Once a man was walking along a beach. The sun was shining and it was a beautiful day. Off in the distance he could see a person going back and forth between the surf’s edge and and the beach. Back and forth this person went. As the man approached, he could see that there were hundreds of starfish stranded on the sand as the result of the natural action of the tide.
The man was stuck by the the apparent futility of the task. There were far too many starfish. Many of them were sure to perish. As he approached, the person continued the task of picking up starfish one by one and throwing them into the surf.
As he came up to the person, he said: “You must be crazy. There are thousands of miles of beach covered with starfish. You can’t possibly make a difference.” The person looked at the man. He then stooped down and pick up one more starfish and threw it back into the ocean. He turned back to the man and said: “It sure made a difference to that one!”
Nigeria has many problems. These problems are but not limited to:
- Corruption
- Crime and terrorism, specifically 3. Boko Haram insurgency
- Unemployment
- Education and university systems
- The environment
- Infrastructure
- Gender inequality
Today I ask you; what is that change that we really need. What is that one thing that would change the direction of this country. This thing that will make Nigeria what we want it to be. Is it free education, free and fair election, religious groups, the leaders and rulers in our community? Is it curbing exam malpractice, diversification, restructuring or change of political parties??
I know corruption is one of the biggest problem of this country. But how long would we keep fighting this corruption? I mean fighting people that are corrupt. After fishing out those politicians in office, when will we tackle those that pay money to get grades in school or that small boy that inflates his school fees.
Have you ever asked your self. What is the cause of this problem. This 800pound gorilla that is devouring this country? I want you to know that corruption is not anybody's name and no body is born corrupt. We learn the art. The only way to curb this thing learned called corruption is not to battle it but to unlearn it. When you battle it, you end of damaging even the person commiting the act but when good moral virtues and social justice are the song we hear every morning and the lyrics we meditate on before we sleep. Then Nigeria would be the best place in the world.
Please dont get me wrong. I am not saying that Nigeria don't need good roads, effective power supply, diversification, effective leadership and so on. All this are good and aid in taking a country to greater height. I am stressing the need for the paramount and that's human development. We have for a long time focussed on the outside and forget the inside. See, a country with good infrastructure and poor human development is like an idiot with Bachelor of Science. He has all he needs but for lack of the knowledge and sound judgement, disaster is eminent.
Richard Williams a spoken Word artist popularly known by his stage name prince ea once said
"Let me suggest that if a farmer sees a tree that is unhealthy,
they don't look at the branches to diagnosis it,
they look at the root, so like that farmer,
we must look at the root." Not to the branches of government or religious institutions. Dr. Paul Eneche said " you can't bear fruit if you forget your root." We are the root. You are the root. I mean you.
The change we need is not far fetched,it is not the APC kind of change. We human beings change our patterns, our styles, our looks, our traditions, government policies, our conditions and a whole lot of other things, but nothing would change when the mindset is the same. So, if we don't stop seeing our minds as mediocre, we would never truly achieve greatness.
They say when there is a will, there is a way and although in life, things fall apart but to put them back together, what we need is a willing mind to work with a willing hand.
We need Nigerians who will avert the crisis of the moment, Attend to a need or solve a puzzle and this is the change we really need the understanding and believing in the power of change that lies inside of us. That Nigerians need a renewal of their mindset. That we don't need imported gadgets and ideas to solve domestic problems. That we are well able, fit and strong to solve this problem and redirect the course of this country.
We need to embark on mindset reconstruction and renewal and not road and bridge constructions. We need to deviate from comissioning projects to conditioning the "I can do spirit" in every Nigerian. We need to dump that adage that youths are the leaders of tomorrow and preach that youths are leaders of today and now. That where ever we are we can take destinies to their destination. That we can say and it stands. That the world needs them now and not tomorrow.
That our skin color, ethnic group, religion or culture dosent define our position.
We need take Nigeria as that mother that warm us with the sun of Sokoto when we were cold. The mother that wash our dirth with the outpour from river state. The one and only woman that feeds us with the groundout of the north and crude oil of the south. She taught us with the wisdom of the west and produce our goods from the east.
Let the labor of our heroes past never be in vain. We can do it. We are well able.
We all need to arise, to dakkada because Nigeria calls for obedience.