“Those who make peaceful change impossible makes violent change inevitable.”
In 5 years from today, we will be starting a brand new decade, 2030 – 2039. By then, humans might be going to space for holidays. Driverless cars may have become the norm on our streets. Average life expectancy will almost certainly be higher in many countries. Artificial Intelligence (AR) will be working wonders in healthcare. Where will Nigeria and Nigerians be then? What will be our lot within the human community?
Nigerians should no longer be aloof to the affairs of their country and how they are governed from year to year. In this 2025, they should with one voice and one heart resolve to change the trajectory of their country towards delivering better life for all Nigerians (without exception) and becoming a more respected nation of the world.
As a Nigerian-America citizen, I have spent a considerable part of my adult life living in the United States. I have worked as a productive citizen, paying my taxes to help build the American society. Now, I am looking forward to retirement. But it is with a heavy heart because the country of my birth is moving at full speed in reverse gear. And I have family and friends back home whose plight depletes my joy.
My humble advice to the people and government of Nigeria is simple: Borrow a leaf from thriving and progressive countries in critical sectors and get your act together. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel. The world owes you nothing. You owe yourselves everything.
The most important thing to borrow is not money or even technology (as important as they may seem). It is the mindset of working relentlessly for the common good and for posterity, not for immediate, selfish benefits or for the interest of small groups closely related to us.
I arrived America over 40 years ago, barely out of my teenage years. I knew no one who could speak for me. But I was availed of a decent education and regular odd jobs to pay my way through. It was a hard life but the opportunity was available to me (and others like me) without minding my status as an immigrant. In the years since my graduation, I have paid back that favour with multiple interest. That’s how systems are built to be self-sustaining and grow.
No one I know feels that they owe Nigeria anything. Indeed, most feel that Nigeria denied them opportunities and owes them arrears. To change this narrative would require more than the leadership mindset shift I referred to earlier. The citizens must also be involved to hold elected and appointed leaders accountable and monitor their job performances. In doing so, they must be prepared to enforce their sovereignty or die trying.
As G.K. Chesterton rightly said, “The paradox of courage is that a person must be somewhat careless with their life in order to keep it.” It is the balance of duty, privilege and fear that keeps leaders on their toes.
In the last decade or so since APC came to power, it has become fashionable for Presidents to ignore or scorn public opinion, while carrying on as kings and emperors with divine right to rule. This is a tragic development that must be quickly arrested. The Office of the Citizen is the most important office in a Republic. The President and Governors answer to that office and take their instructions therefrom.
To exercise that office, citizens should demand regular town hall meetings from their elected leaders where they can ask questions and demand answers. If the answers are not provided or are inadequate, they should demand the resignation or removal of affected officials.
The official email addresses, phone numbers or social media handles of all public servants outlets should be in the public domain. Through these, citizens may file complaints about any hardships, make suggestions and report service failures from govt officials or those asking for bribes to do their jobs. All allegations should be thoroughly investigated and those found guilty should be fired from their jobs.
Sometimes even to live in today’s Nigeria can be seen as an act of courage. Life should not be that way. Life should be enjoyed, not endured, by the living. Nigeria is a great country, blessed with enormous resources that can make it the most beautiful nation on earth.
Those of us in the Diaspora have a moral responsibility to help by using our expertise and experience gained from other climes to transform the country of our birth to be better than when we left and make us proud abroad..
The most knotty of Nigeria’s problems can be fixed simply by getting the right leadership into power – and insisting that the leadership recruitment system is not perverted. This ensures that leadership has vision and character compatible with the best values of the people. If the Chinese and Emirates of Dubai can do it, so can we.
Dominic Ikeogu is a social and political commentator based in Minneapolis, USA
