Another Strike Hmmm! Strike again, even though we know this is not about fuel subsidy removal but a consequence of many years of bad leadership, lack of foresight, corruption and negligence.
I wrote this in 2012 and clearly we seem to keep stumbling on the same stone, I pray Godly wisdom would prevail and we work for our future and that of our children!
I am not saying 145 naira per liter is right or we should accept that but a strike is not either so there must be another way and we must believe that!
Driving on the left all your life and you were taught to look right is and will always lead you to crossing the road safely and moving to a country that drives on the right if you continue to do what you do, looking right to cross the road will kill you!
The world has changed and everyone in Nigeria I hope realizes that things have changed therefore ‘We are looking in the wrong direction.”
Please read this 2012 note and I hope we can see that we must change.
https://web.facebook.com/notes/10150671556989899/?pnref=story
Fuel Subsidy; The Third Way
January 5, 2012 at 11:14am
Fuel Subsidy; The Third Way
Mother Teresa was asked to march against the war and she said “NO, I will not march in a protest against war, but when you organize a march for peace, please let me know, I’ll be the first to sign up.”
It’s an interesting idea to stand for something and not against anything.”
It’s been interesting to watch both sides of the argument on this Fuel Subsidy issue and depending on who makes the presentation, you would be rooting for the removal and when another articulate convincing speaker with a contrary opinion comes with another point of view, you would be screaming “no way” for fuel subsidy.
I think too many times, we take our eyes off the ball, The Government who are for the fuel subsidy and the others including the Nigerian Labour Congress, you & I etc, who are against the subsidy because we may have failed to look at a much bigger picture on how to address the real challenges in this country and determine what is good for this nation both in the short and long term
This is why Mother Theresa’s counsel here is critical it’s has and should not deteriorate to what we are against but what we are for!
It’s not enough for either side to ask me or anyone else for that matter to give my support and to join in campaign or marches without taking time out give us something to fight or and not just against fuel subsidy especially when we know the origin of our challenges in the nation did not come from the introduction of fuel subsidy!
This has convinced me beyond a shadow of a doubt that there’s is a 3rd way we need to find and find quickly! I believe it’s not enough to ask fight against the subsidy without a plan to deal with the roots of the problems of this nation and it’s not enough for government to impose upon me a burden without given me a purpose , reason and something to hope for!
To get a reduction of fuel prices from this government would be selling our souls and our children’s future and at the same time giving the government what they want without changing the way the Country runs is to drive us into becoming a failed nation, which could self implode.
This fight is bigger and more important than fuel subsidy we have a long history but short memory of numerous strikes and actions which have had been ignored by our Government leaders from Labour to University dons and the Medical profession.
Many of which were selfish and self centered but more important did not fight for a better future for Nigerians and missed out on a unique opportunity to put down great change not short term palliatives.
We had an annulled election, famously called June 12, which galvanized the North and the South but what did we use it for? We seem to have limited ourselves to putting a man or a party back to office instead of using the power of the opposition to ensure a change in policy to protect and provide for the people
This fight is not about Petrol!!!!
We have grown up in a culture that has invaded and influenced even the way we pray in whatever religion we may believe and its very common to find people praying against what they do not want as opposed to praying and asking for what they want.
The most common ones happen when we buy cars or complete buildings or homes and these occasions are plagued with prayers by both distinguished ministers and pastors or the layman pray for the Car not to have an accident or for he building or house should not get burnt.
I ask time and again what did you buy the car or house for its definitely not to have an accident with or for the building to get burnt so why do we focus our prayers mainly of what we not want but on what want to see.
I would prefer to pray my car fulfills it’s purpose and serve me well for the time it’s with me as well as with my building instead of praying against accidents only
In the same way we must enlarge our thinking to prepare for this fight, what do we want, to fight corruption only or fight to establish integrity, transparency and good government for its people
The obvious question is what then must we do?
I have always believed because of my faith in God that there will always be a right way to respond to anything that happens to us in life, following our rights and a legal way to respond to things done against us that threatens s and our loved ones
On the other hand there is a wrong way to respond to the same scenarios where we do more harm than good and take the law into our hands and feel justified to responses because of what has been done to us.
