Change agenda and endless controversies

If the promoters of the new national re-orientation campaign tagged ‘Change begins with me’ had envisaged the level of criticism, cynicism and pessimism it would elicit, perhaps they would have had a rethink before proceeding to unveil it.

Even though the campaign came with mixed reactions amongst Nigerians, the number of those opposed to it far outweighs the admirers.

On Thursday, September 8, President Muhammadu Buhari officially launched the national re-orientation campaign, more than 15 months after assuming office. The programme hopes to encourage a new culture of transparency, attitudinal change, hard work and discipline amongst Nigerians.

Speaking as a Special Guest at the launch of the programme initiated by the National Orientation Agency (NOA) under the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture, President Buhari charged Nigerians not to see the ‘change’ slogan of his administration only in terms of social and economic reforms but also in the role that individual citizens must play in actualising it.
He also used the occasion to sue for national consensus amongst Nigerians on issues ranging from spirit of service to patriotism.

“We must resist the temptation to fall back on the same partisanship, pettiness and immaturity that have poisoned our country for so long. Let us summon a new spirit of responsibility, spirit of service, of patriotism and sacrifice, Let us all resolve to pitch in and work hard and look after, not only ourselves but one another.

“What the current problem has taught us is that we cannot have a thriving army of rent seekers and vested interests, while the majority suffers,” the President stated.
While proponents say the President’s speech is timely and a call to Nigerians not to ask what the country can do for them but what they can do for the country, opponents argued that there is no known historical precedent where the people led the change paradigm without the leadership.

Coming at a time Nigerians are grappling with the excruciating pains of economic recession, the change agenda has been plagued by wrong timing, abdication of responsibility and plagiarism.

According to the recent report by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the number of unemployed citizens has reached a record high of 4.5million since the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led government took over from the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) on May 29, 2015.

Experts say the growing band of young, restless population without jobs is a ticking time-bomb waiting to explode. The rising poverty manifests daily across the country with stories of more families going to bed on empty stomach, some eating leaves and lizards to survive and women going into homes to steal pots of soups from their neighbours.

Some critics have punctured the new campaign, saying it is not only diversionary but shifts attention from the luxurious lifestyle of the Presidency, which spent N5billion on the Presidential fleet in 15 months. President Buhari had promised Nigerians to cut the cost of governance by selling a part of his presidential air fleet. There are currently 11 presidential jets in the Presidency.
This is not the first time a national re-orientation campaign is launched in the country; the last being ‘Good people, great nation’ initiated by the late Dora Akunyili during the Yar-Adua/Jonathan administration. However, with allegations of corruption levelled against members of Buhari’s kitchen cabinet and at a time Nigerians are looking up to the ruling party to fulfill its campaign promises of stabilisation of the Naira, provision of one free meal daily for public and primary school pupils nationwide, creation of 720,000 jobs in the 36 states of the Federation yearly, payment of allowances to discharged corps members while unemployed, provision of free education to tertiary level for students in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) and Education Fields, payment of N5,000 monthly to 25 million poorest Nigerians, creation of 5million new home owners, political commentators say the change mantra may have hit a brick wall.

Ironically, some of the President’s staunch supporters are already distancing themselves from the programme.
One of them is Inibehe Effiong, who has taken to social media to reject the change agenda. For him, the programme is an attempt by the ruling party to shift responsibility from leadership to followership.

While stressing that the campaign is dead on arrival, the legal practitioner and convener, Coalition of Human Rights Defenders lamented that leadership failure has plagued the nation over the years and Buhari has dashed the hopes of those who voted for him.

“Change does not begin with me. Change should begin with President Muhammadu Buhari and his government. This campaign is another diversionary tactics by the ruling class to alter the narrative of the leadership failure that has plagued our nation over the years. Just like previous similar campaigns, this one will not yield any tangible result.
“Let President Buhari and his government practise the change that they preach and Nigerians will follow suit. The attempt to shift responsibility from the leadership to the followership is unacceptable.

“In any case, it was Buhari and his party that promised Nigerians change and not the other way round. If this is an attempt to distract our attention from the terrible and excruciating economic situation in the country it has failed already,” he stated.
By the same token, the Director General Change Ambassadors of Nigeria, Chris Nwaokobia also shares the same sentiment. He likened the campaign to shifting a goal post in the middle of a football game, urging the President to show the way and the people will follow.
A school-of-thought also believes that the initiative is wrongly timed, as it ought to have commenced by May 29, 2015 when the President assumed office and not 15 months later.
Former Chairman, National Human Rights Commission Chidi Odinkalu, belongs to this school-of-thought. According to him, the President is yet to discharge what he termed ‘the burden of change’ he promised Nigerians.
He said he could not connect the new campaign with the three cardinal campaign promises of the Buhari administration centred on security, fixing the economy and anti-corruption.
About two weeks after the launch, the NOA – the initiator of the programme – is yet to commence sensitisation across the country. Speaking on a live television programme monitored by BDSUNDAY, the Director General, Voice of Nigeria (VON), Osita Okechukwu, attributed it to lack of funds, lamenting that a full page advertorial in the national dailies cost a minimum of N144,000.

Notwithstanding, the project has also drawn some admirers like the Sultan of Sokoto, Sa’ad Abubakar III, who submitted that the President needs commendation for this initiative.
The monarch said Nigerians should start the campaign by self-appraisal, looking inwards, reappraisal of behaviours and attitudes from all spheres of endeavours, describing it as timely.
“The president deserves commendation for making this bold move christened, ‘The change begins with me’. The campaign cannot come at a better time than now when Nigeria is in dire need of change.
“Change is, however, very unpalatable and pretty difficult as such Nigerians should be cooperative and patient. Destruction is always very easy, while reconstruction takes more time and patience is required,” he stated.

In what seemed like an endless controversy, President Buhari and the Minister of Information Lai Mohammed have also been accused of plagiarism.
For instance, the President has been accused of lifting quotes from a 2008 speech by United States President Barack Obama, even as two writers, Akin Fadeyi and Omor Bazuaye, have accused the minister of stealing an idea they shared with him and presenting it to the country as his.

Bazuaye, who published an article laying out his allegations against Mohammed on social media, claimed that the national re-orientation campaign slogan, ‘Change Begins With Me’, a replica of their own campaign ‘Not In My country’ which he developed with Fadeyi in 2006.
He also claimed that Mohammed repackaged their idea after they shared it with him, without acknowledgement or carrying them along in its adoption, and implementation by the Federal Government.