I was reading a mail from my friends that we graduated in the same year, the Late Bayo Ohu who was assassinated recently was one of us, and it was a story circulated and written by a staff of Guardian Newspaper in Nigeria. Click this link to read the story by Mr. Kamal Oropo.
I responded to this editorial by Mr. Oropo and I got a message circulated by a friend within the group saying:
"It's unfortunate, but predictable. When I wrote in my tribute to Bayo ohu published in some newspapers that his killers will never be found, some people said I was too conclusive. Look, the PPRO said it was assassination when he came to Bayo's house. He later addressed the press that it was armed robbery. But one of the things that pained me was none of the newspapers that reported the story mentioned the PPRO's statement on assassination. TOO BAD"
Well, I read all of the other responses from my friends and I could not stop myself writing this mail below which I am copying verbatim and pasting into this blog:
My Dear Brothers,
The problems we are experiencing in Nigeria is primarily the result of GREED, then followed by a lack of will to support anything that does not put money in our pocket, and what does that point to... of course its another subtle form of greed or selfishness.
I have met with two former heads of state on a one to one here in London. I am talking about having a private lunch with no one else in attendance and what I learnt points to a depth of greed that is beyond comprehension. I have had interviews and opportunities of one to one with Governors and other political leaders too.
How do you explain powerful saboteurs who will not allow Nigerian government improve power supply because of Diesel and Generator which is their source of income and wealth?
When I challenged the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria on why he had to deal with the banks in the way he did, on my show on BEN Television he stated that he sourced and secured support from the President and the Senate President, then requested his decision must not be discussed with anyone else until its made public. Gov. Lamido Sanusi said he new there were powerful but extremely corrupt and well connected people that will thwart any thing that is not in their interest if they find out at the stage where its not public yet.
How do you explain the level of greed that means the whole of Lagos State Police Command can not afford a handful of computers not to mention having an I.T. System that has database of criminals, their records, records of crimes committed, how to track down their cohorts and records of people financing crime in Nigeria?
How do you explain poorly trained police officers with over 80% never attending any other training apart from Police College training once they graduated from there? Mind you, there is about 5% of the senior officers that spend money on training abroad and what do they do when they go abroad, use it as opportunity to shop, holiday and come back empty-headed and not able to influence change within the force...
Guys, when I look at the problems of Nigeria, its seems insurmountable and completely impossible to resolve. Some people want every Nigerian to believe only God can solve the problem so go and pray or just accept the fate of the nation as sealed.
I will tell you this, what we need is applying the principle of "one - change - one", yes, "one - help - one", and "one - make - one thing happen"
If I have not lost you yet, thank God for that... What I am saying is for each one of us to look in areas we can create change and invest our time, energy and resource in making that little change possible.
Jack Kemp puts it more succinctly by saying “The power of one man or one woman doing the right thing for the right reason, and at the right time, is the greatest influence in our society.”
If you are a journalist, look for a charity that you can invest time, energy and resources at your disposal to help, look for the criminality and awful things you would expose without expecting someone to bribe you to kill the story or even convince you its a dangerous story to put out there.
If you run an agency, what can your agency or PR company/Dept do to help make a difference and so on and so forth.
It is so simple, and seemingly simplistic to the point of assuming it will not change much, hey, none of us is God so we can not change much and guess what, God is not planning a miracle through Nigeria yet, so He will only allow and support each one of us to be the change we wish to see in our nation.
If you would love a change, check out the areas that will be of most value to you and you know you have something that could chip away at the problem, then get stuck in there and do your bit. If you are waiting for an Obama Leader to create a razzmatazz impact and change governance in Nigeria, you may have to wait another 200 years plus. In the history of America, how many Obamas have they witnessed?
OK, maybe we are almost 50years into our anniversary, so that leaves us with less than 200 years compared to when America was created and became the U.S.A., hey that is still over a century to go folks.
We just need to apply what we know has worked around the world, no matter your religious belief, no matter your orientation and political philosophy, you will admit that it only need on person to start the process of change.
Light Up Nigeria is a process of change, one person started the campaign, the power outage in Nigeria is still very much below par but somehow the campaign is gathering momentum from online on to the streets of Lagos.
A selfless campaign to help make a change to the training, development, and equipment at the the disposal of our Police Force in Nigeria need billions of Naira, but a little here and a little there will add up.
A little change contributed towards improve the health service sector in Nigeria will also translate to something of significance in due course.
As friends, folks, before we begin to see a massive move and paradigm shift, each individual has to look within for areas where they could impact and contribute a change. I have opted to quietly contribute time, energy and in some cases to resources to less than a handful of charities in Nigeria. It will not make a massive change to our country, but I am a happy man when I know my £5 impact the life of one child in Lagos, I am thrilled when I know a couple of hours a week used to help make things happen for another organisation in Nigeria yields fruit...
So ask yourself, what do you want to see change today and what tiny little bit of contribution from you will chip away a tiny little bit of the rock that stops the change happening...
A word is enough... actually 2-3page of words should be plenty... :-)
PS. Come back for more sometime or just follow me on my Twitter Page
No comments:
Post a Comment