Recently, the National re-orientation campaign tagged: ‘Change Begins With Me’ was lauched at the State House, Abuja. IBRAHIM RAMALAN looks at the controversy being raised by the campaign.
The National Reorientation campaign was the brainchild of the ministry of information and culture, under the leadership of Alhaji Lai Muhammed. The campaign is aimed at addressing the decaying value system in the country.
Stakeholders invited at the occasion emphasised the need for the media and the private sector to key into the campaign which, according the me Minister of of information and culture, has no colouration whatsoever.
However, after launching the campaign, a lot of critics within and outside the country have continued to pour in their take, which majorly centres on the need for the government itself to first of all reorientated itself before any other individual in the country. They further insists that media and the private sector would only buy into the idea when the government is seen to be reorienting itself.
To the Preident Buhari however, who was the guest of honour at the event, pegged this national decay on how in the Nigeria of today, honesty, hard work and Godliness have given way to all kinds of manifestations of lawlessness and degeneration in our national life.
He said: “There is no doubt that our value system has been badly eroded over the years. The long-cherished and time honoured, time-tested virtues of honesty, integrity, hard work, punctuality, good neighbourliness, abhorrence of corruption and patriotism, have given way in the main to dishonesty, indolence, unbridled corruption and widespread impunity.
“The resultant effect of this derailment in our value system is being felt in the social, political and economic sphere. It is the reason that some youths will take to cultism and brigandage instead of studying hard or engaging in decent living; it is the reason that some elements will break pipelines and other oil facilities, thus robbing the nation of much-needed resources; it is the reason that money belonging to our commonwealth will be brazenly stolen by the same public officials to whom they were entrusted.
“It is the reason why motorist drive through red traffic lights, it is the reason that many will engage in thuggery and vote-stealing during elections; it is part of what has driven our economy into deep problem out of which we are now working hard to extricate ourselves. Every one of us must have a change from our old ways of doing things, we cannot fold our arms and allow things to continue the old way,” Buhari noted.
The President therefore appealed to all Nigerians to be part of the campaign by making sure that the change they want to see begins with them, adding that personal and social reforms are not theoretic exercise.
“If you have not seen the change in you, you cannot see it in others or even the larger society. In other words, before you ask ‘where is the change they promised us’, you must first ask how far have I changed my ways ‘what have I done to be part of the change for the greater good of society.”
While presenting the campaign jingle, the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Muhammed pointed out that the initiative is a Pan Nigeria Campaign that has no coloration whatsoever – whether it is political, religious or ethnic, adding that it is a campaign for all Nigerians, with the sole objective of achieving a paradigm shift in the way we do things.
He said: “The campaign’s principle is simple: Each one of us must be the change we want to see in our society. Therefore, we will expect all the states of the Federation to partner with us, especially through the provision of air time on their radio and television stations. This way we can reach every Nigerian.”
The Minister promised that the campaign would be carried out in all the major Nigerian languages and will leverage heavily on the social media and will be largely youth-driven.
Also speaking, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Information and Culture, Mrs. A O Adesugba said there is no better time than now to begin to open a new chapter into our national value re-orientation.
While urging the state governors to take the message back to their various states, Adesugba called on the National Assembly Members to begin to sponsor and speedily pass bills that promote civic national responsibility.
She added that the media needed to take the lead by creating awareness about the campaign.
“We are the change that we desire. The future depends on what we do in the present. The ideals we see in others, we have it in ourselves. We therefore need to look inwards to be able to harness them,” she emphasized.
Earlier in his welcome address, the Director General of the National Orientation Agency, Garba Abari called on all Nigerians to receive the message of change wholeheartedly and transmit it among one another.
According to him, the campaign was part of this administration’s efforts to “sensitize and mobilise Nigerians to understand that the society can only undergo it’s full change when everyone embraces positive values.
“The objectives of the campaign is to address the decay in our value system that seems to decline our national core values namely discipline, integrity, dignity of neighbour, social justice self reliance and the religious tolerance.
“We shall engage the citizens directly at local government level, use of print and electronic media and of course the social media to reach out to a large section of our population, to the youth. This are some of the instruments we wish to deploy in order to take the change message were it is desire most,” he added.
At the end of the launching, Presentation of Live rendition of the campaign jingle and ceremonial handover of the message of Change to the Minister of Information and Culture by President Muhammadu Buhari.
