The Nigeria project has been on my mind for decades now and the more I try to forget about Nigeria and her problems, the more I get a push that I should not be discouraged in joining hands with other patriots in finding solutions to the problems of Nigeria. However from my experience over the years, I have come to a conclusion that most Nigerians do more of complaining when there is a national problem than take the expected actions to solve the problem.
On this note, I have been trying all these years to factor out what is the root cause of this attitude of complaining and not taking the right action, knowing that the same people will do everything to confront and solve any problem confronting their families or immediate communities, but when it come to national issues, the same people will end up complaining and doing nothing or very little about it.
Many youths have lost their lives in the course of defending the territories of their villages in inter communal clashes, but the same set of youths are not ready to sacrifice a pin for the development of their dear country. This is just an example and not in any way supporting any form of violence or communal clashes, because I believe that most of those clashes would have been averted if the right decisions were taken earlier.
Why am I coming from this angle? Answer: Because I have been active in the struggle for a better Nigeria since the era of the military leadership till date. I have been involved in the planning and execution of several protests from a non violent perspective to change the narrative of bad leadership and corruption in Nigeria.
I have founded and worked in many Nationalistic organizations from my student days till date, so I am writing from more than two decades of experience of active participation in promoting progressive governance in Nigeria.
It really surprises me why people should not defend the interest of their country, which is the singular factor that determines their peaceful and economic well being, but will rather focus more efforts at village and ethnic units.
However, after giving it a deep thought, I am now of the opinion that this attitude of most Nigerians shying away from contributing effectively to solving national challenges is either due to gross ignorance on the part of such citizens on how a nation works, or it is just being Kobo wise and Naira foolish.If we use the same zeal we put up in defending our families and villages to defend the common interest of Nigeria, the country would have soared to the sky in development for ages.
At this point, let us now remind ourselves that It is Nigeria that has the Naira as a legal tender, not any village, ethnic or religious group, and it is the value of the Naira which is actually the state of the economy that influences so many other dynamics in our society.
So, if you decide to defend your village, ethnic or religious group and neglect the overall interest of Nigeria, it is actually a foolish decision because the state of the Naira will soon affect you wherever you are either positively or negatively. Your decision and action about Nigeria is what determines the peace and prosperity of the country. You cannot go it alone. You need the happiness and comfort of others all over the country for you to be truly comfortable in the real sense.
If you have so much money and yet surrounded by criminals, armed robbers, kidnappers, different crises and their likes, I wonder how you can enjoy such money. Even when you travel abroad, you are scorned at as a rich fool and a nonentity in their society. Yes, they may benefit from whatever ill gotten wealth you take there because you are actually boosting their economies, but in the real sense, you are being looked upon as a foolish rich man that has no place of repute in their society.
Most analysts may be quick to say that the unpatriotic dispositions of most Nigerians today is because of the ill treatment that citizens received from the country (Nigeria) over the years. According to them, this lack of commitment to pursuing positive national ideals in Nigeria is a natural response of the citizens to the neglect suffered over time.
Yes, they are right to an extent, but in my opinion, in as much as this is a contributing factor to the lackadaisical attitude of most Nigerians towards committing themselves to solving national problems today, it shouldn’t be an excuse to join in the destruction of the country.
For example, if you return home from work and find rubbish packed into your bedroom, it is expected that as a sane and decent person, the best thing to do is to first of all clean the rubbish and make the room conducive again before taking your rest.
If you complain only about the dirty room and lie on your bed in that condition, you may wake up the next day infected by germs and this may land you in the hospital. So, what could have taken just your physical energy and perhaps a cheap disinfectant to address will now cost thousands of Naira to address.
This is the same scenario playing out today in Nigeria. If the citizens of today's Nigeria feel that Nigeria is packed full of rubbish, we should be working very hard to clean the rubbish rather than joining hands in heaping more rubbish on the system.
My take is that when a father decides to send his children to school to have the best of education, knowingly or unknowingly, what he wants is for the children to give the best to themselves and the family after graduation. It is like what most communities used to practice in those days when they contribute money to send one or two persons to school overseas.
The expectation from such a community is that their children who benefited from the communal efforts will come back home either directly or remotely after graduation to help the community to move forward. But in a situation where such people after graduation deserts the community because they feel they are no more of the same class of reasoning with their local people, such beneficiaries can be termed ingrates and total failures.
