“It is safe to say today that honesty, hard work, Godliness have given way to all kinds of manifestations of lawlessness and degeneration in our national life. This is why we have among our cardinal objectives ‘change’, which implies the need for a change of attitude and mindset in our everyday life”

The above Quote was a statement in a speech delivered by President Muhammadu Buhari at the launch of #ChangeBeginsWithMe campaign, an initiative of National orientation agency, an agency under the federal ministry of information and culture.

Reading the statement or speech delivered by the president helps in grasping the whole concept behind the campaign. that is for those that really dont understand what the campaign is all about, not those that pretend not to know and are therefore capitalising on the situation in the country to change the whole positive initiative into some negative narrative.

It is so appalling how a positive initiative launched in order to Sensitize Nigerians and enlighten them on how we can achieve the change we have been screaming so much that we want but unwilling to adjust to achieve, can once again be hijacked by political foot soldiers to cause discord between the government and the people. Nigerians really need to wake up. This government is not our enemy, they didn’t bring us to the current economic situation we are in right now, we told them not to blame the past administration but we are also not cutting them some slack.

Am not surprise at all, I mean, we have been screaming for some time now that the National orientation agency have been nonfunctional in discharging their duties, which is to guide and enlighten Nigerians on things we must do or have to do to better our society.

The truth of the matter is, we can’t eat our cake and have it too, in order to change Nigerian from the negative paths it has been on in the past, to a positive path, all Nigerians, irrespective of political and social status most be willing to adjust. We all contributed to making Nigeria what it is today, so we must all be willing to change our attitudes in order to achieve the desired CHANGE.

What exactly is #ChangeBeginsWithMe campaign hoping to achieve?, it means we must begin to eradicate all negative aspects of our lives that affect our society in a negative way.

We must begin to have attitudinal change towards the ills in the society.

Civil servants must begin to take their jobs seriously, they must begin to be punctual in their work places, discharge their duties deligently, shun corruption, be efficient and productive in their organisations,

Nigerians must also begin to respect law and order, do away with things we think are little but yet pile up to have a lot of negative effects on our society.

We must not maintain the status quo or the past, we must improve, better ourselves, Political foot solders, both the laymen and corporate foot soldiers must begin to shun their corrupt ways and reject being used by dirty politicians to achieve their dirty agendas. This is not a time for politics, it’s time for us to collectively rescue Nigeria from the current quagmire the past Administrations pushed us into.

This government inherited a lot of baggages, decade old problems and is trying to fix them at once, they need the total support of Nigerians to achieve this for our collective good.

Don’t listen to those that are trying to make it look like this government isn’t part of the #ChangeBeginsWithMe campaign, I mean, the change begins with the president and his cabinet.

That was why, immediately they assumed power, they slashed their remunerations, ministers are no longer  powerful like they used to be in the past, some ministers, according to minister of transport, Rotimi Ameachi some time ago, are even squatting in Abuja as we speak, because it’s no longer business as usual, they need to do more but have Nigerians started the adjustment process themselves?

Yes, the change begins with the Governement, but it also begins with us, they are Nigerians too and we must all collectively be part of it and participate in the change to bring it into fruition.

Motorist should start obeying traffic laws, Nigerians should pay their taxes, be good ambassadors to their society, pipeline vandals need to have a rethink on the economic havoc they are causing the country, cattle herders need to start obeying the law, we must begin to dispose our waste products properly in order not to clog our drainages and result in causing erosion, jungle justices needs to stop, money in exchange for votes Etc. This are little but important things that #ChangeBeginsWithMe Campaign is out to sabotage.

We as Nigerians equally have roles to play in making this nation a better place. The executive arm of government is already leading the way, it’s left for Nigerians to pressurise the legislative arm to also adjust to the realities on ground. But the executive have certainly done a lot, they can improve on it and we will continue to call them out for it but that doesn’t exonerate us from the part we need to play.

The problem with Nigerians and humans in general is, we don’t like being told the truth, we like being told barefaced lies to our faces, we like living in denial, we have been so used to politicians telling us lies and we are always falling for it that we expect this Government to come and be sugarcoating everything for us. One thing is certain, this Government hasn’t fulfilled a lot of promises they made during campaign, due to the realities they met on ground, but they haven’t pretended they have fulfilled them either, and they have succeeded in fulfilling a lot others too, we gave them four years mandate, it’s not possible for them to fulfil those promises in their first or second year.

We must begin to separate real critics from political critics, those that work for their mischievous masters to hoodwink Us into voting for them by 2019, we have made a lot of progress, we don’t need to go back to mistakes we made in the past.

Nigerians must stay awake to fish out this political and commercial critics from the real critics.

The Government has blocked all leakages, no more corruption money, money is not in circulation any more because it’s getting channeled into the appropriate quarters, the government is diversifying the economy in order to steer the country off depending on oil alone, there is hardship in the land but it will be worth it in the end. Those that depend on politicians stealing monies meant for capital projects to come and be acting like Father Christmas to them must begin to think about other ways of earning legitimate money.

Nigerians should never trust big Grammer speaking intellectuals to deceive them in what is common enough for their senses to grasp. President buhari is still in power and is barely a year old in that power, a lot of progresses have been made, a lot of changes have been made on the Government’s part, and they will continue to make those changes, it’s a process, doesn’t neccessarily have to be gradual, but the bottom line is, we don’t expect them to say “be” and expect every thing to fall in place. They are not miracle workers. My question is, the government have been trying on its path to change, if Nigerians don’t change, will we ever achieve this change? Let’s be realistic. They say, obey traffic laws, you say the government is trying to scam you. In the past, government officials go on jamborees, fly first class, things have changed now that ministers fly economy class but you as a Nigerian, you are unwilling to change? You are then not ready for change.

It’s a new day. We wanted change, we must all be on hand to see that this CHANGE translate into reality.

Mu’awiyyah Yusuf Muye