GET INVOLVED
Who else could have shared on the exact theme of this 11th edition except for Pastor Adebayo who attempted a road construction project (as an act of social responsibility) but was discouraged after he was told he needed to give money as bribe to facilitate the process.
The focus of his lecture centered on the failure of the people in achieving good governance. He didn’t speak about the damage the leadership are doing to the psyche of the people right from independence.
He shared from independence, how we as a nation have tackled indiscipline, poverty, malaria, corruption, etc., yet have never won any of these wars.
From the Military form of government to the Democratic system, past leaders shared their vision of a better Nigeria but none of these ‘ideas’ have been successfully executed.
He however said that while it’s obvious our leaders have failed us, the citizens also share the blame. Everyone is part of the problem, and so the solution.
“When you don’t get involved, you do not exercise your franchise to vote. You contribute to the nation’s bad governance”, he said.
He explained that one of the reasons people don’t want to get involved is because of the wrong perception that POLITICS IS DIRTY.
He said, “While one of the starting points to getting involved is to ensure you have a valid Permanent Voter’s Card (PVC), having the PVC is not as powerful as getting into ‘the game’. An effective leadership is only as good as an enlightened and productively active followership. A passive people gets the kind of leaders they deserve, an enlightened and active followership gets the kind of leaders that they chose.”
He added that while there are flaws in the political and electioneering process that might impinge on the outcome of elections (for example, rigging elections), citizen’s engagement is one way to mitigate these challenges.
It’s not enough to talk about leadership failures; the citizens must be actively involved.
He therefore asked, “How do you get involved?”
1. Join a political party and start to contribute your own quota.
2. Don’t go into politics with the attitude of wanting to seize power. Try to understand how the system works.
3. Develop political sense. Be educated, politically.
4. Build a followership of people, and help them understand the political process. Also meet certain needs they may have.
5. Don’t be a social media politician. Reach out far and wide. Get to the grassroots.
6. Register in your ward or constituency and participate actively.
7. Know your councilor and elected officers in your ward.
“Every politics is local. It begins with holding the chairman of your local government accountable. Next is the governor of the state, and then your president. So before you blame your president, hold your LG chairman accountable. Your involvement can start from there.”, said Pastor Francis. “It’s time to take this country back and the power to achieve that is in our hands. What we do with that power is up to us.”
In rounding off, Pastor Francis shared two sides to being a responsible citizenship;
- the SUPPLY SIDE (our responsibilities, duties and obligations) and
- the DEMAND SIDE (the government’s demand of us like paying our taxes etc.)
On the demand side, he said that there are four types of people to consider:
1. Those who fled the country because they believe that the system has collapsed and things can’t change;
2. Those who are discouraged and tired, having tried what they could; they’ve resorted to be their own government.
3. Those who are still in the system but have totally given up, and then
4. Those who have decided to get involved.
If every one of us decides to do something and get involved, we can build the Nigeria we desire, the kind that our children will be very proud to live in. The building of our country will not start from Aso Rock, it will start from us.
You can listen to the full speech of Pastor Francis by clicking the link The Platform, Get Involved 03 Francis Adebayo
Sir on this issue of getting involved, I overheard on a radio station that one can download a book you wrote pertaining to getting involved. Where and how can it be downloaded.?