NIGERIA: The change we need!

It is not strange for man to have challenges, it will only be bad for him to be overcame by the challenges. We belong to a world where trials, temptations, and persecutions abound. They had become inevitable part of our existence. Challenges, no matter how overwhelming they may be should not be a limitation to our life; we should see these challenges as opportunities to advance our lives. A lot of people had lost track on the path of successful living due to one challenge or the other. Many had blamed their various predicaments on various excuses on one problem or the other that they faced. I’ll want to submit that the challenges are not meant to limit us in life but comes as opportunities to refine our character and advance our life positively. In every problem or challenge is packaged a lifetime opportunity to see the intervention of God.

Pain comes with trials, neglect, bad attitudes, betrayals, sickness, temptations and persecutions, a discomfort that makes one to cry, wonder and ask “why me? Or will this ever end?” My question, Is there anything good in pain or discomfort? What is the purpose of pain? Is it just there to cause displeasure and make one bitter? Is it just a measure to make one want to give up and go weary?

In my own perspective, my answer to all these question is NO. However, to some other the answer may be YES, it is a question of choices and perception. But really I want you to see and know and change your perception about pain and challenges. There are inherent blessings in pain.

In every challenge, no matter the extent of the pain it bring therein lays opportunities. Someone once said “opportunity’s favourite disguise is trouble”. I’ll want us to see in this writ that pain should not be seen as an enemy but rather as an agent of change. Pain should not be seen as a negative phenomenon but as a positive one. Mike Murdock said “Pain is a signal for change”. Pain informs us that there is a need for change and the lifespan depends on when we respond to make the necessary change it informs us about. Pain is a gift after all, a gift that motivates us to make an obvious change. Pain suggests that something is out of place, a signal that something is not in order.

The pain of headache is a signal that something is out of order in the body metabolism, the pain associated with malaria is a signal that there is a “foreign body” in the blood stream. The pain associated to a marital relationship is a signal that something is out of other in that home. The pain associated to a career is an indication that you must do something about it. The so much discomfort in our nation, Nigeria, is a signal for change! Change in our polity, change in leadership, change in mannerism of the populace, change in our educational system, change in political style, change in attitude, change in culture, change all around!

We have all blamed leadership for our woes in Nigeria, but for how long are we going to do that. If we can’t change the past then why must we live in the past? We all seek a savior, seeking a “Martin Luther King Jnr.” for Nigeria, when we can all be the Martin Luther King Jnr., the Rosa Parks, etc. in our own little way. During the days of Martin Luther King, there are other Americans, black and white, who were also contributing to the same course that Martin was committed to in their own way. The likes of Harry C. Boyte, the four students Ezell A. Blair, David Richmond, Joseph McNeil, and Franklin McCain that protests Woolworth's policy of excluding African Americans. There is also Rosa Parks (mother of the civil rights movement) and many others doing their own thing for a common course. All their individual efforts put together brought the change that gave birth the new America today! They all responded to the pain of racism, by making and working towards a change!

The point am making here is that we all, in our own little way need to respond to the “pain” obviously evident in our nation today by doing something about it. As long as we think someone else is who we need, the problems remain. We don't need someone else. All we need is US. Don't leave what you can do for someone else to do. Do your bit. I do my bit. Everybody does their bit. And we all begin to see the changes.

Nigeria's problem is not just leadership, as one of my friend rightly said, (it is a symptom, a signal). One big problem is OWNERSHIP! The problem is that the solutions lie with Mr. Nobody while Mr. Somebody, anybody and everybody sits around and analyze the problem. Like my pastor once said, too much analysis leads to paralysis.

In my recent writ, I wrote that “Many times in this country, we the people have been quiet, and we look another way when others make unethical choices or behave in inappropriate ways. In so much as it doesn’t affect us directly; we feel it’s none of our business. Nigerians and Nigeria’s resources are our business! We are part of the ecosystem. Every individual decisions and actions affects us all one way or the other.” It is high time we began to “de-mystify” the solution to our nation’s predicament. The solution lies with us taking ownership of the various ‘pains’ we experience. The pain affects all of us, so let’s begin to respond to the pain by changing what we can in our own little way to remove the pain.

All our individual efforts today will bring about a change that will give birth to a new Nigeria tomorrow! God Bless Nigeria!

AN INFORMATION LITERATE NIGERIA WILL BE A BETTER NIGERIA

A key component of leadership is value and respect for right information. Careful observation of the woes that has befallen our beloved country Nigeria in the past 49 years, many had hinged on bad leadership, which I quite agree with. Nigeria lacks good leadership because our value system is eroded. We lack value for right information. Cultural values depreciate as the year goes by because information about such cultural values is no more held with value.

