Change Begins with Me; then followed the Presidential speech brouhaha and all the issues in between; (never it seems, has a flag-ship initiative of a supposed change administration succumb so fatally to identity – if not legitimacy – crisis).

    As if that was not itself a bad omen for what is ordinarily a tumultuous sail into the frightful ethical waters, the barely disguised irritation and blanket dismissal by a cross-section of the Nigerian commentariat would seem to suggest something fundamentally wrong with the campaign ab initio.

    Understandably, there are those who have great difficulty with living down the inelegant attempt to ‘deflect’ responsibility which the object – “me” represents – the idea that the change ought to begin with the masses as against the officials charged with public duty. At issue here is the moral authority to demand from the ordinary folk – a new ethical orientation – when the change drivers have themselves refused to shed their wasteful, profligate ways. Related is the question of the motive of an administration that promised change in the conduct of government business suddenly changing tunes mid-course about the imperative of ‘change without’ – and this at a time the weight of evidence seems to suggest so heavily of how little has changed in any real sense in the texture of governance.

    I understand the basis of the anger. Indeed, the issues are beyond deniability. Sixteen months into the change era, there is little substance to suggest any real momentum or an understanding of the direction of change. With indices pointing to nowhere in particular, the daily ritual of motions without locomotion is such that the citizens have been thrown into the guessing game. If we had expected the Buhari administration to crank and restream the old bureaucratic machine to deliver maximum efficiency and progress so sorely needed at a time of dire national emergency, it has been a season of confounding, suffocating stasis by a most ambivalent administration. It couldn’t be worse.

    With perhaps the notable exception of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) which, for obvious reasons, has been on the overdrive, other institutions are virtually on ‘sleep’ mode – caught up, apparently in the frenzy of the one-track war when all signs read – emergency. So palpable is the resultant climate of uncertainties fostered by the collapse of commodity prices that one can cut it with the knife; need one add other tell-tale signs such as the negative spiral in the value of the national currency, the unprecedented collapse of productivity across the board, and the increasing restiveness of the youth population to underscore how serious the situation is?

    A high profile campaign on ethical rebirth could only have been seen as a costly distraction at a time like this. Yet, warts and all, the campaign, as far as I can see, can never be too late.

    Why Change Begins with Me? I say why not? Agreed, the state of the economy has assumed a status of life and death; however, the imperative of the campaign to reorient our values as a people however defined constitutes no less than a matter of our survival as a nation. If anything, it is inextricably linked to our destiny as a people. As far as yours truly can see, we race against time in what is clearly a mission to either win the war of values or perish as a people. I do not mean ‘change’ in the narrow definition of the concept that some critics have passed for subterfuge, but rather of the need to do things the right way, to treat others fair and equitably, to demand accountability from those who govern us, to ensure that things are done correctly both by the governor and the governed, and to raise the bar in public conduct for everyone. In short, the ordinary things that makes the huge difference between man and beast! Those for me are the substance of change!

    Today, we have become largely an indifferent society – a people known to moan and whine about everything under the sun – from the oppressive, smouldering heat to the activities of the service provider, who, after delivering fifth-rate service nonetheless insists on charging premium. While it seems part of our culture to demand the best in terms of what money can buy, a part of us are so ready to settle for the less than the commensurate value in return!

    We tolerate the corrupt, the indolent official, the thieving service provider; the predatory market woman who has long mastered the art of delivering less for the value exchange, the cleric who declares magisterially to the faithful that he’s answerable to no one. At a Parents Teachers Association meeting recently, I actually saw a mob (parents?) descend on the principal for the crime of asking the pupils to suffer the indignity of cleaning their dormitory toilets! The same parents who only moments before railed and ranted against the government, would neither allow their wards to grasp the concept of dignity of labour, nor one of respect for constituted authority! And this is the generation expected to carry the baton!

    It takes their knowing of this peculiar psychology of the Nigerian to appreciate why things can’t seem to work!