In my view, what such beneficiaries are expected to do is come back to the community, review the activities and some of the practices of the community and proposed better measures to improve existing practices or replace bad ones. It may take some time for the people to accept those suggestions and change their ways, but it is the moral responsibility of such beneficiaries of the kindness and support of their home community to be patient with them until they change their ways.
On the other hand, for such people to come back and join the non civilized practices of the community after the exposure they must have had from education, the investment on them by the community can been seen as wasted, because no work was done to improve the status of the community.
This is the same scenario playing out today in this generation of Nigerians. Today, I believe, even though without any scientific proof that at least most communities in Nigeria can boast of one or two graduates from higher institutions and all these graduates benefitted one way or the other from Nigeria during the course of their education.
If they did not benefit directly by attending subsidized Federal or State owned schools, they benefited indirectly because most of the teachers and lecturers that taught them graduated from government schools.
So, if they benefited one way or the other from the Nigerian system, they should also think of being a part of the solution to the problems of the country and not just remain arm chair critics, complainants and devourers.
My argument here is that there is always something to complain about in life because there is no perfect system on earth, but complaining alone is not enough; taking the right action is what is required.
Most of us complain of how our past leaders mismanaged and defrauded Nigeria one way or the other, but instead of detesting such acts in truth and in spirit and seeking out solutions to the problems, most of us are praying for the day it will get to their turn so that they can also steal from the people.
This is wicked and ungodly and any population that has more people thinking like this cannot grow, because they are complaining due to the fact that they are not among those defrauding the nation, and not because they truly want a genuine change that will affect the lives of everybody positively. We must change our ways if we want God to help us out of our problems.
If for instance you have suffered from tribal and religious discrimination in the past, you should make up your mind that you will not be an agent of tribal or religious discrimination in the future because you don’t want other people to feel the pain you felt.
But if your resolve is to unleash untold hardship on others if given the opportunity because of what you suffered, then you are a total failure before your country and God Almighty. Nigeria sent you to school for you to solve the problem of poverty, disunity, corruption and others and not for you to add to the problem.
Most of us want to add to the problem perhaps because of what we suffered in the hands of leaders or fellow citizens, but this cannot yield any good result. In fact, this is the reason Nigeria is not growing the way she should, and has made most citizens to be thirsty in the midst of water.
Now, the 2019 elections are around the corner, and most Nigerians are looking for where the money will flow from before they commit themselves to any political party.
Politicians are aligning and realigning not because of the need to render selfless services to the nation but for what they can get in terms of money and contracts now and in the future at the expense of the common man. This is wicked and I want those people to know that they are enemies of God and God will not be patient forever.
On the side of the voters, most voters go to polling units waiting for the highest bidder to trade off their economy, prosperity and peace for four years for a pittance. This is also evil and let any man or woman trading out their votes get ready to suffer for another four years. Trading your votes actually attracts a curse from God on you whether you know it or not.
At the end of the day, when the economy crumbles or wobbles due to mismanagement and outright looting, and perhaps some of our misguided youths take into crime, armed robbery, kidnapping ,terrorism and other vices, the same politicians that caused the problem will start complaining and running for cover. But the truth is that such politicians are actually reaping from the fruit they sowed in the past.
Also, due to the mismanagement and corruption caused by false leaders voted into power, the same citizens that voted for ethnic, religious or for money sentiments will be enmeshed in daily lamentations of how things are no more working, but the truth is they are also reaping from the evil seed sown during past elections because they took a pot of porridge and sold their birth rights.
Both ways, we have become a complaining nation and population without taking the right action. Selfless service to the nation is now a very scarce commodity. Selfishness and self-centeredness is now the order of the day in the Nigeria of today. This must stop if we want to move forward as a nation. If we neglect the youths today, we are asking for anarchy tomorrow.
To conclude, let me now ask you, how you are preparing for the 2019 general election. Will you vote for ethnic, religious or money sentiments? The choice is yours. Remember, you are going to vote another four years of either sorrow or happiness based on the quality of leaders you choose.
Also, remember that God is watching to reward every man according to the seed sown. God Bless Nigeria and we invite you to join this positive National Discourse as we take another step to define our destiny for another four years. -
Esanerovo Agbodo is Interim National Co-ordinator of the 2019 Nigeria Think Thank.
