The Independence day Symposium; When leaders lose their humanity what do you think would happen to the followers? this was a question a friend asked me as I complained about the continuous and brutal killing of young boys yet our leaders sat and do nothing.
Independence Day Symposium Versus FSARS
Why does the state exist? Why do we have policies? Can a nation exist without the people? Again these questions lingered through my mind. 60th Independence celebration yet we still fight for so much in this country, we fight for our daily necessities and now we are forced to also fight to live? We are not entirely free as a nation that gained independence and as a people in our own nation. We live in fear, we can’t even object marginalization and injustice they silence us and abuse power.
We didn’t stop posting about the injustice done to Nigerian boys by FSARS using same hashtag End FSARS, until someone forced us to see the reality of us posting about the inhumane attitude of the Nigerian FSARS in a lawless society “same hashtag for years yet no real action from our government.
Nigerians are not smart and they are jokers they say until the federal government through the inspector general of police again Bans FSARS and other police tactical squads from routine patrol and I saw Nigerians digging up evidence of same statement addressing the same issue from the federal government since 2017 and showed how the government isn’t true to her words.
Little wonder those cruel entities in human form take the lives of young people and also abuse their corpse at death to scare other young people; well, they feel entitled and protected because our government won’t do nothing about their actions.
We are existing in a society where important matters are neglected with phrases like “we will look into it” , we totally condemn this act”, “they are going to be held accountable” funny how we use accountability in a country where no one is held accountable for their actions, leaders throwing tantrums and pointing fingers at each other. If not, why should a SARS official pull a trigger on an innocent civilian?
We celebrate Nigeria at 60, I like to celebrate events in life because they are worth celebrating I don’t celebrate my failures and galavant over my misconducts, I am ashamed of my excesses but in my country Nigeria, we celebrate a Nigeria that has failed us in many ways, we celebrate a nation that has killed our boys, allowed many to be homeless and hungry, we celebrate unemployment, we celebrate mismanagement of funds, bad leadership, we celebrate negativities in this country.
While we face the reality of some greedy leaders who lack a true knowledge of leadership I am excited to say that there are still some really smart people with vision for this nation. I was opportune to attend a webinar hosted by the Nehemiah initiative with prominent leaders political, religious and economic leaders and in this symposium I listened to some personalities describe a Nigeria in the next 40 years.
Awesome thoughts, even though I didn’t stop thinking of Nigeria now as I couldn’t stop feeling so miserable about the recent killings and havoc in my country. But I must commend the thought processes of those personalities the likes of His excellency Babajide Sanwo-olu, Mrs. Oby Ezekwesili, Mr. Tonye Patrick Cole, Mr. Donald Duke, Pst. Adeboye, Mrs. Toyosi OgunijiAkerele and his royal highness Adeyeye Enitam Ooni of Ife.
I heard the governor of Lagos state, Sanwo-Olu address the issue of transformational leadership and the importance of sustainable development goals for a better Nigeria and this only reminded me of the comments from some friends who are no longer interested in whether the leaders are corrupt and are extorting but are only interested in proof of work irrespective of how much is stolen.
“Be smart enough to get the work done even though you want to keep some money due to greed; we are tired of fighting corruption, people are corrupt”.
We advocate for leaders with vision for the citizens and advised that our leaders lead so that we can have actual fellowship. Communication, collaboration and commitment should be our guide as goals should be made visible into values that we can uphold.
Mr. Donald Duke further enumerated some aspects of our society we need to look into, he mentioned skills and manpower, health sector, infrastructure and technology, he advocated for a purposeful visionary and human will.
We are lacking in many ways and until we re-strategize our minds into doing what is right for our nation, growth is going to be far fetched. I listened to them and wished it’s not just going to be the regular “big big talk” yet no changes.
I was really excited when he stated a key point that troubled my mind. Is Nigeria going to be in existence before the year 2060? Again this question took me to the religious wars, ethnic sentiments and rivalries, bad leadership and the recent killings of youths by FSARS. With all these anomalies how do we get to 2060? Are we going to continue to drag our foots in adopting great policies?
As though, this was a direct response to the question Pst. Adeboye as he began his speech made it clear that we should solve the problem of Nigeria now to achieve a better Nigeria in 2060. This indeed is so true, if we can’t end FSARS, then there won’t be hope for Nigeria because they are killing the so called future leaders.
We can have a Nigeria that is original to us by adopting complex analysis since the simple methods like just saying isn’t working anymore we should start acting. I like that youths are protesting even though it is really disheartening that the police are harming these young people with tear gas and all to stop them from exercising their own right.
Mrs. Oby Ezekwesili urged that our politics be fixed for governance to be better, she expressed her disappointment towards successive government not meeting the expectations of the people. Simply, we do not practice continuity in this country, every leader coming in with new dreams and dumping the old at the end achieving nothing.
We are not asking for so much all we need is a small group of thoughtful citizens to speed growth for our nation, we need to design a new Nigeria, craft an ideal state like the great philosopher Plato would say. Merit, competitiveness and productivity and human capital should be at the centre of our political landscape.
Listening to Mrs. Akerele, I could feel the depth of her passion from the tone of her voice, her strong will to drive change in our society, I saw someone who is hurting, she bitterly expressed how leaders have mismanaged funds and caused the people to suffer because they prioritize their own self gains over the happiness of the majority that voted them in.
Can these bitterness we all feel towards this nation push us into making the right choices during elections? Can the bitterness make us act right in our different spaces? Can the change we want for our nation start with us?
If a lot do not change now, there won’t be a Nigeria by 2060, this country is definitely going to go into extinction, already the people who are supposed to protect us are the ones killing us, we need to stop the brutality coming from the police and FSARS officials, our president shouldn’t express shock over sensitive matters. Nigerians are not stupid the issues lingering didn’t just start yesterday why act like they are new to you? Why talk about petroleum and all while you neglect the dying youths? Can a mother abandon her child? Yes! and this is what motherland is doing to us through our leaders.
End FSARS and save Nigeria.
