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| Picture Source: www.pixabay.com |
Continued
from the previous post. You can read the previous articles through these links:
1, 2, 3.
3. Attack the Root Causes
If the leaders that we have are not
ready to help us, then we must help ourselves. If the people that have been
voting in unpatriotic leaders have been voting wrongly then we must start
educating them. It may be true that majority of our legislators (senators and
representatives) are not absolutely selfless people. It may be true that
majority of Nigerian politicians are potential political investors seeking to
get elected and recoup their investments through profits that are dangerous to
Nigeria’s future. But, even if it is absolutely true that many of our elected
leaders don’t do the best they should actually do while in office, that reality
will not change if we don’t do something about it. Our legislators have the
power to do a lot more than they presently do. If they truly bear the interest
of the people at heart, they are able to use policies to influence positive
change, make political offices attractive to only those that want to serve
Nigeria, reduce the cost of governance, mitigate corruption across all levels
and fix the impossible insecurity problem over time and even checkmate the
almighty president whenever he slacks. But they will only do those things and
perhaps more if they are properly installed by the people themselves. Most of
the leaders that are elected to hold forth in Abuja are not affected by the
concerns of most Nigerians. They were not absolutely given a seat there by people
who may not have means but have many excellent leadership options. So, the laws
that most of them make are made by choice and interest and not by commitment
and accountability. On the face of it, their money got them there not their
readiness to serve.
So, what’s your role in all these? Your
role is to start from where you are with what you have. Get your PVC. Get
concerned about the selection process of the person that will sit over the
funds allocated to your local government. If you already know that the monies
some of our leaders misappropriate, even when borrowed by the entire nation,
belongs to every Nigerian, and that it should get to everyone in form of good
roads, better healthcare, quality education, affordable food and shelter,
reliable electricity, effective security, etc. and that the misappropriation of
such monies is the reason why some (but quite many) people die through road
accidents and insecurity or healthcare issues, students get poor education, people
become corrupt to prosper or even survive in our society, business becomes
quite expensive to run, etc., then start doing something effective about it
henceforth. If you didn’t think of it that way before, well now you should. So,
start enlightening those that are yet to see these root causes as our problems
and encourage them to take responsibility within their vicinity. That is one
way to help ourselves.
Most of all, examine yourself often
and sincerely. Ask yourself, with the kind of decisions I make each day, the
kind of life I am living right now, if I were to be the Ward Counsellor, the Local Government Chairman, a Member of the State or Federal House of Representatives, a Senator, the Governor of my state or even the President of my country,
would Nigeria get better or worse? Would my reasons for getting angry about
poor governance in the first place be justifiable? When you ask these
questions, you will sense the truth. So, if sense that you’re not good enough,
try to become a better Nigerian because there will always be room for more improvement.
Most times, people get the kind of leaders they deserve. But we are clamoring
that we deserve better than we are getting right now and we truly do. So, let’s
make sure that we ourselves are more than the mere culprits that many of our
leaders think we are. Let’s start making a difference. Let's fix this nation.
