Nigerians, let’s be the change we  want to see !

Nigeria is an intriguing Country. Every Nigerian is a great critic. Every Nigerian can pontificate on what ought to be done but it is not being done. Many Nigerians complain everyday about something that is not going well in their companies, businesses, their offices, their communities, their States and in the entire Nation. Most Nigerians that I meet will complain of the high level of corruption in our Country and will then accuse all of our leaders of being corrupt. Nigerians justifiably are dissatisfied with our level of development giving our resource base- human and material.

But my question has always been: if every Nigerian knows what is right and does what is right, who then is responsible for the unsatisfactory state of affairs? If we all are not corrupt and we all abhor corruption, why do we seem to have a permanent position on the bottom of the Corruption Perception Index(CPI) of the Transparency International, year after year? Is it the dead, ghosts or aliens that are doing the wrong things or doing things wrong, while we the living ‘saints’ are painted in the wrong colors?

It can not be argued that our governments are not making some effort, even if they fall behind our expectations. Take the issue of corruption for example. The Federal Government established the Code of Conduct Bureau, the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission( ICPC), the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission( EFCC),to support the Police in fighting corruption. The Federal Government established the Bureau for Public Procurement( BPP) to minimize if not to eliminate corrupt practices in Public procurement at the Federal level. Many States have also established similar Bureaus. But despite all these agencies and more, are we becoming better or worse? Many commentators, including International Agencies think we are worse? Why?

The truth if it must be told is that many of us want change but do not want to change or do not know how to change. Giving the vehemence with which Nigerians repugnate criminal, corrupt or antisocial behavior, it looks to me that we want change, but are only expecting the change from others and not from us. We complain that the one government officer is corrupt but we find that the replacement soon gets sucked into the game and sometimes becomes worse.Then we ask that he be removed and then the cycle continues.

Tired of Preaching the gospel every Sunday with minimal impact on the moral standing of the Nation, the African Forum on Religion and Development( AFRED) held the ‘ Be the change you want to see National Conference 2014’ in Abuja last month. Hear them” We have observed with pain and deep displeasure the steep decline in morals and values among our adherents and citizens of our Country Nigeria across ALL FAITHS AND CULTURES, which is largely responsible for the CORRUPTION, VIOLENCE AND DECADENCE we witness today at the FAMILY, COMMUNITY AND NATIONAL LIFE in our Nation. Our Nation is today trapped in avoidable violence,crimes,poverty and pain because we have often emphasized the legalistic approach of law enforcement without adequate attention to the DECAY OF VALUES. The Church has decided to take the bull of Moral decay in our Society by the horn by launching this Nation-wide, all Christian denominational campaign FOR RESTORATION OF VALUES, based on our Christian faith and teachings as summarized in the Holy Bible. CHANGE WITHIN OURSELVES as a basis for change in the society in what we seek. We believe that the Church can change Nigeria by living as the Bible expects us to. It is our conviction that if enough Christians begin to live upright, Godly lives, they will influence the overall society positively. The conditions of things in our Country today demand that we take DRASTIC STEPS TO HELP Christians live out the tenets of the Christian faith in all spheres of society where they find themselves”

‘Oyibo! Turenchi!’, that’s what I will have exclaimed if I was not present at the conference and just read this their vision statement in the media perhaps as you are reading it now. I did not make the exclamation nor followed up with the sobriquet ‘ we have heard this before’ because of two things. First is the what they said in the concluding paragraph : “ THAT WE TAKE DRASTIC STEPS TO HELP CHRISTIANS live out the tenets of the Christian faith”. Nigerian Christians certainly do need plenty of HELP to change. Merely listening to sermons on Sundays will not do it for many especially when they have not allowed the Spirit to take hold of them completely.

Second and importantly was because I participated in Workshop at the conference in which some genuine and practical efforts were made to help us change. We were arranged into what they called Spheres of the Society-Education,Economic/Business,Government, News Media, Family, Religion and Celebration( Music,Sports,Drama/films,culture). In these workshops which were held concurrently in two sessions( Morning and afternoon), some distinguished facilitators helped each delegate understand his or her own undercurrent values and motives that drive his or her actions under different circumstances using a workbook and group discussions. That is, the starting point is a frank admission and understanding of each persons strength and weaknesses especially under different situations and circumstances: for example what is your attitude towards money when you earn it,lose it ,when you borrow and can’t pay or when People borrow from you and can’t  pay; what is your behavior when in need and you meet a Politician or your creditor?

After this soul searching baseline setting of our intrinsic values and motives, we moved on to develop a plan of action for personal character development and value cultivation, borrowing from the self- development systems of Benjamin Franklin, the famous US Diplomat and inventor . We were encouraged to develop a list of values or virtues we wish to cultivate to make us be the person we wish to be. We then were to use Benjamin Franklin’s Development form to monitor each value for a given number of days or weeks. We are to place a black dot on each the the virtues we are monitoring any time we go against the targeted value. We are to continue this over a year’s period or so, until  the dots disappear, indicating that we have inculcated the particular virtue under different circumstances in our system. We must  consciously monitor each value until the deficiency is eliminated or becomes better managed.

In addition to the conscious effort of developing a system of strengthening our character and managing weaknesses, we also had a workshop on assessing deteriorating Values in our Spheres of Influence or Profession. Here we undertook the exercise of looking deep within our spheres of professional influence and assessed the undercurrent Critical issues that have made transformation nearly impossible over these years despite all the governmental efforts . Having done that, we proceeded to establish clear cut objectives to address the identified issues. We were then encouraged to make firm commitments individually and collectively to continue this exercise within our professional and business circles with a view to leading the way to true transformation in our professional and business sectoral conducts.

It was indeed a tedious exercise which we have since continued on returning to our normal routines. Have we all changed? May be not, but no one who came to that conference went back the same. Everyone in my opinion left the conference, at least conscious that meaningful change in our society can only come with each individual making the effort to change, at least one step at a time. We learnt to wean ourselves from the escapist tendency to blame other people for the problems of society and began to learn how to make conscious effort to become the change we want to be. It took Benjamin Franklin 80 days to develop the plan for regulating his future conduct and did his best to achieve his vision: “I wished to live without committing any fault at any time”. I have decided to emulate Benjamin Franklin and I sincerely encourage all Nigerians to adopt the same Vision, especially for those of us who truly wish our Nation to change and become the Nation of our dream. It will involve real hard work, not just wishes, not mere samonizing nor regular demonizing . I believe that with the help of God we can . So let’s try.

Mazi Sam Ohuabunwa