Better Nigeria: Be the Change you seek

BY IPHIE MANUELZ 

In the days following the Dana crash, God rest the beautiful souls of all those we lost in that crash, I had the opportunity of speaking to a number of young people. Everybody was pretty vocal at that point, everyone had an opinion on what ought to be done, on how we can avert future disasters.



I stumbled on a rather mind numbing statistics, everybody was looking for the fastest way out of Nigeria. Oh My God. If I spoke to 20 people, 13 were looking for the fastest route out of Nigeria, while 5 were waiting patiently for their turn at helm of power so they could get their hands on a share of the national cake, and only 2 were looking for ways to move Nigeria forward. Dear Lord, I weep for the land of my birth.

I had just one question for all those in a hurry to leave Nigeria,  "if the citizens of the countries you are running to ran to other countries, would you have anywhere to run to?"

My answer to that was a simple and emphatic ‘NO’. If we don’t stay back to build Her, Nigeria would only continue to wallow in her rot.



Truth is the countries they are all running to are not even perfect, far from it. Thanks to my lovely parents, I have had the opportunity to live in the UK for the last eleven month. You want to know what I found out in my first month here, they have port-holes too, the light go off too, their buses are late too, the train has hitches too. But you know what they have that we don’t have? A system that works!! Yes a system that works. And a people that love their country so much. The moment a fault is noticed, it is called in and the authority in charge gets to work the moment it is reported.



The saying we are the change we seek comes to mind any time I think of Nigeria. For Nigeria to get better we have to be the change we want and work towards it. The fact that our leaders have failed us doesn't mean we have to remain stuck in the rot we find ourselves. I mean you work hard to make money; you don’t sit at home and wait for the government to come give you some. Why then does it have to be different for the change we are seeking for Nigeria, you don’t have to wait for the government to bring about the needed change, why not work towards it.



Making Nigeria a better place doesn't require a lot of work, it’s actually quite simple. If everyone just does his or her part, change would come to Nigeria, we would get the Nigeria we want. Truth is, Nigeria is not the problem, Nigerians are, the leaders are not Her biggest problem, Nigerians are. Or you want to blame Goodluck Jonathan for your taking bribe; you want to blame GEJ for your skipping the line in the bank. Is it GEJ’s fault that you decided to work your NYSC posting or it’s his fault that you decided to try your luck as a yahoo boy? You don’t go about taking bribes and expect Mr. B to reject bribes, come on he’s no fool, he would take it just like you. Besides you wouldn't have any moral justification to ask him to stop taking bribe. You don’t go about giving bribes and expect Nigeria to change. If we all just do our parts Nigeria would be great. If I do my job without taking bribes, is that not part of the change I seek, if I get to the front of the line without cutting the line is that not the change I seek. If I do the right things at the right time, is that not the change I seek, if pastors and imams remind their congregation that violence is not the way out, is that not the change we seek.



The truth is change would not come to Nigeria in a big way, it would not just be dropped on Nigerians, it would not happen overnight. Change would slowly creep up on us when we start practising the change we want to see, it would be a gradual process. At first we wouldn't even notice the change, until one day we wake up, and wow, we live in a different Nigeria. That our leaders are bad doesn't mean we have to descend to their level. Truth is they can’t get away with their corrupt ways without our assistance. Let’s assume I work in an office in charge of land allocation, and procedure demands that the papers have to be examined by three of my subordinates to ensure the land doesn't belong to someone else before I append my signature of approval. If I refuse to skip my subordinates' examination because the land in question belongs to the governor’s son and the police man refuses to be used as a thug to harass me into signing the papers. Is the change we seek for Nigeria not creeping up on her slowly?



Say this to yourself every day, 'I am the change I seek, I am the change Nigeria needs'. Do your part and leave the rest to your fellow countrymen.

'Be the change you seek'

I found a song that encourages me to make my little contribution to the change Nigeria needs. Timi Dakolo’s Great Nation. I listen to it every morning, it inspires me to keep fighting for the Nigeria I want.