However I have always known and believed that there is a third way, which is God’s way in which He reveals that deals with the injustice as it should be dealt with not a penny more or a penny less and provides justice without compromise and in ones best interest not just for now but for a profitable and productive future.
This third way is one that requires faith and revelation plus a determination not to be or look selfishly at ones immediate benefit. I realize that this is a secular society and must therefore put this on a much larger perspective for careful consideration.
Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. -Martin L King Jr
I would like us to consider a third a way out of this quagmire which the concept is captured and explained in Stephen R. Covey’s book “The 3rd Alternative: The Principle, Paradigm, and Process of Synergy There is a way to solve the toughest problems we face, even those that look unsolvable. ”
“No matter what approach we take to our problems, natural consequences will follow. War begets war, victims become dependent, reality crushes people in denial, cynics contribute nothing.
And if we keep doing the same things we’ve always done, hoping that this time the results will be different, we are not facing reality.
Albert Einstein reportedly said, “The significant problems we have cannot be solved at the same level of thinking with which we created them.” To solve our most difficult problems, we must radically change our thinking—and that’s what this book is about…”
“…..There is a path that cuts through nearly all life’s dilemmas and deep divisions. There is a way forward. It’s not your way, and it’s not my way. It’s a higher way. It’s a better way than any of us have thought of before. I call it “the 3rd Alternative.”
Most conflicts have two sides. We are used to thinking in terms of “my team” against “your team.” My team is good, your team is bad, or at least “less good.” My team is right and just; your team is wrong and perhaps even unjust.
My motives are pure; yours are mixed at best. It’s my party, my team, my country, my child, my company, my opinion, my side against yours. In each case, there are 2 Alternatives.
Almost everyone identifies with one alternative or the other.
That’s why we have liberals against conservatives, Republicans against Democrats, workers against management, lawyer against lawyer, children against parents, Tories against Labour, teachers against administrators, college against town, rural against urban, environmentalists against developers, white against black, religion against science, buyer against seller, plaintiff against defendant, emerging nations against developed nations, spouse against spouse, socialists against capitalists, and believers against nonbelievers.
It’s why we have racism and prejudice and war.
Each of the two alternatives is deeply rooted in a certain mind-set. For example, the mind-set of the environmentalist is formed by appreciation for the delicate beauty and balance of nature.
The mind-set of the developer is formed by a desire to see communities grow and economic opportunities increase. Each side usually sees itself as virtuous and rational and the other side as lacking virtue or common sense.
The deep roots of my mind-set entwine with my very identity. If I say I’m an environmentalist or a conservative or a teacher, I’m describing more than what I believe and value—I’m describing who I am. So when you attack my side, you attack me and my self-image. At the extreme, identity conflicts can intensify into warfare…..
Given that 2-Alternative thinking is so deeply embedded in so many of us, how can we ever get past it? Usually we don’t. We either keep fighting or go for a shaky compromise. That’s why we face so many frustrating impasses. The problem, however, is usually not in the merits of the “side” we belong to but in how we think.
The real problem is in our mental paradigms.
The word “paradigm” means a pattern or model of thinking that influences how we behave. It’s like a map that helps us decide which direction to go. The map we see determines what we do, and what we do determines the results we get. If we shift paradigms, our behavior and results change as well.
If I see only the mental map of the 1st Alternative—my own incomplete map—then the only way to solve the problem is to persuade you to shift your paradigm or even force you to accept my alternative. It’s also the only way to preserve my self-image: I must win and you must lose. If, on the other hand, I throw away my map and follow yours—the 2nd Alternative—I face the same problem.
You can’t guarantee that your mental map is complete either, so I could pay a terrible price for following your map. You might win, but I could lose. We could combine maps, and that helps. We would have a more inclusive map that takes into account both our perspectives.
I would understand your perspective, and you would understand mine. That is progress. Even so, we might be left with incompatible goals. I still don’t want the forest to be touched, and you still want to drill for oil in the forest. My thorough understanding of your map might lead me to fight you even harder.
But then we get to the exciting part.
That happens when I look at you and say, “Maybe we can come up with a better solution than either one of us has in mind. Would you be willing to look for a 3rd Alternative we haven’t even thought of yet?” Hardly anyone ever asks that question, yet it is the key not just to resolving conflicts but also to transforming the future.
