THE CHANGE WE NEED- GRACE IGBOKWE (OPINION)

"Change will not come if we wait for some other person, or if we wait for some other time. We are the ones we have been waiting for. We are the change that we seek."
-President Barack Obama

We are in a season of change, no thanks to the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its slogan 'CHANGE'. Truly and frankly speaking, a whole lot of things need to be changed, not just the leadership and the ruling party. For us to effect the needed change there is need for systemic and systematic change, a lot of things need to give way, call it holistic change in the leadership and follower-ship. The change we need is both top-bottom and bottom-up; a change of value system because our value system has been redefined, distorted and mangled by greed, avaricious tendency, selfishness and stomach infrastructure.

Over the years we have derailed into a moral abyss. Nobody cares, nobody says stop, nobody says enough is enough, this nonsense must stop. It has been a culture of impunity. Our problems have not been wrong policy formulation! Nor a lack of human and material resources to move Nigeria to at least being a developing country instead of one of the least developed countries of the world as it currently is, with the latter description all doors to being developed have been shut by us, because despite our endowments we have not exhibited the right attitude that will engender development by the leaders and the led. It has been corruption, corruption all the way, lawlessness, indiscipline and disorderliness.

The voice of corruption has reached heaven crying for vengeance. It has been proliferated at all levels, across all ages, groups, sexes, and social strata. It has not only eaten deep into the fabrics our society but has torn the fabrics into shreds. It has been said a million times that 'the problem is not in our stars that we are underlings but in ourselves'. Nigerians have this penchant for hacking into the system , beating it and short changing it. We have the predilection, inordinate appetite and inclination to truncate any  and making most noble policy ignoble. Nigerians have dexterity in manipulating and maneuvering the system for their own selfish interest.

I have continued to ask, in frustration and total helplessness, for how long shall we continue in this madness, profligacy, lawlessness and impunity? I feel we have dwelt on this mountain of profligacy , prodigality, for too long. It is time to advance, move forward and change, for it is only a mad man that does one thing over and over again and expects a different result. I have listened to a number of discussions on the way forward, some have postulated that the needed change must come from the leadership, which I agree totally with, but we also need a change of attitude, a change of mindset from the followers. There is a need for a total overhauling of the system. A school of thought says that once the law enforcement institution is strengthened, the followers have no choice than to shape in or shape out. 

However, when I was thinking about this ongoing controversy over which is more important, strengthening institutions or empowering people, I came to the conclusion that building strong institutions is good but empowering people is more important. What I mean by empowering people is educating people for sustainable change. It is not debatable, for according to Lowe, "all attempts to change attitude and behavior involve educative process."

In order to change people must first acquire fresh knowledge, insights and skills. We need both top-bottom and bottom-up cleansing. All have sinned and come short of the glory of The Lord. We need pervasive change to begin from families, to offices, workshops, markets, churches, mosques. We need change in the way we think, the way talk and the way do our things. Yes, in our daily activities, the way we drive, the way we enter buses, in the way okadas and keke marwas do their business, in the way we dispose our refuse and protect the environment. Men can show some decency by looking for the closest convenience to urinate and not to display their 'wares' in public anywhere, any time they want to answer the call of nature. Talking about wares, there is need for us to change the way we display our wares for sales in the markets; we need not obstruct traffic anywhere because we want to sell our goods, we need not run after moving vehicles to sell or hawk on the streets. The government has a lot to do in this regard by prohibiting hawking, and providing employment for the hawkers, for the area boys that stop vehicles, okadas, keke marwas to collect money, endangering both their lives, the lives of the drivers and the passengers. We need not sell goods at refuse dumps or close to dirty drainage, it is neither good for our health nor for the environment. We need to change from selling fake products for original.

We need attitudinal change. Our lifestyle is in the fast lane, everybody wants to be the first; first to be admitted into institutions of learning by any means. We want to be the first and only person that have arrived in his community, the first to get to his/her destination. That is the reason you see people crisscross from one lane to another, that is the reason the exceed they speed limit, that is why a lot of madness is exhibited on our roads. The traffic light is not for Nigerians.

 The pedestrian bridges are for beautification of our roads, because most people do not use them. Drivers on our roads do not respect pedestrian lines, if you are a pedestrian trying to exercise your rights, the drivers will crush or you can wait for them to stop for till thy kingdom come (that is for a few Nigerians who know what zebra crossing is all about). Nobody wants to take turns.

We need to change our orientation to work and work attitude from extrinsic value to intrinsic value for work especially government work.

We need a change of perception, our perception of Nigeria, from believing that Nigeria is irredeemable to believing that Nigeria can be great. We need a change of perception of how we see government and government property. We need to change our attitude of helplessness and apathy to a more active participant that can help Nigeria out of this doldrums. Oh we need a change.

The starting point is to believe that change is possible. You can be the change. Start from your immediate environment. You can be the difference. How can we effect this change? From my own standpoint, it is through education that change is possible, not just schooling but engaging people at different locations; homes, schools, churches, mosques, clubs and social gatherings, town unions, organizations, using an array of media. The use of social media will be indispensable, especially for our youth and for those who have access and can access information through it. We need to catch them young and catch them old too. There is this hackney that  'you don't teach old dogs new tricks' but from my background and experience, old dogs learn new tricks. We need orientation and reorientation to unlearn, relearn and learn new values, attitudes and behavior. We shall remain undaunted in this task for change; to set Nigeria free is a task for all.

The National Orientation Agency has an onerous task to developing new strategies, re-strategize, quadruple and intensify its activities, efforts, programs and consciously, purposefully delineate its target groups and design specific programs that will suit and reach each of the targeted groups. The harvest is indeed plentiful, therefore, we need change agents, non-governmental organizations, the should redirect their efforts from HIV/AIDS, Ebola awareness programs (cure for HIV has been found and Ebola has gone and gone forever from our country) to value orientation and reorientation programs and let concerted efforts be channeled in this direction because the effects of bad behavior, bad attitude and indiscipline, wrong values are deadlier, more debilitating than HIV/AIDS and Ebola disease.

Our president to seize the moment , hear him, we have an opportunity. Let us take it. It is another opportunity for rebirth, to live again, to make progress, to change for the good of commonwealth and join the comity of developed nations. God has given us another opportunity we must not ignore, or take it for granted.

We need to encourage our own dear president Muhammadu Buhari to drive this change to every stratum of the society for our own good, as my people would say ' ome mma na-emere onwe ya' literarily translated, if you are doing good, you are doing it for yourself. Nevertheless, our president should have at the back of his mind what Woodrow Wilson said: "If you want to make enemies, try to change something. A lot of enemies will be made."