Ibrahim Ahmad Gwaram WROTE!!! 10 ways through which ordinary Nigerians promote corruption and bad governance When ordinary Nigerians discuss the problems facing their country, especially corruption they always blame everyone except themselves. Changing Nigeria, however, starts with change in our individual lives. Here, below, I listed some of the ways through which we (ordinary Nigerians) contribute to the problems facing Nigeria today. I also listed what we should do if we want a better Nigeria. This piece is about us, ordinary Nigerians, not the leaders. We can talk about the leaders another day. 1. We depend too much on others. It is very common in many families for all the family members (immediate and extended family) to rely on one person. There is nothing wrong for a person who has the means to assist his relatives and friends. It should be encouraged. But that is not an excuse for them to depend on him or her to solve ALL their problems. We should learn to ask for help from others only when it is necessary. We shouldn’t make it a habit. Many good people became corrupt because they wanted to satisfy the insatiable needs of their family members. We must stop asking people to do things that they can’t afford within their legitimate earnings. Friends and families should stop putting pressure on public officials to get rich by all means. We all have ways of contributing to the society without getting rich. Even though there is nothing wrong in getting rich, it must, however, be through the legitimate means. It is wrong to measure the success of people based on wealth acquired through illegal means. If we want to be rich, we should work for it and be patient. 2. We want our leaders to solve our personal needs instead of needs of the community. We must put the interests of the society above our individual and selfish interests. Many of the politicians I speak with complained that one of the reasons why they are unable to do community projects is because members of their constituencies put personal interests above communal interest. Elected and appointed public officers are afraid of going to their constituencies. When people come to see them they come with personal problems. We must understand that it is hard for a politician or leader who gives money for weddings, naming ceremonies, and other personal matters, to also address the important needs of the society, like education, health and jobs. 3. We celebrate and glorify corrupt leaders and politicians. We always complain that our leaders are corrupt. It is true that many of them are corrupt. Our society, sadly, worships and glorifies these leaders and politicians that have acquired their wealth by looting public treasury. If we continue to measure success solely based on acquisition of material things like money, houses, cars, etc., we are promoting corruption. There is nothing impressive in stealing public funds. We must stop respecting people with questionable source of wealth. 4. We talk about change but we don’t go out to vote. Many of the people who complain about bad leadership don’t even have a voter’s card. Those who have the cards might not show up on the day of the elections. We contribute towards bad leadership by not exercising our right to vote. It is true that sometimes the results of the elections are manipulated. That is not an excuse for not voting. Those who rig the elections do so because they know that the people don’t care. We must come out and vote on the days of elections. We should do everything possible to ensure that our votes count. 5. We say that we want good and qualified leaders, but we vote for the wrong candidates. It is not enough to cast your vote during elections. It is important to elect the right candidate. Ask yourself this question before you vote for a person: why am I voting for this candidate? If you are voting for him or her because you share the same religion, tribe or region, you are voting for the wrong reasons, and you might be voting for the wrong candidate. It is equally wrong to vote for a candidate based on material gains. Don’t sell your votes. We must look at the records of the candidate and his ability to deliver on his or her promises. We have good and bad leaders in every religion, tribe and region. Don’t be discouraged by those who say that all politicians are the same. It is not true. Some politicians are better than others. 6. We want government to solve all our problems. Electing good leaders, alone, cannot change everything or solve all our problems. We must start by changing ourselves. We can’t depend on the government to do everything for us. Government cannot provide employment for everyone. We must take advantage of the available opportunities to be self-reliant. For example, there are many opportunities in the fields of agriculture and ICT. Government cannot solve all our problems. We must come up with individual and community initiatives to help each other. 7. We publicly complain that we don’t want ethnic and religious politics, but we promote ethnic and religious divisions in our private lives. There is a disconnect between what many Nigerians preach and what they practice. We sing the song of unity and peace, but promote the message of hate and division. If you read the comments people are making on social media, you wonder if some people truly believe in Nigeria, or humanity. If we want to make progress as a country, we must learn to respect and tolerate our differences. We must see our diversity as strength. We must treat each other as Nigerians first. We must match our words of unity, peace and tolerance with action. 8. We don’t care for each other. It is hard to change anything in Nigeria if we think that what is happening in Borno is not important because we live in Lagos or Abuja. The security situation in Nigeria deteriorated because of this attitude. We treat the people of the North East as if they are not part of Nigeria. We must understand that what affects one section of the country affects everyone. No one is safe until everyone is safe. We must speak against violence and extremism, irrespective of the religion, tribe or region of the victims. We must be our brothers’ keepers. 9. We like to complain on twitter and Facebook, but we don’t want to take concrete action. You cannot change Nigeria by just tweeting or posting on Facebook, only. It is hard to convince anyone here on the Internet. We should remember that we have the right to conduct a peaceful protest when the need arises. It is not enough to form a Facebook group or page. Nigerians must organize themselves and fight impunity, corruption and bad governance. Our friendships and solidarity should not end on the Internet. 10. We forget easily We either forget or forgive easily. Nigerians are still celebrating and honoring the people who destroyed or are destroying Nigeria. We formally and informally make corrupt and incompetent leaders feel that they still important. We have elevated crooks into statesmen. Our leaders can now do and get away with almost anything. You are free to forgive them, but don’t forget. We must stop celebrating and honoring the people who created our problems, just because they have changed political parties. A Bad leader is a bad leader no matter what party he belongs. A Good leader is a good leader no matter what party he belongs. Shine your eyes… What do you think? Do you agree?
Posted on: Sat, 27 Dec 2014 18:54:34 +0000
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