Ameto Akpe decries Nigerian passiveness and lack of
initiative. Things will not change for the better in Nigeria even after
the February 14th election, she says, unless we learn how to take
matters in our own hands.
, Nigeria’s capital city, as a small group of young men passionately argue over who “deserved” the nation’s highest political office, Jonathan or Buhari. Banter over qualifications and campaign promises quickly turns into an exchange of abuse. A fight breaks shortly after between two most vocal debaters while their companions half-heartedly intervene to stop the scuffle.
I slowly slip back to the present, and my eyes fall on the Facebook conversation that prompted my reverie. Two “friends” momentarily question the validity of each other’s sanity — a quarrel spurred by their support for opposing candidates in the 2015 presidential elections. This season, Twitter, Facebook and the blogosphere have turned to platforms for daily influx of commentary tirades on “the enemies of our progress” and intense declarations on the opportunities to come “when” their preferred candidate wins.
The fact is, no matter who wins, real social changes will elude Nigerians in the coming years. Instead, the usual whining and incessant finger-pointing will continue. Nigerians are passionate, so the social media provide a real outlet for them to vent their anger and share their frustrations. But it is all just talk, and, sadly, talk is not nearly enough. “Power centers do not get persuaded by debates”, journalist and author Glenn Greenworld aptly notes. He recommends citizens to find ways to remind power centers that they are to be “in fear of us”, and not the other way around.
In the past decade, Nigerians have repeatedly wasted opportunities to convert outrage into sustainable demand for accountability and social change. Case in point were the 2011 “Occupy Nigeria” crusade and the 2014 “Bring Back Our Girls” campaign. For the first time in a long while, Nigeria spoke in one voice, calling the failures of the government by name and demanding that leaders give account. In both instances, the country gained full attention and support of the world. In both instances, nothing eventually changed, nor was anyone punished or held to account.
Within few hours after the January 7th slaughter of 11 people by terrorists in Paris, thousands of French nationals took to the streets to mourn and protest the killings. At dawn of the same day, following a five-day rampage by Boko Haram, dozens (some claim hundreds) of Nigerians lay massacred in Baga. From Kaduna to Lagos, there were no candlelight vigils, no banners were raised, no solidarity protests held. With their “silence”, the Nigerian people spoke volumes. So when people ask me why was the slaughter in Baga ignored while the French terror attacks were heralded across the world, I simply say maybe because a stranger doesn’t mourn louder than the bereaved.
It is not enough to organize for change and hope something comes out of it. There has to be logic to it, and this logic must be built over time with a clear mechanism for sustainability, driven by individuals who, according to Harvard professor Marshall Ganz, “accept the responsibility for working with others to define desired outcomes and achieve them in an uncertain world.” Individuals like Desmond Tutu or Martin Luther King (Jr.), clergymen who do not hide behind fancy pulpits but use their legitimacy within their communities to organize people and demand change. From schoolteachers to healthcare workers, it is about building relationships and capacity within local clusters, then developing and refining a communal yet singular voice around common challenges.
Nigerians like to say “God dey”, or “God will help us”. It appears that the nation already has over 170 million mouths and four times as many feet and hands, enough to demand the reality they deserve. Or maybe they already have the reality they deserve.
One Nigerian proverb warns: “If the debt collector always sleeps, the debtor will never pay”. No matter how well-intentioned a leader is, his success always depends, in part, on the pressure people “apply” on him, on the demands they make. The work of the electorate does not end after we cast our vote.
Vision without action is merely a dream. Action without vision just passes the time. Vision with action can change the world. — Joel A. Barker
It’s a couple of weeks before the 2011 general elections. I watch
from a balcony in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital city, as a small group of young men passionately argue over who “deserved” the nation’s highest political office, Jonathan or Buhari. Banter over qualifications and campaign promises quickly turns into an exchange of abuse. A fight breaks shortly after between two most vocal debaters while their companions half-heartedly intervene to stop the scuffle.
I slowly slip back to the present, and my eyes fall on the Facebook conversation that prompted my reverie. Two “friends” momentarily question the validity of each other’s sanity — a quarrel spurred by their support for opposing candidates in the 2015 presidential elections. This season, Twitter, Facebook and the blogosphere have turned to platforms for daily influx of commentary tirades on “the enemies of our progress” and intense declarations on the opportunities to come “when” their preferred candidate wins.
The fact is, no matter who wins, real social changes will elude Nigerians in the coming years. Instead, the usual whining and incessant finger-pointing will continue. Nigerians are passionate, so the social media provide a real outlet for them to vent their anger and share their frustrations. But it is all just talk, and, sadly, talk is not nearly enough. “Power centers do not get persuaded by debates”, journalist and author Glenn Greenworld aptly notes. He recommends citizens to find ways to remind power centers that they are to be “in fear of us”, and not the other way around.
In the past decade, Nigerians have repeatedly wasted opportunities to convert outrage into sustainable demand for accountability and social change. Case in point were the 2011 “Occupy Nigeria” crusade and the 2014 “Bring Back Our Girls” campaign. For the first time in a long while, Nigeria spoke in one voice, calling the failures of the government by name and demanding that leaders give account. In both instances, the country gained full attention and support of the world. In both instances, nothing eventually changed, nor was anyone punished or held to account.
Within few hours after the January 7th slaughter of 11 people by terrorists in Paris, thousands of French nationals took to the streets to mourn and protest the killings. At dawn of the same day, following a five-day rampage by Boko Haram, dozens (some claim hundreds) of Nigerians lay massacred in Baga. From Kaduna to Lagos, there were no candlelight vigils, no banners were raised, no solidarity protests held. With their “silence”, the Nigerian people spoke volumes. So when people ask me why was the slaughter in Baga ignored while the French terror attacks were heralded across the world, I simply say maybe because a stranger doesn’t mourn louder than the bereaved.
It is not enough to organize for change and hope something comes out of it. There has to be logic to it, and this logic must be built over time with a clear mechanism for sustainability, driven by individuals who, according to Harvard professor Marshall Ganz, “accept the responsibility for working with others to define desired outcomes and achieve them in an uncertain world.” Individuals like Desmond Tutu or Martin Luther King (Jr.), clergymen who do not hide behind fancy pulpits but use their legitimacy within their communities to organize people and demand change. From schoolteachers to healthcare workers, it is about building relationships and capacity within local clusters, then developing and refining a communal yet singular voice around common challenges.
Nigerians like to say “God dey”, or “God will help us”. It appears that the nation already has over 170 million mouths and four times as many feet and hands, enough to demand the reality they deserve. Or maybe they already have the reality they deserve.
One Nigerian proverb warns: “If the debt collector always sleeps, the debtor will never pay”. No matter how well-intentioned a leader is, his success always depends, in part, on the pressure people “apply” on him, on the demands they make. The work of the electorate does not end after we cast our vote.
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