The power of the pen they say is mightier than the
sword and I am going to use mine today to fight a battle that we are scared of
confronting. I once had a blog (I shut it down) where I talked about the
problems we are going through in this country and how we intended solving them.
Then an incident occurred (I am not going to share) which led to its …… and
since then I have decided not to write anything or tweet anything about our
dilemma in this nation.
But something happened yesterday that triggered my subconscious to
change direction on this subject. This is not the first time I have experienced
this but yesterday was ‘frigging’ different.
I boarded a commercial vehicle from Obalende en route Ikeja and the
traffic was ‘bumper-bumper’. We were on the same spot for close to 45mins. My
white handkerchief had turned brown and we were all sweating profusely like
goats to be slaughtered on Christmas day. I don’t need to mention the odour
(combination of different colognes) oozing out of each and every one of us.
And all of a sudden, as if we were programmed, we shouted “Driver
follow one-way now!” at the same time. The driver (maybe running on the same
version of the software) succumbed to our ‘request’ not mindful of the LASTMA
officials standing adjacent to our vehicle. That, my friend didn’t shake me a
bit but what baffled me was that other vehicles followed suit. It was as if
they were on a version 2.0 of the same program. And that my friend is what I
call CORRUPTION.
We all seem to have a single story about corruption; money laundering,
oil bunkery, election rigging and the list continues. And we also have this
mentality that Nigeria Nigeria
All the characters in the short ‘real-life story’ of mine above were
all corrupt. From the passengers to the driver, even the LASTMA officials that
didn’t take any action and other vehicles that followed suit were all corrupt
(me inclusive, although I have repented).
We have been clamoring for revolution (change) in this country but we
are afraid to work towards its attainment. Sometimes because the status-quo
suits us in some way, it helps us to be lazy.
Like I always say in my talks
and seminars that the only way to that change we desire in this nation is by
self (personal) development.
We have to start with ourselves. After ourselves, we have to focus on
others (those around us). By so doing we start creating ripple effects that
would change the nation’s image across the globe.
Obey traffic laws, stop defacing walls with posters, pastors should
stop using church money for their personal gain, stop urinating anywhere your ‘10-inches’
directs you to, the list continues.
Do not leave everything to the government. The government has been bad
right from the days of john the Baptist (I wasn’t around then though).
This change we desire starts
with us. Let’s start by exercising restrain when some evil thought is telling
us to cheat in the exam hall or short- change a fellow brother.
Start with little things such as refraining from throwing pure water
sachets out of vehicle windows.
Let us start with ourselves. One pure water sachet at a time and we can
make Nigeria
PS: I am terribly sorry for not publishing any article for like 3 weeks
back. I have been extremely busy. But thank God I am back with full force.
Follow me on twitter: @ayamtheone and join the tweet-chat; #morningflakes where
we inspire our inner soul to act and pursue our dreams in life every week day
(Mon-Fri 6:45am-8:30am) and Weekends (8am-11am).
I would love to hear your take on this piece.
Sadiq Daniel
