Change begins with me and also with you and we must earnestly contend for the change that we truly desire in Nigeria. No matter the political divide one belongs to, no nobody can deny the fact that we really need change as such a time as this in our country.
Since the launch of the “Change Begins With Me” campaign by President Muhammadu Buhari, Nigerians have been reacting on the significance of the campaign. Some of my university school mates have called me to get my reaction on the reorientation campaign for obvious reasons: in 2009, my friends and I launched the campaign “Change Begins With You” in the University of Abuja .To drive home our points we formed the organization; Bandwagon for Positive Change Initiative. The campaign was premised on the need for value reorientation and patriotism among Nigerians especially among the youths and leaders of our nation.
As the pioneer President of the group, I made many efforts to sell the message to the government of the day; I met with the former Director General of National Orientation Agency, Mr. Idi Farouk, solicited the Ministries of Youths and Sports and Information and Communication detailing the visions of the organization but unfortunately we were not able to secure the support of the government as that time. However, this didn’t discourage us from canvassing our message to our immediate communities.
So having campaigned for change I see no reason why I should not be in support of the current campaign of “Change Begins With Me” my only reservation is that the messengers of this campaign have not really defined what kind of change should begin with the masses. For now it’s is a blanket campaign. Government needed to define what type of cooperation it needed from the population; it ought to have come up with areas of priority. Although many would say, the campaign is hinged on national rebirth, aimed at persuading citizen to imbibe the virtues of patriotism, honesty, discipline, and other necessary values. If this were to be the aim of the campaign, promoters of the initiative needed to display some form of tact while launching the campaign. The speech by the President while launching the “Change Begins with Me” initiative was to say the least dispiriting. Here, am not interested about the issue of plagiarism but about the general tone and content of the speech.
“Our citizens must realize that the change they want to see begins with them, and that personal and social reforms are not theoretic exercise. If you have not seen the change in you, you cannot see it in others or even the larger society. In other words, before you ask ‘where is the change they promised us’, you must first ask how far have I changed my ways ‘what have I done to be part of the change for the greater good of society’ ” President Buhari said.
This is not how to persuade a people if you ask me. The President opining that political and economic change in the society is tied to the attitudinal change of the people is clearly out of place. How can a President who came into power with so much hope be shifting responsibilities that citizens must either change or forget about the promised change, this to me is not persuasive but coercive. The President from his tone sounded like a defeated leader, he implies that the people must first change before he delivers his electoral promises, ‘if you don’t change, then I cannot give you change that I promised’.
Yes, change begins with the citizens and indeed the change has since begun with the people since March 28, 2015; when Nigerians voted out a party that had ruled Nigeria for sixteen years. Nigerians were acting in line with change when they decided voted out an incumbent President. Nigerians had changed in their minds when they collectively agreed that a former dictator and a man who overthrew a democratically elected government should be their president thirty years after. These are indices that change has since begun with the masses.
But the same cannot be said to be the case for the beneficiaries of the change; the government. What has government done to inspire hope; what has President Buhari done to ensure that Nigerian roads are no longer death traps, what is he doing to ensure that social justice is achieved in Nigeria; what has President Buhari and his team done to breach the gap between the rich and the poor, what has the President done differently from his predecessors in the area of employment generation?
In this time of economic recession citizens expect that government officials would demonstrate a high level of sacrifice by reducing or even forgoing most if their official allowance to reflect the economic mood of the nation; but not even the President has suggested in his body language that sacrifice is needed at such a time. We talk about change beginning with the masses while the political class continues to live in exuberance at the detriment of the collective progress of the nation. Change cannot begin with the masses when government has refused to commit itself to change, especially as it relates to change of attitude, values and morals.
Written by Ominabo Wealth Dickson.
@OminaboWealth
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