A look at where true change begins

Attack as the best form of defense is fast becoming the modus vivendi of this government elected to change the morass but caught wallowing in it. The All Progressive Congress has ‘changed’ to All Promises Cancelled. Cancelled promises fill a hopeful citizenry with despondency; the virus of despondency fills the citizenry with Had-I-known which pushes them to an inglorious past. That phenomenon of replacing cluelessness with hopelessness is making people compare preelection prices of rice, the last vestiges of the value of the Naira and a battered economy not officially in recession with the change that Change brought.

This is the Naija tragedy of post-Canaan Israelites longing for the cucumber and garlicgarnished meals of yesterday’s slavery with the unseen fats of a betrayed hope. It is tragic to turn round the logic and blame them for their state of being.

Despondency and disappointment could turn a past of slavery into a hallucination of good. This is the reality of Change under the APC. Ironically, rather than apologize with landmarked plans to halt the slide, our government blames it all on the citizenry with its - Change Begins With Me slogan! It is as distasteful as it is disrespectful.

Government actors need to daily look in the mirror and tell themselves that Change begins with them. Sai Baba ought to tell Naija people that he has realized that Change Begins With Him. He should apologize to us for officially banning health tourism but jetting to London to treat an earache. Change begins with trusting local doctors and local hospitals for all of your health needs. That means rejecting the apartheid budget for Aso Clinic while neglecting teaching hospitals -Change Begins right there.

He should have sold off the eleven planes on the presidential fleet and emulate the Queen who, though heads the Commonwealth flies British Airways - that’s a practical slogan to British Prime Ministers that Change Begins With Her. At least stop the hangover of having an armed escort carrying your own file and bring back the Buhari who carried his own bags at airports, shunned official vehicles at Downing Street and flew public jets to London. He should have rejected any convoy more than five cars all made or assembled in Naija and drive around the country as evidence of trust in roads his government has constructed and readiness to fix the rest. Change begins with him.

The president mouths corruption, but corruption is hiring the children of the high and mighty through the backdoor and subjecting those without godfathers to stress. With his children in foreign universities nearly two years after coming into office, here is evidence that there is no willingness to inject change to public institutions. Withdrawing his kids and enrolling them in public universities would be a morale booster; a shinning example that that Change begins with him.

The president reminisced the days he drove round Kaduna and Daura watching the lawless beat traffic lights with impunity; the convoys of APC stalwarts do that daily using the siren immunity. It is unnatural to expect the citizens to obey the law when their leaders blatantly traumatize them daily by disobeying the same law. Change begins with them.

The president laments the brigandage in the ivory tower. Cultists are a reflection of their leaders in public service, those who blatantly recruited through the backdoor legalize cultism because cultists exist to protect the rights of their members in a lawless society. Change begins with an inquiry and strict punishment for those who abuse public confidence. A forum like Change Begins With Me should have been used to decry with strong words and actions on how government plans to punish infractions - change begins that way and sends the right signals to the people.

The president spoke so eloquently about vote stealing. One would have thought that his party has gone past this barbaric way of tarnishing democracy except that videos emerging from Ondo shows that change means things remain the same. To ignore all this and reverse the logic is the worst evidence yet of the disconnect between the ruler and the ruled.

So, let’s put it where the rubber meets the road. Change begins with government fulfilling its promises to the electorate by providing good governance. Change begins with improving power supply, creating employment opportunities, shoring up the value of the dollar, refusing to bow to pressure to subvention religious tourism over raising forex for productive ventures. Change begins with equal access of all to the goods of the land irrespective of ethnic origin or creed.

Change begins with making a promise not to burn air miles but sit at home and be present when and where needed. Change begins with guaranteeing the rights of citizens to protest peacefully without police clampdown. Change begins with guaranteeing citizens right to life and the pursuit of happiness. Change is another name for charity; and like charity, Change must begin at home if it is not to be a hypocritical hollow slogan.