By
Abayomi Ogundiya
We
say to them; "without you there is no us", when, in fact, without us
there should be no them.
Recently, I saw a promo on
television. It read: it is better to vote
for something you want and not get it than for you to vote for what you do not
want and get it. (However a paraphrased version, it captures the exact
sense of what was communicated). First thing I thought was: what is the
difference? If you chose something and you did not get it, what did you get?
Apparently, you got what you did not want, or even worse - nothing. And if you,
for whatever reason, chose something you did not want and you got it, you still
got the same thing - what you don't want. Now, it’s amazing that these guys
will say to our faces that we have no choice but to receive whatever they decide
to give us, regardless of our rights and entitlements.
Why do we have to choose between
a greater and lesser evil? Why do we have so many political parties and only
two Presidential candidates (all the rest are just escorts to the polls - do you
even know who they are?)? Why should we have a country filled with intelligent
people numbering in the millions and yet we can't produce good leaders? Why do
our cries land on deaf ears? It's simple, because one man was never meant to
depend on another for his progress in life. And every time we cry to the people
in leadership, we tell them that our fate is in their hands. Every time we
entreat them as though they were our benefactors, even though most of them have
enriched themselves corruptly with our abundance. We say to them; "without you there is no us", when, in fact,
without us there should be no them.
As long as we lift up our eyes to
political leaders for progress in our society and personal lives, so long shall
we remain at their mercy. Our paradigm must shift. We must recognize that the
responsibility and indeed the power to build our nation lie in our hands. It is
only when we arise to our responsibilities as citizens that we can have
sufficient power to challenge a corrupt leadership. A Yoruba proverb, loosely translated
says, if you haven't taken a hold of the sword, you mustn't ask how your father
died lest you die like your father.
Rather than emitting worthless
cries, we must arise and build capacity individually and collectively. We must
work towards becoming people who can influence the nation positively. We must
determine to be that generation of Nigerians who finally changed the nation
rather than just complain. We must arise and build the economy of OUR nation by
building legitimately prosperous companies and enterprises. We must reform OUR
educational system by building excellent institutions, not for fortune or
glamour or social divide, but to invest in our future - our children. We must
stamp out corruption from OUR nation by personally refusing to be a part of it.
We must keep Nigeria clean by personally refusing to litter it. We must do what
we can. WE MUST BE ACTION ORIENTED! What are you DOING to make Nigeria a better
nation?
We are fortunate to live in a
time in the history of our great nation, Nigeria, where an imminent change for
progress into true nationhood, cohesion and prosperity is upon us. This change
that I speak of will not be delivered to us by a political party but by our own
diligence to attain all that we could but we haven't yet. Every great person
and nation was forged out of a crucible of great trials. When the night seems
darkest, the day is about to break. Our challenges will not kill us, they, like
the furnace heat reveals the true beauty of gold; will cause our true beauty to
be revealed. On what side of history will you be? Will you be among those that
contributed to the nation's progress or among those who betrayed her by their
actions? Will you be among those who folded their arms and did nothing? Where
will your place in history be? You decide! I believe that if we all built our
capacity and did what we could, we would soon have the Nigeria of our dreams. So
stop the worthless cries, and do something! When we all do, it'll be easy to
deal with defaulters, even those in government.
Abayomi Ogundiya is the founder and CEO,
SLIMIC Publishers and lead Strategist at TENARC, a non-governmental
organization. He is a social entrepreneur and nation
builder, an insightful speaker and thought leader, a prolific writer and
published author. Having led in various capacities, he is well respected for
his ability to help people put together their innate resources to achieve
worthy goals.
@iycjma
+234 806 555 9076
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