We And Not Politicians Are The Ones Who Should Change

I had an experience yesterday that made me think. 

A friend had been invited to a book launch/reading event and he asked that I join him. I fancied the thought as I was certain that an event like that would attract a crowd of intellectuals so we went for it.

Excerpts from the book being launched was read by the Author, a feisty yet subtle and intelligent lady and two other panelists.
The book is about politics in Nigeria and the political class. It sought to answer the questions of how we got here and how we can effect change in as a people.
After the reading, questions were taken from the audience - we were less than 70 and it was a gathering of young elites.

Opinions were aired and questions were asked and answered particularly about our history and as expected, about the next elections and how a change can be effected. The responses given were thoughtful, provocative and insightful.

But as the conversation continued, I realized that no one was asking "what next after this?"

We were admonished to not sell our votes but the people I saw in that hall are not the ones who would accept pittance in exchange for their votes.

There were conversations about the impunity with which the ruling class operated and also that the incentives for being in power has to be reduced to make elective positions less attractive.

It was also agreed that our history as a people is being privatized by the political elite and that certain truths were deliberately being omitted or said in halves to younger generations.

As I listened, I watched the audience and I knew that unless a plan of action is set after the conversation, most of us would go back to the comfort of our homes to continue sipping tea, coffee or champagne depending on our preference - or pocket size.

As I scanned the audience, I saw that the people in the room are only a minute number of our population and are less than 1% of those who would vote.
And while this conversation is important, the real people who should be addressed are on the streets unsure of their next meal, in rural and hard to reach areas without power and do not even watch cable TV.
They are mostly uneducated and not on social media so they know nothing about online banters, opinion polls and virtual elections being conducted on Twitter.
They are the ones who will sell their vote because the money received would at least buy them a week's meal.

As I pondered on this, I realized that I was getting angry. That's when I told my friend that I wanted to leave.
He tried to persuade me to stay and I really wanted to but I got up and left the hall when one of the panelists - a prominent young man - started talking angrily about how Nigerians were killed in the nation's capital and no one protested because they were Shi'ites.

I got up because the only question on my mind was "if you are this pained why didn't you start a protest?" It wouldn't have mattered if anyone joined him because then we would know he tried.

I left because we were being hypocritical, all of us.

No one sitting in that room has stood in the sun to protest bad governance and call for change. No one in the room has gone to hard to reach areas - villages in the creeks and across the Atlantic Ocean in the Niger Delta, villages in the middle belt where the mayhem caused by militias go uninhibited and unreported and war torn villages in the Northeast where people have become refugees and live in harsh conditions because of the insurgency.

I was angry because most of the people in that hall, cannot even relate with the struggles of the average Nigerian.
We are educated, dressed in nice and 'bespoke' clothes, carry designer bags, wear expensive perfumes and vacation in exotic places. We pay good money for hair, facials, manicure and pedicure. We like our comfort too much and you shouldn't blame us, we worked hard and still work hard for the life we want/have.

Even now I am angry because we cannot be like the Politicians we criticize.
Those ones and their cronies will go to the villages to fry Garri, roast corns, eat in mud houses and even fetch water from the well just to make the people there feel like they are equal.
Those ones will shamelessly put up pictures of these activities for the world to see.

They impoverish people and still exploit their poverty.
While we are playing 'not to lose', they are playing 'to win or die trying'.

I am angry as I think to myself that we are not ready for the change we seek because the ones who have held on to power for decades will not relinquish it subtly.
Big grammar will not do the work, our numbers are not large enough and we cannot tell people not to sell their votes because we will not give them food if they turn down the offers from politicians.

Until public schools are good enough for the middle class to attend, quality education will be the exclusive preserve of a few and if only a few get educated, only few will ask questions.

Conversations in cozy halls and enclosed spaces are good, debates on social media are great but we need to fight for equity first.

We should seek ways to solve problems of inequality and inequity in access to education, we must reach out to the vulnerable, poor, marginalized and excluded sector of society. If we try to solve these smaller problems then the big problems will be solved eventually.

For now though, I think we are yet to come to terms with the truth, which is that the change we seek will not come through mere dialogue.

I do not exactly know how it will come but there are many gaps to be bridged and until those gaps are bridged the elite youth will keep fighting in isolation. Read John 11:12.