It Begins With You By Sesan Adeolu Odunuga

Nigeria will be great again.There is no doubt about it.Those on the side of the government of the day and the ones in the opposition all want a better nation to be proud of.

Nigeria will be great again.There is no doubt about it.Those on the side of the government of the day and the ones in the opposition all want a better nation to be proud of.

However, when you criticise the government; as a Nigerian with such power, those who ostensibly hail the government will give you a political nomenclature by calling you"a wailer".Should being concerned and affected by leadership style make one a whiner?

Many at times too, when you applaud the government for taking steps appearing to be geared towards improvement in governance.Those criticising the government for the simple sake of criticism will tag you"hailer". Does giving a kudos to the government when it seems it is getting it right make one a hailing hailer? Again, that should not be the case.

Every Nigerian has the fundamental right to demand good governance from political leaders and community leaders in Nigeria.

Having said the above. We have once again been regaled with another "after the reggae play the blues" song. The new reggaeton in town is "change begins with me". Wonderfully created by politicians who are too witty to think that every Nigerian could be swayed by another brilliant cloak-and-dagger ploy to alter the face of prevailing economic crisis in the nation.

They failed to realise that more than 70% of the population now follow the political and economic trends in the country across spectrum of People(literates,illiterates,employed,unemployed,professionals,low-skilled worker,etc.).
The socio-political and socio-economic discourse in the country has gone beyond the class of intelligentsia as it is no more a "boju boju oloro nbo,se ki nsi?" play.

If you are a former governor in Nigeria and you still earn salary/allowances as the incumbent.You still enjoy one house in the state and one in FCT, Abuja. Not less than 10 police officers are attached to you securing your life, that of your family, your businesses and pets in your mansion are protected by Nigerian policemen and policewomen. CHANGE BEGINS WITH YOU.

If you are a serving senator or a serving minister but was a former governor of a state. You draw salaries and allowances as former governor and also cling to allowances and severance benefits/emoluments as a senator. I am glad to inform you that, CHANGE BEGINS WITH YOU.

If more than #300 million per month is allocated to the NSA office to cater for presidential air fleets cum personnel. And you are comfortable and not feel comfortably uncomfortable. You spend #'b' every year on a national clinic that caters only for the aristocrats in the passage of power and still jet out to hospitals in Germany, India,UK,etc.for treatment. You still power the state house with mikano power generating sets. Without mincing words. CHANGE BEGINS WITH YOU.

If you are a country that could not provide security by securing every street and every local government area of your sovereign territory. The core function of government as entrenched in the 1999 constitution of the FRN is not in the diary of those in government. Security threats in the morning.Militancy in the afternoon.And terrorism in the night. CHANGE BEGINS WITH YOU.

If you are a government that still issue different passport numbers to Nigerians each time they apply for travel documents. If you have expired passports 5 times, invariably you would have 5 different passport numbers. 
Each time you apply for a passport you receive a different passport number which makes it herculean to trace travel history of Nigerians. As a nation, we could not determine the last time a particular Nigerian traveled to Pakistan, or Afghanistan for example. It emasculate efforts on terrorism,insecurity, etc. CHANGE BEGINS WITH YOU.

If you are a government touting the poorly branded"diversification" idea and the bureaucratic processes at the nation's port are humongous and unbearable. The process of business registration domestically is cumbersome. Certification processes at NAFDAC, SON, etc.are too officially and unofficially strenuous without any concrete steps taken to mitigate the above. CHANGE BEGINS WITH YOU.

If you are a government. You cannot come out clean and apologise to the nation for the failure so far. Renege or discard the cash transfer, social/health insurance, food programme for primary school pupils, inter alias, which would engulf so much of the unavailable resources in the face of economic reality. Instead, you keep making unrealistic promises that have grave consequences on the government, the political party in power, and the nation. I say to you, CHANGE BEGINS WITH YOU.

If you are a government regaling the farmers and the people about"home grown rice" and you could not well subsidise the production processes such that locally produced rice becomes cheaper to imported rice which to many, has greater quality than the Kebbian rice. 

Many are accustomed to imported. And if imported rice is cheaper than locally made rice do we have comparative advantage in that sense? The rice  farmers are producing at a high average cost(AC) and as a result, their marginal cost(MC)  might not be at equilibrium with their marginal revenue(MR) in order to remain in production even if they may not be able to increase production.

Conclusively, since governance is all about TRUST and CONFIDENCE. Change must begin with the GOVERNMENT, then all other things will follow.


Ire oooo!


You can reach Sesan at princelop@gmail.com

BY SesaN ADEOLU ODUNUGA