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Nigeria: Time For A New Mindset By Ade Oke

February 11, 2014

Many times during the course of the ever so stimulating and almost ubiquitous debates that ensue whenever Nigerians congregate, I have heard people attributing the problems with Nigeria to ‘bad leadership’. However, in my own assessment, I have come to a different conclusion. The problem with Nigeria as an entity whilst it is varied and convoluted could be narrowed down to lack of active citizenship.

Many times during the course of the ever so stimulating and almost ubiquitous debates that ensue whenever Nigerians congregate, I have heard people attributing the problems with Nigeria to ‘bad leadership’. However, in my own assessment, I have come to a different conclusion. The problem with Nigeria as an entity whilst it is varied and convoluted could be narrowed down to lack of active citizenship.

Active citizenship is a state of play where the citizenry of a country are collectively alive to their social, political and economic responsibilities. Where this happens, the citizens perceive themselves as an important fabric of the socio-political and economic development of the nation.

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Where a veritable spirit of active citizenship is present, the general ambience reflects collectiveness. In such milieu, the process of nation building is seen as a collective journey and the broad attitude is “we are in this together”. Everyone acknowledges that in the course of the journey, there will be unexpected hiccups and sabotage; but because it is a collective duty, every hurdle can be surmounted together with a dogged determination and unflinching focus on the destination. There will be throes encountered during the journey but the weight of the throes does not rest on a single individual or a cohort of individuals but on ALL.

On a particular occasion some ten years ago (here in Ireland), I was running late to the office and as I exited the Motorway to join the minor road leading to my office, I encountered an unexpected traffic delay. The traffic was obviously caused by the sheer volume of cars also attempting to join the same road. At this point, my natural reaction was to use the hard shoulder to overtake all the cars in front of me so I could join the road as quickly as possible. I knew this was illegal and could bring me face to face with the law but I counted on my good fortune to help eschew an encounter with the police. I was successful with my plan and this helped me to get to the office in time.

However, unbeknown to me, there was a colleague working in the same office building sitting in that same traffic who saw me illegally overtaking all the cars in front of me. A few hours after I had arrived in the office, this colleague who worked on a different floor came down to me and without raising her voice reproached me and sternly warned me that the next time she saw me repeat the offence, she would personally phone the police and furnish them with my details.

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Suffice it to say that this lady was one of my chums at work with whom I usually have great banters and we would often have tea together with some other colleagues. Ordinarily, one would have thought I would be upset with her but my attitude was that of admiration. Her reprimand made me feel guilty even without the law catching up with me. This to me is active citizenship.

In a similar vein, in April 2005, a former Irish Transport Minister who was drunk driving and was seen driving up the wrong side of a busy dual carriageway was halted by a haulier. The politician had to stop his car after the haulier, who had been pursuing him, used his articulated vehicle to block two lanes of a roundabout. The haulier then got out and removed the keys from the ignition of the former Minister’s car. A plainclothes Police who had also joined the pursuit, made the arrest before uniformed police later arrived at the scene.

The foregoing are perfect examples of active citizenship, taking responsibility without fear or favour.

John D. Rockefeller Jr.’s famous quote on civic responsibility sums up the principle of active citizenship. Rockefeller described civic duty as “the social force that binds you to the courses of action demanded by that force; "we must instil a sense of duty in our children"; "every right implies a responsibility; every opportunity, an obligation; every possession, a duty". Duty to one’s nation is not so much what the country can provide but what you can give to your country as elucidated in JFK’s famous cliché, “ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country”.

I believe the only way to move Nigeria forward is for every citizen to develop a deep-seated sense of active citizenship where it is everyone’s right to demand better governance, accountability and do away with the characteristic attitude of “it is not my problem, someone else will fix it”. We should all learn to take responsibility. Taking responsibility for yourself and people around you is embedded in a Yoruba proverb which says that if your neighbour is eating frog and you keep quiet saying it is not your business his croaking in the middle of the night will not let you sleep too.

Today, we all allude to the French Revolution as a perfect example of “power to the people”. The cliché, there is strength in numbers does hold true indeed. The French Revolution only happened because the people said enough was enough. They refused to be excluded from the French political system. They refused to be dictated to by the powers that be. They rejected the flamboyance and extravagance of the ruling powers.

In Nigeria today, we accept flamboyance and extravagance from our leadership. We see it as the norm. We allow ourselves to be trampled upon by the same people we elected to authority. We allow them to flaunt ‘our collective wealth’ in front of us and oppress us with it. We allow them to dwarf our standards and expectations. If anyone dares to criticise their excesses, we, the citizens are the first to give them strong support hoping that our own opportunity will come soon. We wait patiently for our time to come to plunder the national treasury, forgetting we are in this together.

We forget that accountability is not instituted from the top but from below. We have to make our leaders to be accountable to us. A lot of the things we say are not our business are ultimately our business. We need to empower ourselves as citizens and be aware of our powers, our rights and our duties.

According to Rockefeller, duty comes with great responsibilities. Our duty entails paying our taxes regularly and voluntarily, letting it become second nature to us. Our duty involves holding all office holders to account without fear or favour. One of the great lessons I learnt from my history lessons is the principle of “Checks and Balances” operated by the Oyo Mesi in the Old Oyo kingdom which was aimed at curtailing the excesses of the Alaafin, the Old Oyo Empire Royal. 

Conclusively, active citizenship is characterized by the spirit of selfless service, accountability, voluntary participation, voluntary disclosure of information which could be inimical to the state of wellbeing of the nation and its people.

Our active citizenship should reflect the ethos expounded by JFK in the conclusion of his inaugural speech in 1961. “Finally, whether you are citizens of America or citizens of the world, ask of us the same high standards of strength and sacrifice which we ask of you. With a good conscience our only sure reward, with history the final judge of our deeds, let us go forth to lead the land we love, asking His blessing and His help, but knowing that here on earth God's work must truly be our own”.

Ade Oke works as an Information Analyst with the Health Service Executive in the Republic of Ireland. He is also a radio broadcaster and the Director of the Carlow African Film Festival, Ireland’s First African Film Festival

 

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