Be a Part of History

by OPEYEMI AJAYI
Nigeria

About 100 years ago, the Spanish flu wiped out 5% of the world’s population; it was reported as one of the deadliest disasters in human history. Those days were dark days in human history.

The truth is as Nigerians, we seem to be in a deluge of dark days.We have a large chunk of unemployed youth population, bad road network everywhere, no adequate security for citizens, no value for human lives, our educational system is in disarray and life expectancy is so low with ill-equipped hospitals and a comatose economy.

We have 36 state Governors with Houses of Assembly, 109 Senators and 360 Members of the House of Representatives, and a President who seem to be enjoying the challenges so much that they are just smiling at it rather than proffering solutions while the citizens are in excruciating pain. They alone and their family members are enjoying the common wealth while majority of the citizens are dying of curable diseases on daily basis.

Government exists simply as a means to allow citizens to live happily & love each other, officials are either elected or appointed to serve but in reality, they trample on us. They cannot exist if we haven’t empowered them.

Sometime in 2015, we empowered the current administration, both at the federal and state levels with the exception of a few state with abridged elections.

Prior to 2015 elections, there were 67million registered voters in the country out of which only 29m people voted in the 2015 elections.

Out of the total population of over 190m people according to U.N. estimates, only 29m folks decided our fate today, their votes made it possible for SARS to keep harassing citizens, their votes made it possible for animals to have the capacity to swallow money without consequences, their votes made it possible for government to re-absorb a fugitive into public service without due process and no head is rolling for that, their votes made it possible for Dapchi kidnapping to happen, their votes made it possible for businesses to be shutting down while unemployment rate skyrockets, their votes made it impossible to have electricity in our homes& business centres and for the level of insecurity that has increased drastically.

Decisions made by the President, 36 state Governors and the Houses of Assembly, 109 Senators, 360 House of Representatives and their appointed officials shapes the quality of life that every Nigerian will live from the number of unemployed graduates that will remain on the streets, to the number of business that will survive, to the quality of schools our children will attend, to the quality of road we will drive, to the type of training our Police men & LASTMA officials will have and many more.

That is why every right thinking Nigerian must be interested in choosing the people that govern us at every level of governance. It is critical for every adult Nigerian to register to vote and obtain our PVC. This is the only way out of the imbroglio we have found ourselves.

We cannot continue to complain when those who should be cleaning our shoes are the ones leading; we must all take part in the process and elect only credible people into government.

Enough of elected law makers who are bold enough to say they haven’t visited their constituency in over a year, enough of state Governors who consider erecting statutes as dividends of democracy. Enough of elected officials taking us for a ride.

Let us stop this idea that votes don’t count, we must all register as a voter before the window closes, obtain our PVC and cast our votes only for credible people who have vision to make our society a better place to live. This is the foundation in which a better society will emerge.

Without being hypocritical, even if all elected officials are performing maximally as altruistic leaders, it will still take years of collective hard work for the country of our dream to emerge but we have to initiate the process by making sure that only visionary men and women are elected into public offices.

We have all that we need to make Nigeria the most desirable country to live in on earth. We are blessed with human and material resources.

For Nigeria to begin to work for every citizen; you and I must endeavour to register as a voter, obtain our PVC and cast our vote on Election Day; there is no other way around building a new Nigeria. We must also encourage everyone around us to register and obtain their PVC. Employers should endeavour to give a day off for their employees who haven’t performed this civic responsibility.

We can no longer afford to just keep silent and fold our hands; we must begin to make things happen, we must be part of history. Our dear nation will not develop by chance but by the choices you and I make. No more complaints when we have the capacity to make things better. We should no longer allow visionless individuals lead us.

Our future is bright but we must start making positive history for the sake of the coming generation.

God bless you.
God bless Nigeria.

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3 comments

Anonymous March 4, 2018 - 6:40 am

Great write up egbon

Reply
Opeyemi Sunday Odeniyi March 3, 2018 - 12:08 pm

Nice one.

Reply
Anonymous March 2, 2018 - 11:20 am

Getting a PVC will not change the situation as long as the same set of people are the ones to be voted for. Until the aegean stable is cleaned completely and right-minded people are the contestants at election, we will continue to be governed by the 4th eleven

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