By Rotimi Olatunji
Dr. Christopher Kolade, (CON), Fellow of African Governance Initiative, and Grand Patron of STSINOIZ (Zionists) International Club has called on well- meaning Nigerians to both speak out and take collective action to salvage Nigeria from collapse.
He made this statement at a Special Webinar organized by the Club on June 12, 2024, to mark the 25th Anniversary of Nigeria’s 4th Democratic Republic.
The Webinar was themed “Nigeria’s 4th Democratic Dispensation since 1999: How far have we gone and how far can we go with Personal Greed and Selfishness?
In his opening remarks at the Webinar, Dr. Kolade said: “If you look at the Nigerian situation, especially if you go by what we get in the media most days, the names we listen to, the people that we publicize, the activities that we tend to notice are mostly unpleasant to us”.
The Lead Speaker at the Webinar was Mr Lanre Arogundade of the International Press Centre, Lagos. Discussants include Professor Dokun Omojola of the Department of Mass Communication, Covenant University, Ota and Dr. Olabisi Deji-Folutile, Editor-in-Chief of Franklalknow.com. Dr. Adefolaseye Adebomi Adebayo, Fellow of the West African college of Surgeons, and Fellow of the National Postgraduate Medical College also participated as a discussant. The Webinar was attended by over 50 participants, including Nigerians in Diaspora. Mr. Femi Aborisade, Lawyer, Scholar Labour Activists and Human Rights advocate was also in attendance.
The Lead Speaker and other discussants catalogued the challenges plaguing Nigeria’s development since 1999 . These include selfishness and greed on the part of the current and past politicians in Nigeria, including: unbridled corruption at all levels of the society, high rate of inflation, mass hunger, infrastructural decadence across the federal, state and local government levels of administration, impunity, mass unemployment, fuel price hike and attendant consequences, amongst other.
Dr Kolade drew attention to the need for collective action to “constantly look for improvement” to the Nigerian dire situation. Noting that Nigeria’s sorry state demands a collective approach, Dr. Kolade noted that no nation can perform better than its people, since a nation is actually the expression of its human resource.
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Dr. Kolade submitted said that if citizens notice that those in power and leadership are doing things that they don’t like, Nigerians should “speak out and point to the right things”.
Stating that Nigeria belongs to all her citizens, the Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON) added that “the more we speak out and point to the right things, the more we will find that we begin to overcome the terrible things that we notice”.
After listening to the different speakers during the Webinar, Dr. Kolade asked: What are we going to do, going forward that will bring integrity into prominence when we discuss matters of this kind?
Greed and selfishness, endemic evils in Nigeria’s politics is “not just a moral issue. It’s also a criminal issue”, said Dr Kolade. He then advised that “if we are in the position where we are having criminals doing things in the guise of being the ones who govern the nation’’, we should not just insist on doing the right things and doing them right, citizens must insist that culprits are brought to book through the due process.
On her part, Dr. Adebayo, (a Surgeon) prescribed that Nigerians have to continue to talk about the rot in Nigeria’s political space in the media by calling for policies that discourage greed and selfishness, corruption, nepotism and bad governance; adding that equity and merit should be instituted at all levels, especially in the civil service. Then there should be punishment for corrupt practices. There should be “no sacred cows” she opined.
Another discussant, Dr. Olabisi Deji-Folutile added that “I think we should ensure that the rule of law works. If there are consequences for bad actions, it will serve as deterrent to others. So I think we should ensure that rule of law works”. She equally called on the media to continue to expose whatever is wrong within the system, adding that the citizens should equally partner with the media to sanitize the body politick.
Professor Dokun Omojola explored the philosophical approach to addressing the problem of selfishness and greed in national politics. He said nearly all politicians in the legislative and executive arms of government at State and Federal levels have dual citizenships, which explains why they are not committed to building a better and equitable society. “Majority of our politicians are unpatriotic; they have other countries of the world to run to whenever there is crisis in Nigeria”, Omojola noted.
Professor Omojola canvassed the for politicians and the citizens to imbibe the spirit of altruism by focusing on provision of greater good of the greater number. He recommended also the need to strengthen civic engagement; support for domestic industries and innovation; and protection of democratic institutions and governance. He concluded with a wake- up call on citizens to take action about selfishness and greed to move the nation forward.
The lead speaker, Mr. Arogundade submitted that only credible persons should be elected into public offices. More importantly, Mr. Arogundade said the nation should jettison the controversial 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) and adopt the parliamentary system of government which will not only reduce cost of governance, but also forestall the inbuilt weaknesses of the Presidential system. Nigeria’s current Constitution, Lanre observed, is predicated on the philosophy of “Winner takes all”, adding that the President’s overbearing executive power should be whittled down to enhance good governance. “Nigeria’s democracy is fashioned after the military and it’s been said that the powers of the Nigerian President is perhaps more than the power of the American President”, he reasoned.
In the interim, Mr Arogundade further advocated that Chapter Two of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) should be made justiciable so that health, education, employment, welfare services and the like should be enforceable in the Court of Law.
Moreover Mr Arogundade called for a return to the values that made mass movements what they have always being since government would always be government. The Citizens’ right to associate and openly demonstrate against unwanted policies should not be hindered under any guise.
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“We need mass organizations, we need mass pressures. We need trade unions that have to be trade unions and are genuinely and consistently fighting for the interests of the masses. The student unions, also the staff unions must stand up. They should not abandon those values, things that we used to fight for”, Mr Arogundade concluded.
The Nonagenarian, Dr Christopher Kolade told the gathering that “when God gives us blessings”, including the blessing of life, “He wants us to make those blessings count. He wants us to show that we have been blessed and that therefore he expects us to bless other people”. Part of making the blessings of life to count, he noted, is to ensure that citizens take action against the rot in the society and to ensure that good governance is instituted at all levels of the society.
“But above all, make your blessings count. And one of your blessings is that you want to establish and sustain integrity in this environment. Let us carry on knowing that God is with us. He is not just our refuge, He’s our strength. Let us express that strength by making our blessings count”, Dr Kolade added.
Earlier, the Secretary-General of STSINOIZ International Club, also a Professor of Public Relations and Advertising at the Lagos State University, Ojo, St. Rotimi Olatunji, noted that the Club is committed to promoting good governance, developing leadership skills and good citizenship as well as ethical values in members of the society. He informed the gathering that STSINOIZ International Club Club was thus established on 11th December, 2010, but was chartered by the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) of Nigeria in January 4, 2017, with registration Number CAC/IT/93685.
In his closing remarks, the President of STSINOIZ International Club, St. Lekan Adebayo, a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountant of Nigeria (ICAN), while expressing his appreciation to the Club’s Grand Patron and the participants, called onNigerians to join the Club to institutionalised integrity in all facets of the national life, thereby battling selfishness and greed, since there’s no corruption without selfishness and greed. It is also impossible to have a better nation with selfishness, greed and injustice”, he concluded. St Lekan Adebayo is the pioneer President, Stsinoiz International Club.
The STSINOIZ International Club was established to develop potentials of members and youths in Entrepreneurship fund management, citizenship duties and obligations, including family life; to develop leadership skills and good citizenship as well as ethical values in members of the society; to provide welfare support, including scholarship, adult education to the youths, the aged and the vulnerable members of the society and the widows. So far, the Club has empowered nearly 500 widows and other needy members of the society with various sums of money to established small scale businesses, and on a yearly basis, the Club gathers widows together at Christmas and at Easter to offer financial and material support to enrich their lives.
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