Critics
of the government’s change campaign got a reply yesterday – President
Muhammadu Buhari challenged them to ask themselves how far they have
changed in their ways.
To the President, nothing is working because of the total breakdown of our core values over the years.
He said old habits of partisanship,
pettiness and immaturity must give way to new order characterised by a
new spirit of responsibility, service, patriotism and sacrifice.
Nigerians, in Buhari’s view, need attitudinal change and a change of mindset in private and public life.
He said those asking for the change to first ask themselves, how far they have also changed.
Buhari spoke at the Presidential Villa
in Abuja at the launch of a national re-orientation campaign, titled
“Change Begins With Me”.
He said the nation must be ready to stop
the tyranny of rent seekers and vested interests while the majority
suffers. Besides, Nigerians should not be under any illusion that
changes will happen overnight.
But Buhari is confident that the campaign will help restore our value system and rekindle our nationalistic fervor.
Buhari said:” I am therefore appealing
to all Nigerians to be part of this campaign. Our citizens must realise
that the change they want to see begins with them, and that personal and
social reforms are not theoretic exercise.
“If you have not seen the change in you,
you cannot see it in others or even the larger society. In other words,
before you ask ‘where is the change they promised us’, you must first
ask how far have I changed my ways, ‘what have I done to be part of the
change for the greater good of society?
“Nigeria today is passing through a
challenging moment where hardly anything works in a normal manner. Many
have attributed this phenomenon to the total breakdown of our core
values over the years.
“It is safe to say today that honesty,
hard work, Godliness have given way to all kinds of manifestations of
lawlessness and degeneration in our national life. This is why we have
among our cardinal objectives ‘change’, which implies the need for a
change of attitude and mindset in our everyday life.”
The President said with the success of
the anti-corruption crusade of his administration, there is need for a
sustainable framework to change the attitude and mindset of Nigerians.
He added: “I need not mention the
serious effort we have engaged in since the inception of this
administration on the fight against corruption in our public life. With
the progress we have so far made in that regard, we feel the need to
ensure that we put in place the necessary sustainable framework for
action and measures that will help to entrench and consolidate the
progress achieved so far.
“This we believe can best be maintained through attitudinal change, and the change of our mindset in private and public life.
“ The campaign we are about to launch
today is all about the need for us to see change not merely in terms of
our economic, social progress but in terms of our personal behaviour on
how we conduct ourselves, engage our neigbhours, friends and generally
how we relate with the larger society in a positive and definitive way
and manner that promotes our common good and common destiny, change at
home, change in the work place, change at traffic junction, change at
traffic lights etc.
“This campaign is part of the
determination of our party to seek to carry all Nigerians along on the
journey to a better and greater society that we all can be proud of.”
Reviewing how the nation has
degenerated, Buhari regretted that Nigerians now give preference to
dishonesty, indolence, unbridled corruption and widespread impunity.
He said: “There is no doubt that our
value system has been badly eroded over the years. The long-cherished
and time honoured, time-tested virtues of honesty, integrity, hard work,
punctuality, good neighbourliness, abhorrence of corruption and
patriotism, have given way in the main to dishonesty, indolence,
unbridled corruption and widespread impunity.
“The resultant effect of this derailment in our value system is being felt in the social, political and economic sphere.
“ It is the reason that some youths will
take to cultism and brigandage instead of studying hard or engaging in
decent living; it is the reason that some elements will break pipelines
and other oil facilities, thus robbing the nation of much-needed
resources; it is the reason that money belonging to our commonwealth
will be brazenly stolen by the same public officials to whom they were
entrusted; it is the reason why motorists drive through red traffic
lights, it is the reason that many will engage in thuggery and
vote-stealing during elections; it is part of what has driven our
economy into deep problem out of which we are now working hard to
extricate ourselves. Every one of us must have a change from our old
ways of doing things; we cannot fold our arms and allow things to
continue the old way.
“We must resist the temptation to fall
back on the same partisanship, pettiness and immaturity that have
poisoned our country for so long.
“Let us summon a new spirit of
responsibility, spirit of service, of patriotism and sacrifice. Let us
all resolve to pitch in and work hard and look after, not only ourselves
but one another. What the current problem has taught us is that we
cannot have a thriving army of rent seekers and vested interests, while
the majority suffers.
“Rather than sit back and complain
endlessly, we have decided to act pragmatically, with the launch of this
National Re-orientation Campaign. The campaign will not be a sprint but
a marathon that will run the course of our tenure. We are under no
illusion that the changes we seek will happen overnight, but we have no
doubt that the campaign will help restore our value system and rekindle
our nationalistic fervor.
“While the government will drive the
Change Begins With Me’ campaign, it must be strongly supported by all
concerned individually. In this regard the private sector is a major
stakeholder. Indeed when the campaign succeeds, it will impact heavily
on the private sector. A punctual, diligent and hardworking staff can
only be of benefit of not just himself or herself or the organization
they work for but to various governments whether at local, state or
Federal level.
“While congratulating the stakeholders,
especially Ministry of Information and Culture and the National
Orientation Agency for conceiving this campaign, I charge all to pursue
the campaign with vigour and ensure its sustenance by taking it to all
the nook and crannies of this country, with the aim of getting the buy
in of the old, the young, the rich, the poor irrespective of gender or
other social positions.”
Buhari later handed over the instrument
of “Change Begins With Me” to the Minister of Information and Culture,
Alhaji Lai Mohammed, for transmission to all Nigerians and friends of
Nigeria.
With applause from the audience, he said: “Indeed I say to the glory of Mighty Allah, “Change Begins With Me”.
Mohammed, who presented the multi-media
format of the re-orientation campaign Change Begins With Me to the
President said it is “a Pan-Nigeria Campaign that has no coloration
whatsoever – whether it is political, religious or ethnic.
“It is a campaign for all Nigerians with
the sole objective of achieving a paradigm shift in the way we do
things. The campaign’s principle is simple: Each one of us must be the
change we want to see in our society!”
He said the campaign, which will be
carried out in all the major Nigerian languages, will leverage heavily
on the social media and will be largely youth-driven.
Mohammmed urged all the states to partner with the Federal Government so as to reach every Nigerian.
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