To promote economic independence and raise standard of living, there is a lifelong need to be constantly informed and up to date with current information. Since man cannot live forever, it is essential to persistently invest in the younger generation to value information as a perpetual growth strategy in order to ensure that the youths of today, will indeed be good leaders tomorrow.

Looking into Nigeria today, our educational system has been deprived of what it is supposed to breed – excellence! Someone once defined Education as knowing something about everything, and I quite agree with him. The end result of education should be excellence, which to me, is knowing everything about something. Education and excellence goes hand in hand. We have not seen excellence in our polity and economy so far because we have not put priority on education.

This is the time to look beyond the present leadership system because, in my own opinion, it has very little to offer for the future of Nigeria. This is the time for all Nigerians to come together and begin to concentrate on building leaders and that task is the responsibility of every patriotic Nigerians who still have their nation’s development at heart.

The saying goes that readers are leaders, the main reason I believe we lack leaders is because we lack readers – information literate people. People who value information and know what to with it. If we develop a habit of reading, we will become more confident and self assured in abilities to comprehend and understand all types of information. This goes a long way in influencing our polity and decision making prowess. Reading has many benefits that continue to enhance our lives and subsequently the life of our nation.

One of the other main benefits of reading, that I have experienced, is that it exercises our mind. When we continue to read, we have the ability to expand our minds tremendously. We review the pages of knowledge left by those who came before us and who had made good living and contributed to the society at large. We then begin to add to the knowledge as the cycle of humanity continues. The truth is that, if you are a reader, you'll know better. Everyone acts according to his knowledge on a particular issue per time. When you know better, you act better and when you act better, you see better results! When the mind is trained and channeled through insightful reading and quest for right information, it begins to pay attention more thoroughly. When we develop a practice of reading, we are building solid foundation on which to build the future.

Our society today does not have a reading culture. We’ve got to start cultivating reading habit in ourselves, our children and youths of today to raise an army of real leaders tomorrow. We need to encourage fellow citizens to be information literate, not just reading any junk, but reading to gather information that helps become better behaved citizen and eventually create a better nation. There is need for a paradigm shift from ignorance stricken society to an information literate people with right 'heartitude' to living.

The perils of bad leadership that we see today will hurt and hunt us the more if you and I will not decide to make a change to being more knowledge and information conscious. Poverty is a plague that is eating deep into the country today, and the solution is in our individual selves searching for the right knowledge to help us live better. When you acquire relevant information and you apply them knowledgeably, solution is borne. You won’t have to depend on Government too much when you constantly have access to information that makes you shift levels on a consistent basis. Information literate citizens are able to detect, spot and expose fraud, disinformation and lies.

How long shall we continue to rely on our rotten leadership to make a better Nigeria? What is in it for us? If after over 49 years, all we have experienced is as bad as it is now, wouldn’t we rather think of a change. I heard someone say recently that the citizens of Nigeria deserve the leadership they get, and I kind of agree with that person based the premise that we the citizens have the choice to change the kind of leadership we get. Zig Ziglar said “to do something the way you have always done it and expect a different result is the definition of insanity.” If Nigeria must change from what it is today, we must begin to do something differently!

We can create another system that will push this old system away with time. One way I think this can be achieved is by being information literate, by encouraging the young and old to be readers. Being information literate is the ability to know where to gather relevant information that will bring result producing solutions to our problems and that of others around us.

Let us start a revolution today with ourselves, for our children, our neighbor and eventually for our nation. Let’s support, encourage, and sponsor an information literacy crusade. Let’s lunch a reading campaign in the home, school and everywhere. Our future depends on it! God Bless Nigeria!

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The Power of Encouragement

Everybody needs encouragement. None of us achieves or can achieve anything without HELP. The great achievers in history became all they were because there were people in their lives and around them that encouraged them.

Everyone needs help. You need help, I need help, our leaders need help, and Nigeria needs help! We as an individual can decide from today to be the HELP that someone needs. The truth about life is that to get help, you need to be a help. The help you need, the encouragement you need to walk through life successfully is locked in the practice of you being a help to someone. Everyone, young and old, successful and less-than-successful, famous and unknown who receives encouragement is changed by it. Mark Twain once said, "One compliment can keep me going for a whole month". Zig Ziglar also once said this that "You never know when a moment and a few sincere words can have an impact on a life."

