It’s decision time once more, and like a cacophony, the beats and the rhythms are so strong, the chants so familiar and too loud that the ears almost shrink in sudden deafness. The numbness that it creates is so familiar, but this time there’s an awakening and it seems like an army of people has been raised. However, will the momentum be sustained?
All I’m saying is that the arguments have started again…. Let us have a change yet again. The argument for this is that Nigerians have never witnessed so much suffering and hunger for a long time. The youths have no jobs, those in employment do not know when they might lose their jobs because of the economic situation, the level of insecurity across the land is so much, the infrastructure nation-wide is in a state of decay and the country is divided along ethnic lines. Most of us no longer count ourselves as citizens of Nigeria but seem to owe our allegiances to our ethnic nationalities first before the nation.
We very much need “Change” but what kind of Change?
I suggest that we stop this cacophony of a chant that seems to rhyme – CHANGE THE CHANGE.
We seem to be in a haste to change the current status quo. But where are we rushing to? If we do not stop to think things through and come up with a proper road map, with clear directions as where we want to get to as a nation and a people, we are on a one-way road to nowhere, CHANGE or NO CHANGE.
The clamour from the civil society, the religious and the stakeholders for everyone to hastily get their voters card to avoid disenfranchisement has reached a crescendo. However, what will be the result of obtaining the instrument to exercise our franchise to vote if we have not defined the aims and objectives of our participating in the voting exercise and the result we want from this exercise and how these aims, objectives and results will be realised?
All I am saying is, that we should define in clear terms what Change means for our collective destiny, how this change will be achieved and how this change will benefit all citizens of Nigeria. This we must do and not CHANGE JUST BECAUSE we are chanting CHANGE THE CHANGE.
Leave your comments as I will be happy to read from you.
Till I write again, I love you for reading.
Ada
Adaobi Alex-Oni is an Honorary Ambassador and a recipient of the Nelson Mandela Leadership Award by the African Youth Parliament. A broadcaster and writer, she is the convener of the ROWEAD conference. A social and women’s rights activist, she is a promoter of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. For more information, visit her website www.rowead.org