ONCE UPON A TIME: THE WAY WE WERE SERIES: In an era gone by, honesty was the foundation of our relationship with each other and the main fabric of our characters as a people, as Nigerians. It defined who we were and especially the attitude of our leadership and their attitude to our development as a nation. Because honesty was the foundation of our leadership, people saw their positions of authority as a privileged sacrifice rather than mere opportunity. Our politics attracted the best of minds with purity of hearts. There was an enduring hope and patriotism flowed in our veins. Because of the importance that was attached to having a good name, we were told with admiration, stories of people that rather preferred death to any suspicion of dishonesty in their characters than to live with the shame of such allegations. That was once upon a time. That was an era ago when Nigerians were walking signposts of honesty and the prospects of our nation were shining bright. When we remember that era, we must by necessity interrogate how and why we lost the innocence of our honesty and why people now wear dishonesty like a rank on their sleeves. We must interrogate why the appearance of honesty is now basically a garb put on during political campaigns but scarce in our governance. In my view, honesty cannot just be activated on election days but must be the root of choosing our leaders , be they presidents, village heads, or even class prefects; how we live with these choices and importantly as how we relate with others. I’m convinced that honesty is the primary building block of any meaningful relationship, supporting community, any great nation and we must re-install the policy of honesty as the bedrock of building a greater Nigeria. I always consider our exchanges and comments here as a community. And what’s a community anyway if not fellowship with others, sharing common attitudes, interests and goals. I believe we’re all united in building a great Nigeria as our shared goal as well as our collective aspiration. So, I’ve decided that we can and should collectively look at our yesteryears, days and eras gone by on issues of various aspects of our lives; of our community. In order to find the best way forward, we must understand and appreciate the past. We can and should leave out our personal anger and put aside our issues; we should please set aside finger pointing , support for whatever political party we affiliate with, be it PDP, APC or whatever party. This is our country and we must take some share of the responsibility for our future and for the sort of society we would want our children and their children to grow in. Let us all do this: let us all pretend that we are all seated round our dining table in our house, having a meal. We should imagine that we are seated together discussing as FRIENDS and/or FAMILY looking at the issues at hand and professing what we’ve learnt or understood about these issues; offer solutions and suggestions to achieve the change we desire. There is no one too small nor too big to learn from others or too small or too big to give suggestions. A greater nation can only be built by honest opinions and sharing in each other’s wisdom. That’s why I’m starting this series that I call “Once Upon a Time, The Way We Were”. We have a nation to build. Lets do it.
Posted on: Sun, 11 Jan 2015 16:51:26 +0000
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