In my opinion, the ineptitude of our body politic and the chronic abysmal performances of our ostentatious leaders are deeply entrenched in the overly political illiteracy in our rural communities. Our local constituencies are preponderant with an overwhelming number of adults and elders who do not understand the complicated mechanics and macro implications of the kind of imported democratic system we run and as such are more or less relegated to mere political silages.

Their political awareness is mostly driven by the urgent dictates of their gnawing stomachs, which unfortunately are persistently challenged by a yawning uncertainty, no thanks to a long enduring folks-detached polity. Prone to the exploitations of a few local smart alecks long-handing for some distant potentates, they often trade their political relevance for a brief pocketful of victuals and lasting lots of empty promises.  

They under-rate their political prerogative and overlook the need to make their communal interests the quid for the quo of their votes because they are oblivious of the fact that the power is theirs and not the other way round. The paltry handouts for which they sold their votes soon expire and nothing more transpires. They soon realise their folly, go home bellyaching but come back to make the same mistakes again and again because nobody told them how it works.  

Nobody told them that with their votes they hold the trump cards in this game of winner-takes-it-all. Nobody told them how to use their aces to their own advantage. They are betrayed and abandoned by their learned sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, who should know better, to the mercy of jackals prowling our power corridors in the guise of politicians and messiahs. Rather than organise a resistance, the majority of the elite beguile themselves on their upholstered places watching the merciless onslaught of this oikish lot on the hapless citizenry, satisfied only with occasional commentaries spewed out in impenetrable grandiloquence.  

For those of us in the Diaspora, we do not need a message in the bottle to learn that Nigeria has again lost the upcoming presidential elections to the usual bunch of impostors. Judging from the frontrunners whose unimpressive banners are already waving on lofty heights, I personally see no rescue anymore and I wish I am wrong. But even if we do loose the next four to eight years to yet another inept regime we must be patient, we must give the democratic experiment a chance to take hold for thereof is our chance.

We must begin now to prepare the folks, to organise resistance contingency plans, non violent, so that if it becomes necessary the people will know how to bring their power to bear on a bungling government come another election day.  These seemingly unsophisticated and modest folks whose barest needs, medical care and social welfare are persistently denied, who virtually have no political relevance except when their votes are needed by some self-adulating swindler, make up an overwhelming majority of the Nigerian population.

One of many things we in the Diaspora can do from our far flung corners of the globe is to get together and start creating well organised adult education centres in the rural areas whose major objective would be to educate the people, the commonest rural folks, on the real meaning of democracy and how it works. There they would be alerted to the reasons why they have since been thirsty in abundance of water and what can be done to change the situation. These centres, which would be established in the rural communities and villages would be owned and run by the Nigerians in Diaspora.  

It behoves us to start seeking active ways to improve the political culture of the country if we really intend to return home someday. Moreover, in this insalubrious status quo we are the ones who always have to alleviate the miseries of the poor folks back home. We pay the school fees of our nieces and nephews, brothers and sisters. We feed many hungry mouths and bear the burdens of many jobless family members. Imagine how many millions of dollars and Euros we send home every year from the Diaspora, a good portion of which we could put into use here to facilitate our earlier relocation back home if only we had a functioning government.

Robot  # 1 | 29.03.2007 07:43

...Read the full article.

BlessU  # 2 | 29.03.2007 11:47

Yes, by advancing the relevance of transformational activism to societal change – especially among the rural folks, we can reinvent Nigeria. Knowledge is power, information is the highway, and communication is the vehicle. The Nigerian diasporans seem to have forgotten the power in strategic alliance of citizens, instead we almost always like to engage ourselves in lofty (and often unproductive) rhetorics. Why do we waste so much energy in blaming the scoundrels “ruling us & ruining our lives” (or, worst still, shouting at each other) without ever attempting to strategize (like concerned citizens) how to combat the problems at hand? Success is not given but earned. We (Nigerians), due to the triumph of the scoundrels over our country, have travelled to far and distance lands...we have seen it all, we have seen how it's done in these other lands – how change can be achieved. What are we still waiting for? We have the wherewithal and need to launch (as Chidi proposes) such a bottom-up initiative that will inspire and foster the comprehensive revitalization of Nigeria. The Nigerian grassroots must find a way to transcend parochial interests for the common good. Therein lies the potential for our future! Our collaboration will empower us to change the course of history! This is the hope that is still keeping many of our folks alive; the mission that needs our highest attention today, now.

Ada Eze  # 3 | 30.03.2007 21:56

Chidi as usual, you have produced yet another creative, innovative, workable and measurable suggestion. As BlessU illuminated Knowledge is power. Let’s empower our people and enlighten them on the power of their individual and collective votes. Chidi you have a great creative mind. Keep it up.