Day 274 (Two-Hundred & Seventy-Four) of 365 days
When a country is led by politicians with very limited vision, driven largely by a selfish mentality, there can be hardly progress. Nigerians desire to progress on all fronts and a march to greatness where wealth is created and prosperity is guaranteed for all. Unfortunately, the tragedy is that the majority of Nigerians are still finding it difficult to understand that they hold the power to turn things around by voting out the “bad guys” because of the sobering statistics of underdevelopment that we are annually confronted with. Elections can be rigged but we can also refuse to be used by politicians; it means election rigging and violence can be avoided if we think ideally.
We have been held down by political ideology of patronage, identity, bitterness, acrimony and do-or-die which ensures that the same set of politicians – some of them stark illiterates and others who claim to be educated who actually neither positive knowledge nor vision – are re-cycled every election season. We complain about our constitution, but according to Simon Kolawole’s, the problem is with us, the operators of the constitution, and not the harmless document. The solution is to change the way we think and behave like Rotarians who ‘think above self”.
BUILDING a better Nigeria simply means building a better you. This is the first and greatest of steps toward building a better Nigeria. “The strength of a nation,” says Samuel Smiles “depends on the character of the people. Individual development is national development.” We all wish to wake up one morning and find that everything has changed. We all are looking for one big change that will make our country better forgetting the fact that we are the change we seek. As the Chinese proverb goes: “The man who removes a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.” To defeat the corruption in our country is to begin by defeating the greed inside of us. If you think the little things you do every day are too small to make an impact; if you feel your daily thoughts and actions do not have an impact on the general change you seek, try doing something bad in the presence of a child. In the past, I wanted to change the world, but then I realised I have to make a better me. I have to change myself first, then the world will change alongside me.
Each new government promises it will never make the same mistakes its predecessors made. The leading lights in the administration promise to bring a positive change; to break the patterns of failure. They promise to make Nigeria a better place. But deep inside their hearts, they do not desire true change. They do not have the interest of the people in their hearts. All they want is for self-gratification. The new administration is faced with onerous challenges it inherited. This is evident, today, in many ways. There is still a high rate of crimes. There are insecurity, greed, bribery and corruption, examination malpractices, rot in the system, poverty, illiteracy, looting, money laundering etc. However, with all these happening around us, we must not be tired of doing the right thing. We must not be tired of voting for people that will lead us. We will continue to vote and vote until we get the right set of leaders. We will make our mistakes, learn our lessons and avoid making them in the next election.
We are the drivers of success and prosperity. From our thoughts originates our world. We have held ourselves, in a way, from our negative thoughts about the country. We should be careful of what we say and think about our country and ourselves. Imagine when 170 million people hold the same thought of cursing and abusing the country they live in, condemning the nation, accusing everyone of being corrupt except themselves, yelling and crying for change but are not ready to do anything about it. “The thought manifests as the word,” says Buddha, “the word manifests as the deed, the deed develops into habits. And the habit hardens into character. So watch the thought and its ways with care. And let it spring from love, borne out of concerns for all beings.”
I dream of a prosperous country where every Nigerian will live in dignity. I dream of an end to high levels of poverty, inequality and unemployment in Nigeria. I dream of a Nigeria where the rule of law will prevail and where there will be observance of human rights. I dream of a united, stable and peaceful country. I dream of a Nigeria where ethnic and religious militancy will be a thing of the past; and where there will be no basis to reward ethnic and religious militants with amnesty and juicy government contracts.
At 61, Nigeria should not be groping in the dark. There have been numerous wasted opportunities, no doubt, but it takes just a right turn at any second for a vehicle in the middle of nowhere to find its bearing. Together, we can make Nigeria better!
