Nigeria First is a nationwide movement of concerned Nigerians who believe in a shared vision of a more prosperous Nigeria. The movement seeks to mobilize the people and resources our dear nation needs to address our common challenges. The movement includes Nigerians of various social strata, religious and educational backgrounds who understand that we as a country are headed down a dangerous path. The old order has failed us and we need to create a new order.
The old order consists of the social challenges we face as a country and the leadership that created them. The leadership of this order believes that leadership is a tool for personal aggrandizement. They seek office for the personal gains which it provides them and their families. Instead of building public wealth to ensure the security and welfare of every Nigerian, they appropriate public resources to provide for their families. Roads are death traps so they buy choppers. Healthcare is below international standards, they fly themselves and their family members abroad. The education system in the country deteriorates, they send their children abroad. They are in a position to make the decisions that would move our country from a third world to a first world country, but they choose to leave the Nigerian people in penury.
The new order consists of leaders who believe that the security and welfare of every citizen is the primary purpose of government as enshrined in the Nigerian constitution. They are leaders who see public office as a position of service. They are aware that they serve at the pleasure of the Nigerian people and therefore feel accountable to them. The new order consists of Nigerians who believe that we share a responsibility to make our country a better place for ourselves and posterity. They understand that Nigeria prospers when every Nigerian prospers.
It would seem obvious that we as a people need to move from the old order to the new. The old order has negative effects on Nigeria that we can all see; our poor roads, poor healthcare, falling standards of education and so many other malaise. However, the old order has devised many ingenious means to perpetuate their selves in leadership. They include: deliberately starving the education system of all it needs to empower the masses, creating a faux middle class directly dependent on the proceeds of misappropriated public funds for their livelihoods, and targeted misinformation. Therefore the masses in whose hands lies the power to create the progress they want for themselves are left in various states of ignorance, complicity and orchestrated disunity. This presents a challenge; the people with the power to change the situation are looking to others to address the situation.
The only solution in sight is for every Nigerian to come to an awareness of the root cause of our challenges – Leadership. Good leadership as characterized by the new order can galvanize the people to work towards a shared vision of justice and security for every Nigerian regardless of age, gender, ethnicity or political affiliation. Leadership here refers not only to those in positions of power, but also to every Nigerian working within his capacity to take our dear country from a bleak situation to a shared prosperity. Every Nigerian will need to take responsibility. The onus is now on those who have come to the awareness to lead every (wo)man to the light.
If we are all complicit then why is it so important for us to work together to move from the old order to the new?
We need to understand that Nigeria was not given to us by our ancestors, but is on loan to us from our children. We all have a responsibility to return this country to our children in a state better than we received it. After all, a loan is only considered a good investment when it is returned with a healthy interest added. We need to be good investments for our children.
We also need to do it for ourselves. We cannot continue to ignore the truth that the indigent man deprived of a means of livelihood today, is your friendly neighborhood armed robber tomorrow. Social anomalies like insurgency and militancy can only be curbed when every Nigerian is confident that he can pursue self-actualization within the ambit of the law in a just and fair society.
The security we crave is ours to create.
This article was originally published on Facebook by Chikezie. View the original here