    Yes, change, if it must endure, must begin within. That is the lesson from great societies. It is not for nothing that Singapore, the country we love to cite as exemplar development model, is derogatorily called a nanny state. Yes, their great leader, Lee Kuan Yew, worked to provide the ambience for change; the citizens however did their part to internalise it. They understand what discipline means to an orderly society. I recall Babatunde Fashola, current minister for works, framing the concept elegantly as the soft infrastructure of the human mind.  Like the renewed calls for the restructuring of the country which represents the hardware part, I would rather see Change Begins with Me from the prism of the necessity to get the individual to play his/her part, knowing that the restructuring will neither take us to the great society that we crave nor the country we could ever love without our being able to get rid of the toxic culture of indifference, of mediocrity that daily assail our humanity.

    So, let the change begin – with me. The campaign is only the starting point!

     

  • Where change should begin

    Sanctimony and platitudes resonated at the recent launch of the national re-orientation campaign by President Buhari.Tagged “Change Begins With Me”, the event represents part of the larger plan by the government to elicit and effect positive attitudinal change among Nigerians.

    Its thrust is that unless the people cue in and become integral part of the change agenda of the government, not much progress can be recorded on these shores. At another level, the theme of the campaign conveys the impression that the change mantra must be driven by the people for it to succeed.

    It was therefore not surprising the occasion was a mixed grill of exhortations, preachment and pontification on all that had gone wrong value-wise in this country and the need to reverse the ruinous trend.  Buhari spoke copiously on the social ills that have afflicted the country overtime and how they have impeded progress in all spheres of our national life.

    But the president’s speech was curiously lacking on how the country came to this sordid pass. All we were treated to amounts to a rehearsal of those fading values without which the task of nation building in a plural society will be neigh impossible. We needed to proceed beyond mere identification of those lost values to highlight the factors that gave rise to the near state of backwardness and anomie the country is stuck.It is imperative to identify how we arrived at the current predicaments given that proper diagnosis of an ailment is half way to its solution.

    In effect, in persuading and cajoling people to shed those negative dispositions that have serially injured the health of this country, their causes ought to have been identified. With that, the challenge of providing therapeutic responses to them will become much easy.

    This point is germane given that in as much as we have been able to identify where we are today and where we seek to go; how we arrived at the current sickening situation is equally of vital importance if anything, to serve as a safeguard against the same pitfalls. It will also provide a veritable ambience to assess the programmes of today vis-à-vis their capacity to achieve the desired results.

    In this wise, the question is, what are the factors that inhibit the cultivation of positive attitudinal change among the citizenry? What are those things we are doing or not doing well that have had the cumulative effect of alienating the citizens from the government thus providing fertile ground for corruption, dishonesty, lack of patriotism and the scandalous competition for the loyalty of the citizens between the primordial and the civic realms?

    Why is Nigeria now deeply divided along ethnic, religious and regional lines so many decades after independence? And how possible is it to melt these social fragmentations to elicit the type of attitudes and orientations envisioned by the new campaign. Who takes primacy in this daunting task: the government or the citizens? The last poser has been raised because of the thematic issue raised by the campaign slogan ‘Change Begins With Me’

    My reading of this slogan is that the campaign must be people driven for it to succeed. If the purport is that the people must of necessity, cue into the campaign for it to succeed, I do not have any quarrel with that. But, if the impression is being created that the people must take the lead for such a campaign to have meaning, then we have got it wrong. The leadership must take the lead before the people can follow. Example is better than precepts they say.

    Thus, Buhari must have missed the point when he asserted that before you ask of the change they (government) promised us, you must first ask how far I have changed in my ways. The comparison is patently incongruous. It is one thing to ask the citizens to embrace change and a different kettle of fish to infer that the lead for that action must come from them. They do not simply add up.

    It is difficult to fathom how the virtues of patriotism and national unity can be internalized in a milieu governments have overtime been anything but nationalistic. It is a contradiction of sorts expecting patriotic feelings to flourish in an environment competition for the highest political office is based on ethnic or religious credentials of the candidates or some other nebulous considerations. What of feelings of alienation and marginalization that have given vent to resurging agitations for self-determination along the lines of religion and ethnicity.Can national ethos and national consciousness reasonably germinate and flourish in such environment?

