The Type Of Revolution We Need
Revolution- Merriam-WebsterDictionary:
a: a sudden, radical, or complete change
b: a fundamental change in political organization; especially: the overthrow or renunciation of one government or ruler and the substitution of another by the governed
c: activity or movement designed to effect fundamental changes in the socioeconomic situationd: a fundamental change in the way of thinking about or visualizing something : a change of paradigm
Just as the words ‘corruption’, ‘condemn” are thrown around by our present government, as individuals we also throw the “revolution” word around without giving deeper thoughts as to the consequences and outcome of such. Revolutions as we have seen in other countries have turned out bloody with or without the desired quest for change. As Nigerians, we have had our opportunity at creating awareness for a revolution through the Occupy Nigeria protests held about 15 months ago.
A lot of us have taken home with us lessons from this act. It showed us that yes, indeed, while we may seem a timid generation, we all desire one thing- CHANGE, anyhow it comes. We want our leaders whom we have voted in to be accountable. We want the rate of corruption to drop and drastically too. We want persecution of public offenders. We want, we want and we want. But in all of these wants, have we all taken a step back to decide and engineer how we want these changes? And when we get these changes, how do we intend to sustain them?
While revolution might come as the definition in ‘a’ and ‘b’ above, it could also come as (and which we must push for) ‘c’ and ‘d’ above.
Ours has been a generation who were taught that the future belongs to us but alas, we still have the same people from our days in kindergarten and primary schools that were in power, still occupying positions of power and have rubbed off on newcomers along the years.
The next elections are just around the corner- December 2014 as someone has stated. While we all look forward to change, now is the time to stop complaining, grumbling and getting angry on social media sites. NOW is the time to take the change in our hands. Not by a bloody revolution but by a mass awareness of the ENTIRE populace.
A lot of us in the cities who thankfully have access to a phone and internet connectivity have been made aware that the time for change is now. But what about that man, woman, girl, boy, who do not have these privileges because their present government-elect will not take development to them? A certain Senator wishes he had done so much more than he did when he was Governor because he has more feedback from better advisers around him. And that is just one out of so many. How long do we intend for this to continue? How long do we have to wait for them to get out of power before they know what they should have known? How long will the man in his village have to wait till elections are near and have the popular politician who is an indigene in his village come home to stay with them for a week with promises of ‘doing better’ for them the next time he is voted in only for his hopes to be dashed again? How long, how long, how long?
You can cast your mind back to all the elections we have had and find out where these politicians get most of their votes from. They ‘prey” on the unknowing and get their votes by hook or crook. If only they knew that whatever promises they get from their “son of the soil” will not get fulfilled, you think they will still vote him or her in? They know he only comes home to solicit for their votes once in 4 years and when they are asked to table their request for development in the community; he goes away with the promise of “it will be better this time”.
The cry for a revolution should begin now. With your house maid, your gateman, the vigilante, the local newspaper store around the corner, your hometown, the guys at the slums, the studio… it is time to educate the people at the grassroots and spread this awareness so they know what rightfully belongs to them without being cajoled. Like the Bible says, “an heir will continue to be a servant until he knows that the entire kingdom belongs to him”. So until the people at the grassroots know this, those of us in the cities who have access to information will only begin to churn out article after article, tweet after tweet, facebook post after post and so on. The average politician can get to the rural areas and convince them to vote for him in a matter of days prepped with the resources. It will take us longer to reach these same set of people, to earn their trust and rub their minds off the legendary “what can we do? We are powerless against them” mentality that has eaten so deep into the communities.
The time to act is now. The time to make the change is this minute. The time to weed out ‘sell-outs’ and make whoever gets into power again accountable is now. The time to vote out sentiments is now.
Just as Mordecai said to his niece Esther in Esther 4 vs 14 “…yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” Your kingdom and mine this day is Nigeria. Will you spread the gospel for good governance? Will you wait for your child to come of age and ask what your generation did to change the mentality of his kinsmen? Just as we spread the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, spread the gospel of good governance too…
The writer is @yelecapri10 on Twitter.
Credits- @mrenclave, @waleflame, @kwamiadadevoh, @survivor17, @dolusegun
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