In 2018, I had a personal “eureka moment” that changed everything about the direction of my life: If I died, and got to the judgment throne and was asked – what did you do with all the talent and skills that I blessed you with? Will “setting up businesses, taking care of my family, and helping those around me” suffice? I imagined that there will be a follow-up question – what did you do to make your country, Nigeria a better place, because taking care of yourself and those closest to you was not enough.
I have always thought of myself as one that was truly deeply blessed with plenty of talents and skills, and I am in no way unique in this regard. Since primary school at Nazareth in Festac Town, to Kings College, University of Lagos and in my early career at the investment bank – IBTC, I have met thousands of similarly gifted, talented and blessed people in Nigeria.
This eureka moment that I had, I now direct it to the hundreds of thousands out there with similar gifts and talents that I have not and may never have the pleasure to meet. Is taking care of ourselves and our families enough?
Is having an NGO and sponsoring as many underprivileged children to school enough – while the root causes of the impoverishment persist? Isn’t there a bigger prize to which we can aspire? Isn’t there a lever of fulcrum that we can find and turn to transform our society on a macro-level rather than trying to intervene only on the micro-level?
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What has made western Europe, Scandinavia, America, Canada, UAE and Singapore greater than the rest of the world. Isn’t it clear that the words of Kwame Nkrumah to “Seek first the political kingdom and everything else will be added to us” is absolutely true?
Or the famous statement attributed to the Greek philosopher Plato that “one of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors? Even Socrates also famously said that “the wise who refuse to rule should prepare to suffer the rule of idiots” It was George Orwell the author of Animal Farm who described this problem even further when he said that “a people who elect corrupt politicians, thieves, impostors and traitors are not victims, but accomplices.
Can you not see that most of the educated middle-class, youth and elite in Nigeria who stay away from even getting registered, voting, joining a political party or even offering themselves as candidates are the people that Plato, Socrates and Orwell spoke about?
Many of us do not know that we actually have the power to turn things around and that in many of our increasingly urbanized communities we actually have the upper hand and the numbers. In the 2019 election, out of a potential voter pool of over 160 million adults, only about 80 million registered to vote, and out of that only 29 million actually voted. Our effective voter turnout is at best a disappointing 17%.
Where are the remaining 83% – they are not in villages and urban slums as most people think! No, the 17% that vote are typically made up of villagers and the urban poor who are easily swayed by big-name, money-politics and the politics of religion and ethnicity that our politricktians (evil politicians) deploy during political campaigns.
The other 83% are the English-speaking folks who for some reason believe they are a minority in Nigeria. How can we be a minority when every year, all the tertiary institutions in Nigeria graduate at least 1 million translating to 21 million new graduates since 1999.
We deceive ourselves that there are more “village people” out there, even when we all see the huge number of people leaving our villages each day in search of greener pastures in big cities and towns across the country. People who end up working as our domestic servants, over whom we exercise influence, but we are too “bougie” to discuss politics with.
In the most recent elections in Nigeria – Edo, Ondo and Lagos Senatorial elections, the voter turnout in Benin, Akure and Ibeju-Lekki were disgustingly low and those places are mostly urban and homes to the educated youth and middle class, not “village people”.
Many of us spend time whining and complaining, believing that things cannot get better in our own time. Well, I agree they may never, and guess what – it may even be worse in the generation to come if the #EndSARS enthusiasm couldn’t translate to a higher voter turnout in Lekki elections a few weeks after.
I am however not just an optimist, but a passionate believer in the fact that with the right focus and determination things can turn around. This focus requires every one of us to stop complaining and start acting – to improve our Politeracy (political literacy) and to #GetInvolved more actively and meaningfully in politics and governance in Nigeria.
While for many of us, our personal fortunes and that of our families have improved in many ways since we left school, the lot of the average Nigerian continues to dwindle. We will be called to account. #LetsGetInvolved.
Barrow is the Director of the Abuja-based #LetsGetInvolved Program @GetInvolved_Naija