    Again, to what extent can we reasonably push issues of nationalism and patriotism in a multi ethnic, multi religious and socially fragmented society with a pervading air of mistrust, suspicion andcomplaints of injustice? What role is there for social justice in eliciting positive attitudinal change and dispositions that are in dire need for national re-awakening campaign?

    These posers have been raised to underscore the contradictions in some of the issues that were canvassed at the campaign launch. They will also aid our understanding as to why Nigeria is in its current predicament. The way they are answered, will again provide the needed lead as to the level of progress possible from the current national re-orientation campaign if certain fundamental changes are not made by the government.

    More fundamentally, they tend to reinforce most poignantly, the primacy of the government as a veritable catalyst for any national re-orientation campaign. In effect, the success or lack of it of any re-orientation campaign largely depends on the actions or inactions of the government. Much of the challenges that have been highlighted are issues that can only be addressed through political action.

    The government should provide answers to the challenges of citizenship; it should evolve solutions to increasing recline to parochial and primordial proclivities and rising agitations for self-determination. It should have answers for why these cleavages are in constant competition with civic structures for the loyalty of the citizens. It should account for why it is considered a taboo to steal from the funds of the ethnic unions while those who loot government funds are hailed.

    These are the challenges to contend with and it is difficult to divorce the government from actions or inactions that brought about these situations. So it is not just enough to mount the podium to pontificate on high sounding ideals. It is also not sufficient to reel out the virtues the citizens should imbibe for there to be progress in this country. Neither will passing the buck for the needed change to the citizens produce immediate result.

    The lead to the success of the campaign must be taken by the government by first;identifying and addressing those endemic dysfunctions that have overtime, stood against the cultivation of attitudes and cultures supportive of nation building and national integration. It must resolve to holistically and realistically address all the issues that have whittled down the faith of the component units in this unity in diversity. There must be a collective resolve to run an inclusive government; one that imbues confidence in all citizens that they have a stake in the union, one erected on social justice and equity, guaranteeing citizens unhindered access to public goods and services.

    Only then, will sanctimony and preachments on the virtues of nationalism and patriotism have relevance and appeal. Then also, the fight against corruption in our national life and restoration of public confidence in civic institutions will begin to take root. For now, it would appear this generation is already lost in its perception of the reciprocity which citizenship represents.

  • For change to take place, look to every Nigerian!

    Change cannot take place in Nigeria unless all of us jump on that ‘Change’ Train… I’m not too sure mouthing any slogan can work the magic either. It can only be done when you and I are ready to change our ways and attitudes

    Everyone desires a new Nigeria, I more than most. In my dreams, I see a Nigeria where every road is tarred and airplane tarmacs do not have potholes. I see me stepping out of my house and taking the tram, subway, underground train or street car to go into the inner city. I see me taking the intercity or regional express train to travel to other Nigerian cities up yonder or down under. Heck, I even see me in my dreams having my own private car in one of them trains, and that private car is well equipped with everything I have dreamt of having in my sitting room: soft, comfy chairs, and Batman and Superman standing guard over my private train-car, in case other Nigerians are envious of my new status and want to burn it.

    This is one tall dream, you might say. I agree, because I am pretty sure there is no way in this world I can convince Batman and Superman to leave the comfortable environment of North America and their fight with their timid criminals and come and take on the more hardened Nigerian criminals. I tell you, I quite believe Nigerians are presently the most hardened criminals on earth. I will explain why in a moment.

    Criminals in most parts of the world take on one, two, three or a few more adversaries at a time. I do not mean to sound insensitive but this is a fact. When you hear of shootings in the west, as terrible as those are, casualties can usually be counted. When you consider the Nigerian scenario where criminals in high places cheat and victimise the millions of people in their care in the country, then the mind boggles. So whereas western criminals shoot some people dead at a time (bad, I agree), and even possibly cannibalise some literally (worse), criminals in Nigeria kill all the people and literarily cannibalise them all the time by embezzling the funds meant for everybody.

