NGO regulation bill: To be or not to be?
Should we raise our hopes high? Or should we gently let the matter sink in so we can digest and ponder before responding to the CTA (Call-To-Action)? Whichever way one looks at it, there may be, just maybe, some silver lining appearing within these menacing, rumbling dark clouds of our present national discourse.
The trending topics today are ‘secession’, ‘restructuring’, ‘devolution’, etc. Each region is taking a stand and, as we all know (and as discussed here a couple of weeks ago) Arewa always lags behind in these political elite-created problems. The political elite, be they in the Villa, under the Dome or in Government Houses, continue to connive and consolidate their hold on our polity, and our lives.
The ‘silver lining’ is a group trending as ‘Arewa Initiative for Good Governance’ (AI2G). It is a conglomeration of about fifty intellectuals (a majority of whom I know personally and many of whom I trust unconditionally) who recently came together to discuss our national morass and quagmire. These distinguished ladies and gentlemen have met about seven times so far at Arewa House, Kaduna (apt for an Arewa Initiative) to brainstorm on ways out not only for Arewa, but for all the nation.
Part of the AI2G remit is that it aims to be a liberating platform to make the interest of the old Arewa the priority of a new Arewa. The Initiative avers that some of the current Northern leaders appear pro-Arewa outwardly, but are actually anti-Arewa deep down. So AI2G aims to bring all people of Arewa together on a platform of justice, by prioritizing actions that will make the Region move fast, and by avoiding those that may slow it down.
It was observed that any discerning mind could see the destruction of the nation has its root in the rot in our politics which has only been breeding rogue leadership at all levels of government. There is need, therefore, for likeminded individuals to come together and address the recruitment processes within the parties since they ultimately produce the leadership of governments. This could be done by creating a platform that will bring together all concerned irrespective of background.
When they rose from their last meeting, members agreed that a Draft Charter be prepared for adoption in order to have a document which shall form the basis of the Initiative. This document has been prepared and is being circulated to members as “Draft Charter for the Political Salvage of Nigeria”. The next meeting of the Initiative will consider the Draft and consider suggestions and amendments related thereto. Also, the leadership structure of the Initiative will be unveiled.
As a member of the Initiative, I hereby ‘coopt’ my readers in helping AI2G firm up this Draft Charter by making suggestions and comments directly to ai2gsecretariat@gmail. com which may be incorporated into a Final Charter.
“According to Edmund Burke, ‘The only thing necessary for the success of evil is for good men (and women) to do nothing.’
having watched how in the last two decades or so, our country has consistently failed to develop; indeed how every circle of election leaves us worse than the previous one; specifically how poverty has deepened and become entrenched in the face of enormous oil revenues; how corruption has become endemic and systemic, defying even regimes that rode to victory on the crest of fighting corruption; how our pristine societal values are eroding and our society is gradually decomposing; how the economy has been collapsing, impoverishing the poor, fueling crimes and insurgencies; how the teeming jobless youths have been abandoned to their wits with no hope on the horizon; how the millions of out-of-school-children have been ignored as their numbers keep swelling; how governance has been reduced to vengeance and personal aggrandizement; and how our political parties, especially their leadership recruitment mechanism, keep churning out incompetent, irresponsible and corrupt leadership;
to come together to put an end to these tragic, nay catastrophic, self-afflictions and salvage our country from the brinks of collapse and disaster by carrying out a thorough diagnosis of the problem and charting a way out; precisely to create a formidable platform to bring on board and mobilize all those worried about the future of our country and ready to stand up for it; and to participate in this rescue mission and to do all it takes to deliver it on the path of safety, growth and development.
our democracy is clearly not giving us the leaders that can take us out of the woods; rather we are finding ourselves further into the woods; indeed at the rate we are going it is obvious that our society is being consumed by a quick sand of a dangerous political culture; a political culture that is recklessly, unashamedly and seemingly endlessly predicated purely on pecuniary considerations, violence and all manners of crimes; a political culture that has subverted our value system, decimated our social order and is blunting, nay, obliterating our senses of shame and outrage. Incontrovertibly this rogue political culture has calibrated our leadership recruitment mechanism in our political parties to produce inept, clueless and precipitous leaders who only know how to swindle the electorate and loot our treasuries dry. All projections on this trajectory are indicating that we are heading towards a failed state and a failed society as evidenced by the vertical and horizontal rise of horrifying violence. Some studies done by international watchers have been setting dates for our collapse as a nation. Now that our hope for rebirth after the heavily fought 2015 elections has come to naught, we must wake up from our slumber and complacency and salvage our society before it becomes too late. We further recognize that ‘rather than continue to curse the darkness, it is better that we light a candle’. In other words, ‘we must stop agonizing and start organizing’.
to bring all the good men and women, in and out of politics, in public and private sectors, young and old, from every tribe and religion, from every walk of life together onto one platform and create a critical mass so as to move together in one direction and ensure that the flawed leadership recruitment mechanism in our parties is fixed. This we also agreed can work best when we are able to create a movement down to the grassroots that can mobilize the whole society for this reform, very much like the Anti-Third-Term movement. Thus this movement must resonate with the concerns and worries of the wider society and articulate the solutions in clean and clear terms defining the roles of every stratum of society. We further agreed that the media and strategic communication are key to this project. We therefore ask men and women of conscience in the media to join this struggle as part of their corporate social responsibility.
to participate in this process of a political re-birth with all our strength and wits, to move together into a carefully considered political platform to ensure that the party is re-calibrated to produce conscientious, competent and courageous leadership that will endeavor to be guided by the best practices of democracy, accountability and responsible leadership for the moral, social, political and economic development of our country. We pledge our honor, dignity and integrity that we shall give this mission the uttermost priority and will not allow partisan political considerations or any personal interest to stand in our way.
So help us God!”