Yes! Together We Can Make A Difference By Ifeoma Okoye

Two events I was invited to during the third week of July this year renewed my faith in Nigeria as a country.

The two events also strengthened my belief and faith in Nigerians as a people.

The first event was a graduating ceremony at Vine International School in Port Harcourt. One of the presentations at the ceremony was by a class of four or five-year-olds. Each of the children was dressed in the traditional outfit of his or her ethnic group. Smiling, each child stepped out of his or her place, bowed or curtsied, and greeted the audience in the language of his or her own ethnic group, adding gracefully the gestures that go with the greeting. The audience, mesmerized for a moment, returned the greeting in the same language and cheered hilariously.

The children had held hands throughout the presentation as if to say ‘We are one. We are happy. Not even our parents can divide us.’ The innocence on the children’s faces, the friendliness that glowed on the faces, the togetherness and the indivisibility underscored by the whole presentation brought tears of joy to my eyes.

The second event was the Family Day Celebration of Crystal Vine Community Church also in Port Harcourt. There is no connection whatsoever between the school and the church. The appearance of the word Vine in their names is coincidental.

The members of the congregation of this church were all dressed in their own ethnic groups’ outfits. All the four corners of Nigeria were represented: the east, the west, the north, and the south. The congregation sang the Nigerian national anthem in different Nigerian languages. They said the Nigerian pledge, read portions of the Holy Book, sang hymns and religious songs, delivered sermons, all in different Nigerian languages. The theme of the sermons was ‘Unity in Diversity’.

Throughout the service, the members of the congregation behaved like one big family. There were hugging, joyous laughter, pats on the back, words of encouragement, and different forms of praises. The members of the Crystal Vine Community Church, like the children of Vine International School, seemed to be saying, ‘We are one huge family. We are indivisible’.

To me, these two events are thought provoking. They indicate to me that many Nigerians want unity. They want to be one. The events remind me of some of the views of Mokwugo Okoye, the late nationalist and writer, about the disunity within Nigeria. ‘The average Nigerian wants to live in peace with other Nigerians,’ he used to say, and he blamed our leaders for always trying to divide us for their own self-interest. Here is a paraphrase of how he illustrated this assertion:

When leaders, be they political leaders, union leaders, or even religious leaders, are criticised, reprimanded, or punished for doing something unscrupulous, unethical, or criminal, they run to their  ethnic groups and convince their people that they, the leaders, are being accused because of their ethnicity. Without asking these leaders whether they did or didn’t do what they are being accused of, the members of their ethnic groups rally round them and try to protect them. Ethnic wars erupt, the leaders’ crimes are forgotten, and Nigeria is divided further. The leaders have their way.

At present, Nigeria is not united and some people are calling for the balkanization of the country, without thinking deeply and unemotionally about the catastrophe such balkanization would unleash on the people. Corruption and its twin brother, bribery, working together as one entity, is driving a nail into the country’s coffin. The state of our economy is increasing the number of the abject poor and sending more and more people to an early grave. Insecurity is finishing the job that was begun by the other four ‘people dividers and destroyers’.

Many good and concerned Nigerians are in utter despair at the moment. ‘What is the way out of the decadence and the poverty and the insecurity in our country today?’ they ask. ‘There is nothing we can do,’ some of them say. I disagree. Yes, there is much we can do. We can take small steps in the right direction. Yes! Together we can make a difference. We can take the following small steps for a beginning.

First, let each one of us vow from today not to give or accept bribes. In other words, let each one of us vow to be incorruptible. Let us turn our back on all forms of corruption. And corruption is everywhere in our country: in politics and in government institutions, in churches and in mosques, in educational institutions and hospitals, in unions and NGOs, in markets, and even on the roads. We cannot fight corruption effectively if we are corrupt ourselves. If we do, we will be silenced with blackmail.    

It is true that in our country today, honest and hardworking people might not get what is due to them if they do not offer or accept bribes. It is true that some people might be punished if they refuse to be corrupted. It is true that some people might be denied promotions in spite of their hard work, or even hospital treatment if they refuse to grease the palms of the powers that be.  It is true that some innocent people might even lose their lives in detention or in prison cells for crimes they did not commit all because they remain incorruptible. These are horrible situations. But let us all remember that some people gave their lives, their freedoms, their comforts, their all to achieve some of the freedoms and the other things we all enjoy today.

Second, let us shun the corrupt people in our midst when they parade their ill-gotten wealth among us. Some of these people steal money belonging to all of us and then turn round to belittle us, to make us feel that we are inferior to them, to enslave us, to buy us, or to intimidate us in such a way that we are afraid to question their ill-gotten wealth.

It is true that we don’t have all the facts about how some people suddenly became wealthy. All the same, we can tell for sure when someone in our midst suddenly becomes wealthy with no visible means for acquiring such wealth, that the person has acquired the money in a corrupt way. If we have some information about how a person has become rich illegally, and we are very sure of our facts and have concrete evidence to prove our stand, we must report the person to the appropriate authorities. It is true that the person might try to suppress the information, or bribe his or her way out, but the information would have been recorded somewhere. I strongly believe that one day some people will rise to clean up the mess we are in today and these people will dig up these pieces of information and use them.

Third, let us see one another as a Nigerian, not as someone from our ethnic group or someone from another ethnic group. There are good and bad people among all ethnic groups in this country. Let us judge a person by their character and not their ethnicity, or what we have heard about the behaviour of members of a particular ethnic group. Or even based on the behaviour of some of the people we know that belong to this person’s ethnic group. Judging thousands or even millions of people by the actions and utterances of a few people is what we call prejudice.

Finally, let us help one another in any way we can. There is too much poverty in our country today. Let us, for instance, give away food and other things we do not need instead of throwing them away. It is sad that many of the rich people in our country do not believe in charity. Some give scholarships or distribute food items only when they are campaigning for elections, and they make sure that they give wide publicity to such ‘kind actions’.  

Let me end with an unsolicited piece of advice for those of us who comment on people’s views, ideas, or suggestions. We will achieve more when we criticize a person’s ideas, views and suggestions instead of the person himself or herself. Saying that an idea is stupid will achieve a better result than saying that the person who put forward the idea is stupid. Again, we will achieve more when we use polite language instead of language that is offensive or rude.

Ours is a blessed country. We have abundant resources, both human and material, and no devastating natural disasters. It is up to all of us to make it a wonderful place.