    Just look at our governors, present or past; or assemblymen, past or present. For example, I do believe there are very, very few governors in Nigeria who are not living beyond the people’s means. Whereas governors are supposed to administer their states on behalf of the people, they have mostly, I have read and heard say, turned out to be plunderers of their states by their state-enabled reckless spending. They have all lived in opulence while their subjects have remained in wretchedness. For all their efforts, the nation has not been the better; indeed, the nation is poorer for them. Under their various watches, salaries are being owed workers, state subventions are going underground and national trust funds are disappearing.

    The national and state assemblies are past talking about. If the recent Jubringate is anything to go by, we can safely say that Nigeria has never had any congress, only sets of daytime marauders coming and going.

    Now, I am truly sorry that workers are being owed salaries. I do not, however, mean to take on any trade union, whether PENGASSAN, NUT, Labour Congress, or any other, but I want to declare categorically that very few people actually do the work they are paid to do in this country. Most people prefer to work only when there is going to be some other payment for them over and above their legitimate earnings on the job. In short, most Nigerian workers in the public service work for less than a quarter of their earnings.

    There are increasing reports petrol tanker drivers consistently now arrive at their destinations with their tanker fillings short by thousands of litres. There are increasing reports that school teachers in the cradle of education in this country are found not to be qualified for the job, neither are they found in their classrooms. There are reports that civil servants are never ‘on seat’, ‘are their own ministries’ contractors’, or never work unless one is ready to pay them some illegal charge. Now, if these things are true, then this makes this an ethically philandering nation. In other words, the country is built on a culture of deceit wrapped in dishonesty.

    The funny thing is that Nigerians accept that the nation is on the downward slope; but not from their profligacy, only someone else’s. Talk to fifty people and none will agree that they have contributed to this slide in any way. It’s ‘others’ who need to change their ways. The primary school or university teacher who does not go to class is ‘not corrupt’; the driver who misuses the government vehicle in his charge is not corrupt; the civil servant who is permanently ‘not on seat’ is not corrupt; failing to write postscript unlimited some weeks is definitely not corrupt… Seriously, nobody is corrupt in Nigeria. Then that leaves only me.

    Yet, we all agree that the country is desperately in need of change to stem this slide. This change cannot happen though until we are all agreed on just when to wake up from our slumber of self-delusion. It is delusional for anyone to think he/she has not contributed to this cesspool we have dragged Nigeria into today for, in truth, we all did it, including me.

    True, some may have done a lot more damage than others. Even as we speak, I understand that Mrs. Jonathan is still arguing with the government over a $15m (or $31m, I don’t know) fund she had put aside ‘for medical reasons’, she said. Seriously, given that she is not on life support, nor is she nursing a life-threatening ailment, I find that sum a little excessive! $14m (or $30m) is perhaps more acceptable, but $15/31m?! Why, it’s enough to build a railway line between my house here and my village. Oh yes, I’m quite taken with rail travel I tell you.

    Change cannot take place in Nigeria unless all of us jump on that ‘Change’ Train. It’s no use asking President Buhari to change things in Nigeria; I don’t think that it can be done by a presidential fiat. I’m not too sure mouthing any slogan can work the magic either. It can only be done when you and I are ready to change our ways and attitudes.

    The problem is that Nigerians have smelt and tasted blood and are liking it. They have tasted the things keeping Nigeria down under and it is sweet in their mouth mostly because these things fund their extravagant lifestyles. Through these illicit ways, they can fund the cars they give to girlfriends/boyfriends, build hotels their salaries are not qualified for, take summer vacations in developed countries, keep their children in Europe/America, and pack their lives and hearts full with material things they do not need… And you ask them to change all that?

    Change begins when parents help children to understand that they are to contribute to the universe not deplete it. It happens when governments realise that since the world began, the masses have always had the last laugh over the most tyrannical or brigandage regimes. Change happens when employers realise that they may own the work hours of their employees, they do not own their souls.

    Change must happen in our hearts and minds and attitudes towards everything including life itself. Change begins when we realise that we are to build the country not tear it down. Above all, change happens when we realise that a day comes when we either change the way we think and the way we work in this country or we are changed. So, which will it be for you?