MARKETPLACE STRATEGIST: MY COUNTRY, MY THOUGHT LINE

Copyright © 2014, Marketplace Strategist. All rights reserved.

“When I was residing in Togo, power supply was never interrupted all through my 6years stay in the country. There was constant water supply in every home and supply of cooking gas for utilization in every home. I could recall when I was about to execute a project in a new site far away the city, I needed a generating set to supply power because the area has not been connected to the National grid. I scavenged for where to hire one, I was surprised as there was no one to borrow from since it is not a tool used in the country until after 3weeks of search when I eventually come across one contractor who was working on a government contract.
You need to know how heavily I paid for the hired generator and Togo yearly budget is not up to Lagos State yearly budget and everything in the country is in order.”

This were the word of one of my respected mentor who finally left the country of Togo for Nigeria just 7years (2007) ago. You begin to wonder why country not up to Nigeria standard and not so blessed with natural resources as ours are in their right senses and everything in order while we that claimed to be the giant of Africa are the worst of all. Something must be wrong somewhere as we are not hitting it on the spot. One of the problems we have in this country is individual being consumed with selfish interest/ambitions that is why it is in country as ours that a man can embezzle the budget of a whole State or Parastatal yet nothing is being done to such individual and they are walking freely the cities without them being jailed.

The root cause of financial corruption (as there are diverse category of corruption) in the society is the spirit of selfish ambitions where individual want to consume more than they can grip or hold, this lead to greediness. My Father, Israel Olufemi Abiona will always say “don’t let unhealthy ambition blur your vision cause it will make you lose sense of the right thing you need do in life”.

I’m an advocator of New Nigeria and as such I write, educate the Nigerian citizenry I daily come across in my life to be the change they want to see in the country. But come to think of it, for how long will we continually hide under the shadow of taking responsibilities the government ought to perform for ourselves when in essence we voted our trust in electing those we think are capable of providing us leadership as a country unless we all want to deceive ourselves and hide under the umbrella of religious and ethnic sentiments. That we now assist leadership of our country perform most of their civil responsibilities – generating our source of alternate power supply, providing ourselves with alternate water supply, means of transport et’al does not mean we live them unchecked and just occupy the position without them playing the necessary role function; yet salary and other incentives keeps flowing in?

What of the promises they all chanted during electioneering campaigns? Well I think the only way Nigerians can be responsible not only to themselves but to the country as well is to come out of their shelve and start holding our leaders responsible for their act as prayers alone without calling our leaders to order won’t change the leadership of the country. Its high time Nigerians begin to question our leaders for falling in their responsibilities in a constructive and peaceful manner because their oath was to serve us and not their pocket. They're our leaders, we voted them in and as such demand their total allegiance to us the citizens in whom they serve.

Who else should called them to order if not we the masses that elected them into power and gave them right to govern our resources on behalf of us as a citizens. And please we should not confuse this to be revolt, as revolt can’t produce anything good rather it breeds the seed of violence. Enough of we deceiving ourselves cause the present administration/dispensation tend to favour our religion, tribe and when the tide turned against us we become critics who easily talk down the administration even when the issue is not as trivial as that which favour us. Most folks celebrating this current dispensation are sycophants because they were same people who shouted, protested during Abacha’s administration due to the fact that his administration didn’t favour them based on religion and tribe ground. As Nigerian’s, religious fanaticism and tribalism should not becloud our sense of reasoning and judgment

We should never be complacent in our present situation in this country of ours, as complacency will cause more havoc, decadence and total breakdown of the whole system. Martin Luther King once observed: “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” The game is up to us to keep our integrity in such a challenging time as this, as NIGERIAN's compromise must not be reached.

– EMMANUEL ABIONA

+(234) 809-944-8795
Twitter: @emmanuel_abiona