By Ibrahim Ramalan
Abuja
President Muhammadu Buhari has said that honesty, hard work and Godliness have given way to all kinds of manifestations of lawlessness and degeneration in the country, the “impact of which is being felt in the social, political and economic spheres.”
The President stated this yesterday during the launch of National Re-orientation Campaign tagged: ‘Change Begins With Me’ at the State House, Abuja.
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 motorists 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.”
He, 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 Mohammed, said “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 would leverage heavily on the social media and would be largely youth-driven.
Earlier, in his welcome address, the Director-General of the National Orientation Agency, Garba Abari, called on Nigerians to receive the message of Change wholeheartedly and transmit it among one another.
“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,” he said.