I once read about the principal of a school, who one day called in three teachers and said, "You three are the finest in the system, so we're giving you ninety high-IQ students to see what you can do with them." Those students, at the end of the evaluating year, achieved thirty percent more than the other students in the school. Seeing the results, the principal called in the three teachers and said, "I have a confession to make. You didn't have ninety of the most promising students; they were run-of-the-mill (meaning nothing special about them). We picked them at random and gave them to you." The teachers naturally concluded that their exceptionally teaching skills must have been responsible for the students' great progress. "I have another confession, said the principal.’You're not the brightest teachers; your names were the first three drawn out of the hat.'

I found this story interesting how the power of encouraging words made ordinary teachers and ordinary students produce excellent performances. The popular philosopher said, 'Treat a man as he appears to be, and you make him worse. But treat a man as if he already was what he potentially could be, and you make him what he should be.' Why did those students and teachers performed at that level? Because they were encouraged to believe they could!
Words of encouragement are powerful and life changing. Let us as individuals make it a habit of encouraging, of helping someone. Let us help someone realize their full potential. When we do this, the impact will be will be profound in our society. Look around you, imagine a community where boys, girls, man and woman live to their full potential; everyone will be better for it! Imagine a Nigeria where everyone is encouraged to do or produce or manifest some great works or attitude.

We all need each other, and we don't have go too far out of our way to find someone to help. The opportunity abounds. At work, in school, in public buses, in the market place, in seminars, we meet people, we talk to people. Let’s make it a purposeful activity to encourage someone, to help someone achieve his or her dream. That is the essence of life, in following this path is fulfillment in life.

Today, go out and encourage somebody!

LEAD FROM WHERE YOU ARE

We have reiterated severally that the problem of our dear country, Nigeria, is leadership. Someone once said that “the Tsunami of Nigeria is our leadership”. I think this assertion is right about our country, but the salient underlying context of referring only to the few persons in power at different power level as the leaders being referred to as the problem of Nigeria is what I don’t agree with. I believe that in some way, everyone is a leader and as such, everyone that is a Nigerian has in some way part of leadership problem in Nigeria.

It is therefore the collective responsibility of all Nigerians at different levels to take responsibility for Nigeria, after all Leadership is about responsibility. We as Nigerians must in our individual capacity have a resolve to change our nation from this path to gloominess. I heard someone say, if this generation does not rise up to address the decadence in our country, then Nigeria is doomed! It should be the responsibility of every living adult Nigerian today to ensure we do something positive to change the course of things in Nigeria. We all have to take on the problem of leadership. We all have to exhibit and manifest leadership in some way to move our nation forward. We have to make leadership our responsibility. My call in this note is to lead from where you are.

Responsibility is the heart of leadership. We all should begin to take responsibility for Nigeria we want to see tomorrow. Leading from where you are is a call to be responsible, a call to re-build our waste places and institutions in our own little ways. Where do we start from?

One key attribute of leaders is being assertive. Leaders must be assertive. Being assertive means standing up for right or making known legitimate needs, concerns and differences. Many times in this country, we the people have been quiet, and we look another way when others make unethical choices or behave in inappropriate ways. In so much as it doesn’t affect us directly; we feel it’s none of our business. Nigerians and Nigeria’s resources are our business! We are part of the ecosystem. Every individual decisions and actions affects us all one way or the other.

To lead from where you are, you must stand up for what you believe is for the common good of all. Not in violent or derogatory ways but with love. We have all benefitted negatively from our not been assertive. We have kept quiet for too long. We all should be on the look out to uphold Godly standards as appropriate in policies, responsibilities and relationships in our community. We must develop courage to tell people in our circle of influence and at our different levels the truth in a loving way whether they want to hear it or not. Truth is powerful in its nature, its potent enough to bring about change, positive change! All we need to do, and consistently do is SAY IT!

God has given everyman a gift for the betterment of their individual life and that of the community they find themselves. That is the truth! It is our responsibility to give expression to this truth. Say the truth, act out the truth and live the truth! The truth will itself bring about change. By saying the truth, I mean giving expression to your God given potential, assert it, and make it known! When you act out the truth, you act out your potential; when you live the truth, you live your potential and when you live your potential, you are leading from where you are and manifesting God’s idea. God’s idea for your life is the potential he put in you for your good and that of your circle of influence.

It’s time to stand up for our dear nation. Live right and do right! It’s time we take responsibility to make Nigeria a better place for us all! It’s time we speak out! It’s time to correct in love! It’s time we form pressure groups with common goal to tell those in authority to do the right thing and respond to the needs and concerns of Nigerians in a peaceful and loving way! It’s time live our full potential!
Fixing Nigeria is our collective responsibility. It’s not for a collective few. It’s for all of us to be assertive where we need to. Lead from where you are today. It’s for the good of all Nigerians. Have you heard about the Let There Be Light Crusade? See what it’s all about at www.lettherebelightng.org