The new citizen awareness and social orientation initiative dubbed "Change Begins With Me" launched by President Buhari today may turn out to be a timely jolt in the arm for us Nigerians. It is without prejudice that I claim that most of us are swift to blame the government for all the ills of society while absolving ourselves of blame for complicity. Let me put it this way for clarity: how many of us, in truth, could say "you know what? I'm part of the disease afflicting this nation state of mine"? The sad truth is that only a very few Nigerians would readily concur the most verifiable of misconducts in all of our dealings and comportment. Of course not all citizens would be of good behaviour in any given country of the world, but where deplorable behaviour is the default, then such a country has got problems, really big ones. This is where we are at in Nigeria, and it's been decades of decadence, avarice, impunity and all the attendant offshoots such as armed robberies, kidnapping, political assassinations, and so on. Where money is king, morality becomes a swear sword. Where the paragons of decency are derided and purveyors of good conscience are relegated in the scheme of things, then evil prevails. Is it a surprise then that we're all paying the price for our proclivity for mindless greed and insatiable quest for wealth? Why exactly are we crying wolf when we have, by and large, brought this upon ourselves? No matter how much we say, or how often we say it, we have to go back to basics. The basics being we must become exemplars of good conscience and behaviour. We must stop seeing others as prime targets for scams; we must stop looking to the government to correct all the faults in the system; we must treat one another with respect, love and understanding; we must understand that we owe a duty of care to one another and realise that we all share one destiny so long as we believe that the progress of this country depends on each and everyone of us. Some may consider these necessary ingredients of a just society as an agitation for some utopian model, but I say, with due respect, they couldn't be more wrong. What all of these components produce, in the end, is a country that prides itself on the quality of its citizenry; a country that can rely on its people to produce their individual and collective best in the quest for that for which we all clamour: a society that rewards hard work, honesty of purpose and progressive governments. We must acknowledge the fact that without trust and accountability there can be no progress, nor can there be peace in the land. We must come together and forge a phalanx, because we have a common purpose.Why must we continually live in fear and anxiety? Why can't I be my brother's keeper instead of his killer? Why do we have to turn our homes into prisons for fear of being victims? It's now almost impossible to render or get help on the motorway should anyone have a breakdown. Instead of watching over each other, we're watching out for one another! This isn't the kind of life we should bequeath to our children and following generations.
For fear of this piece being considered a megillah, I'll quickly point out a few salient points. All the tohubohu in the Nigerian society today is symptomatic of one inalienable phenomenon, which is the affinal relationship between corruption and poverty. Insecurity, unrest, anxiety, homelessness, joblessness, hopelessness, helplessness, ill health and high levels of crime all have their roots in corruption. If we all pulled together in the same progressive direction where misdemeanours in whatever form were swiftly and comprehensively punished according to the law, we would begin to have faith in the justice system and begin to believe, once again, that hard work and diligence are virtues to be proud of rather than burdens to be borne.
If the government indeed wants us to take this initiative seriously and not treat it just like any other fancy slogan, it must step up its efforts in tackling corruption and its causes while upping the ante in its prosecution and recovery efforts so that we may begin to have confidence again in Project Nigeria. I believe the "Change Begins With Me" initiative is a unique derivative of the Change mantra, but the government has to realise that to effect change we need more than initiatives and slogans, we need the government to show the way.
I wish all my Muslim fellow Nigerians a safe and very happy Eid-el-Kabir.
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