Better Nigeria: Little Me, Powerful Me

By Iphie Obiechina

Everyday I see things that make me wonder if we are really interested in the change we are all clamouring for, more often than not it is the little thing we do, which we take for granted that makes me wonder. On Sunday morning while trying to get to church, I saw something that again caused me to wonder if we really want this change, I would need to give some background information to help you understand where I am coming from. If you are catholic, you know that this is the peak period for harvest and bazaar activities, and my church like any catholic church in Nigeria, is the middle of harvest activities. What this invariably means is that, masses that were ordinarily wrapped up in under 2 hours now have an additional 30 minutes added to it, automatically this means that people who are coming for the 8am and 10am masses get stuck in traffic while waiting for the earlier masses to be done, so the parking lot can be vacated by those who attended that mass.

Now you have mental picture of what I am talking about, right? So there I was in the slow moving traffic, waiting for my turn to get to the front and be shown a spot to park, I knew I was going to be late, I left my house at 8am on the dot, so there was no magic that was going to get me into church before the first reading and that was ok since it was my fault. The queue was moving slowly but steadily, when suddenly a woman pulls out and drives to the front, before you know it, two other cars join her and they all hustle to get to the front of the line, the guys in charge let them cut in front of others who waited patiently for their turn, luckily no other person joined them, they were the only jumpers I saw that morning.

Three things struck me that morning as I looked and all three made me wonder if we really want a better Nigeria or if we just mouth these words because they seem to be what’s trending at the moment.

First and foremost, why jump the queue in the first place; we would all get to church late anyway. It is never ok to jump the queue, no matter where you are, it is both annoying and insulting to those of us who got there before you did, but is it ok to bring your dirty behaviour to the house of God? I don’t know if I am the only one who thinks, that we should all try to put on our best behaviour before God, especially when we come to his house. Now we all shout about how corrupt our leaders are, thinking that corruption is one big evil monster that we can’t relate to, but in reality it is not. Corruption is also the little things we do, which know are not right but go ahead to make our lives easier and smoother.  We are all old enough to know what is right and what is wrong; there are some things we shouldn’t be talking about at this point. If you go about doing what you know is wrong just to make your life easy, what moral standing do you have to castigate our leaders who are corrupt. I am not trying to say it is ok for our leaders to be corrupt and that we cant call them out when they are, I am just saying make sure you lead an upright life. Sometimes I wonder about the future of this country, if even at the lowest level we think it is ok to be corrupt, if for the little things we choose to be corrupt, when we become leaders tomorrow, we would also think it is ok to be corrupt, but if we start training ourselves now, when we eventually get to leadership positions it would be easier to resist the temptation of corruption.

The second thing that struck me was the actions of the security men that let these three cars pass. It reminds me of Nigerians and our leaders and how we have made it acceptable for them to be corrupt, when we turn a blind eye towards corrupt practices, we let corruption grow. We all have to stand up and take a stand against corruption, instead of just sitting by and doing nothing. At that moment, those ‘lowly’ security men, who we sometimes tend to forget or even look down on, had all the power in the world to do what he pleased to these ‘almighty’ car owner. They had the power to send them back to the beginning of the queue, where they belonged, they also had the right to block the way so they were unable to move forward and had to sit in the same spot for a little while to contemplate what they had done. They had all the power in the world at that moment to do as they saw right and they would have had the support of the majority, but it is unfortunate that they let them in without so much as a warning, implying that it is ok to jump the queue as there would be no consequence and making it easy for them to repeat same elsewhere or on the next Sunday. Corruption also amongst our leaders wouldn’t be so easy, if we the ‘lowly’ working class citizens don’t permit it, if we don’t aid and abet it. These leaders can't be successful at carrying out their corrupt practices alone, they need help from others, whether it is your signature to get funds from the office account, or its making use of your account to move office funds. The truth is more often than not, we have the power to do something when faced with corrupt practices of our superior or even among people of equal rank, but we choose to turn a blind eye or join them.

But the most important thing that struck me was that, two of those three cars had little impressionable children seated in them. The family, as we all know is the primary moulding ground for individual that make up the society and that would eventually become leaders of our country. The parents therefore, have a very important role to play in the future of this country; they determine the direction the country would take.  I am not a parents, but I was once a child, so I know that children usually learn faster by example and they tend to imitate what they see. You could go on and on about why something is bad or good and they might eventual pick up the lesson you are trying to teach them, but more often than not the pick up the habits and behaviours of their parents and those around them faster than any oral message you are trying to pass along. The moment you make the decision to become a parent, it is assumed that you have also taking up the responsibility of moulding a morally upright member of the society, and this is not a decision to be taken lightly. I felt sad seeing the children in those cars, because their parents were indirectly teaching them that it was ok to do whatever takes to get ahead, it didn’t matter whether it was right or wrong. Parents and future parents hold the future of Nigeria in their hand and its time to start treating that future with respect, like they care about it, they determine the turn Nigeria would take and its time they start taking that future seriously. When eventually your children become leaders, you wouldn’t have the moral grounds to chastise them, because you taught them that it was ok to do whatever it took to make their lives a little easier, even if not with your words, but by your actions.

We all claim to want a better Nigeria, yet things are still the same, we pay lip service to the concept of a better Nigeria without working towards bettering her. Its time for us to start working towards the Nigeria we want by making adjustments to the little things that we do.