By Nosa Osaikhuiwu

I HAVE spoken to many groups at home and abroad on the quest for cultural revolution and culture change in Nigeria, but many are often quick to say our leaders are the problem and if only our leaders will change, then our nation will be better as leadership flows from the top, a viewpoint I strongly disagree with. Every political office holder, bureaucrat, or elected politician in Nigeria comes from somewhere in Nigeria and was born, raised, and went to school in those communities. These leaders, while growing up, were shaped by values they learned from home, school, our places of worship, and from friends and family, thus giving oxygen to the notion that every community deserves the kind of leaders it gets. The leaders currently leading our country at all levels are our friends, neighbours, and old schoolmates, and we bear some responsibility for how they have performed.

Regarding the political structure of the country as the main cause of our serious underdevelopment, I could not disagree more, as this is merely a distraction by the failed political class and their collaborators. A brief look at our country vis-à-vis, the responsibilities of the Federal Government, the state governments, and the local governments will show that the Federal Government is responsible for many things, including interstate road networks, power, tertiary education, sea ports, national defence and security, in addition to other regulatory authorities and control of all natural resources on behalf of the people. However, the life of the average Nigerian, no matter where he or she lives, is more impacted by the activities of the state and local governments than the Federal Government, as many of the roads, hospitals, markets, and other infrastructures are under states or local jurisdictions. In order to meet these demands on residents of their states, each state gets monthly federal allocations, and monthly security votes (security votes are slush funds that the governors are not obligated to account for), while the oil-producing states get additional funding from the federation’s account as a share of the 13 per cent derivation. 

When you consider in totality the funds that have accrued to the states on a monthly basis since their creation, it is enough to transform the state into a mini-London in terms of amenities, public housing, roads, and other infrastructural developments, but because we elect political “hyenas” to run the state, and given our culture of permissibility, they devour all our resources and further rile up the rightfully angry citizens who are unsuspecting and stoke them to clamour for restructuring as that is the only solution to their problems. In all seriousness, restructuring is a ruse and a red herring meant to distract the people and is deliberately bandied around by the corrupt political class, the elite, and business collaborators to excuse their ineptitude, corruption, and failure to deliver services to the people. Hopefully, now that some of the powers of the Federal Government have now been devolved to the states through signed federal legislation passed by the National Assembly by former President Muhammadu Buhari, we will assess the states in a few years to judge their service delivery records on many of these new areas of responsibility and judicious use of the accruing funds that will soon follow.

The question our people must ask is: if the nation is restructured, who will be in charge of the restructured entities? Is it not the same cast of characters now running the show? Will restructuring construct roads, provide employment, build hospitals and schools, and stop corruption in high places, or will federal and state political “hyenas” destroying the country be replaced by regional political “hyenas” and then proceed to replicate what they have been doing at the federal levels all over again? Well, your guess is as good as mine. Consequently, and not minding the naysayers, Nigeria’s problem has little or nothing to do with our political system or structure, but all about the bad operators of the system and our culture of permissibility.

I have been on a personal crusade for culture change, and as part of this effort, I have refrained from the culture of spraying money publicly or privately and instead write personal checks, make electronic transfers, or give an envelope whenever I am invited to an occasion and feel the need to support the effort. The culture of publicly spraying money has run amok and indirectly promotes corruption, as after spraying like a drunken sailor, participants will be on the lookout for easy money for the next event to feed their spraying habits. Another point is that the viewing public of this spraying madness often dreams of the day they can spray also, and this ultimately leads to the corruption lane for public and private citizens alike. We must, as a society, demand accountability from ourselves, our representatives, and public officials and accept nothing less, for when we do this and insist on transparency, and ethics, then we will begin to create the country of our hopes and aspirations.

Many have asked me what I think are the critical steps to birthing a culturally transformed Nigeria today, while others have welcomed my culture change advocacy, but insist that the change must start from the top so that Nigerians can then follow. This runs counter to our position, which is that any meaningful change must begin from the ground up. The job of bringing about culture change is not an individual responsibility, but rather a collective responsibility of all Nigerians, and that effort must start now. However, for culture change to take root, we must have in place the following:

Work to define what it means to be a Nigerian citizen; define the minimum ethical standards for public office holders; reform and update the code of conduct bureau to promote an ethical and transparent society; develop and promote ethics in society and advocate for the introduction of ethics and citizenship in school curricula; existence of a national and credible advocacy group; massive public awareness campaigns; work with faith organisations and other mass organisations like the NLC, women, and student bodies to get buy-in on the concept of culture change and national transformation; call for institutional reforms and implement the use of defined tenure in public appointments; promote lifestyle audits in public and private institutions. 

Impose a ban on Naira spraying and prosecute violators. Advocate for atonement as a public policy and base any calls for forgiveness on atonement as a precondition.

Finally, we have modified the original article and included some of the critical steps needed to bring about culture change in Nigeria. 

However, this article was meant to help us as citizens have a self-reflection and discussions with ourselves to see if we have done our part ethically, and transparently in our various endeavors to birth the country of our collective dreams. If the answer is not affirmative, then we must all retrace our steps, and put service to God, country, and family first, and do so faithfully, transparently, and ethically, thereby giving birth to a new Nigeria we all can be proud of.

Osaikhuiwu, a social commentator,  wrote from the United States of America.