We get to the 3rd Alternative through a process called synergy.
Synergy is what happens when one plus one equals ten or a hundred or even a thousand! It’s the mighty result when two or more respectful human beings determine together to go beyond their preconceived ideas to meet a great challenge. It’s about the passion, the energy, the ingenuity, the excitement of creating a new reality that is far better than the old reality.
Synergy is not the same thing as compromise. In a compromise, one plus one equals one and a half at best. Everybody loses something. Synergy is not just resolving a conflict. When we get to synergy, we transcend the conflict. We go beyond it to something new, something that excites everyone with fresh promise and transforms the future. Synergy is better than my way or your way. It’s our way.
Yet synergy is a miracle. It is all around us. It is a fundamental principle at work throughout the natural world. Redwood trees intermingle their roots to stand strong against the wind and grow to incredible heights. Green algae and fungus united in the lichen colonize and thrive on bare rock where nothing else will grow.
Birds in a V formation can fly nearly twice as far as a lone bird because of the updraft created by the flapping of their wings. If you put two pieces of wood together, they will carry exponentially more weight than each piece can bear separately. Tiny particles in a water drop work together to create a snowflake that is absolutely unlike any other snowflake. In all these cases, the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.- Stephen R. Covey.
A Society in Crisis
According to Brian Tracy in his unique book Something or Nothing, we are a society in crisis, and it’s begins with a quote;
The worst day of a man’s life is when he sits down and begins thinking about how he can get something for nothing.
—Thomas Jefferson
“There is an emotional, economic and sociological epidemic sweeping across America and the world today, destroying individuals, undermining societies and threatening the future of civilization.
This epidemic is rooted in the out-of-control and insatiable demands of thousands and millions of people to get something for nothing.
This morally and ethically fatal illness can be contracted by a person gradually, or all at once. It is invariably fatal to success, happiness and prosperity. It is emotionally destructive and ultimately destroys the ability of the infected individual to accomplish anything worthwhile and lasting.
The something for nothing disease is like a cancer that can begin with a single cell, or a single opportunity to get “free money” in some way, and which then grows into a tumor.
This tumor, or obsession with free money, soon metastasizes with the cancerous cells spreading to every part of the patient’s life.
The something for nothing illness is like a computer virus that gets out of control and eventually corrupts all the other programs, often destroying the hard drive of the individual and making him or her incapable of functioning normally in society or personal relations.
An Incurable Illness
The something for nothing epidemic is like bacteria for which there is almost no antibiotic and which mutates and changes rapidly into different and unpredictable forms.
Once this bacterium gets out of control, the infected individual lives, breaths and thinks continually about getting more and more for less and less, and ultimately some-thing for nothing at all.
The something for nothing illness is like a form of mental aids, that eventually destroys the moral and ethical immune system, pre-disposing the individual to seeking every conceivable way of acquiring money, position, power, respect, influence and temporary success in ways that are harmful and ultimately destructive to the individual and to everyone around him.
The something for nothing epidemic – cancer, virus, or germ – usually starts in the greedy and avaricious nature of immoral people eager to enrich themselves at the expense of others.
It is the driving force behind every form of unhappiness, corruption, criminality and anti-social behavior.
This obsession with free money is the root cause of wars, revolutions, robberies, scandals and every form of individual, social, national and international treachery.
It’s time to learn!
In the conclusion and summary of Something for Nothing, Brian Tracy claims you learn what needs to be done to improve the quality of your life, and the lives of everyone else in our society.
You learn a simple, effective method of analysis that will enable you, for the rest of your life, to see and understand the world as it really is, not as people wish it would be, or could be.
This book will open your mind and heart to fully understand-ing the world you live in.
It will give you insights, ideas and perspectives that will enable you to function more effectively in an increasingly complex world, and achieve more of your goals faster than you ever thought possible – Brian Tracy
We must learn because “Corruption is but A Cultural Norm.”
In the Bangkok Post Newspaper section: News Published on12/07/2009 at 12:00 AM voranaiv@bangkokpost.co.th boldly made made the following observations and conclusions from a poll carried out in Thailand about corruption in that country
The conclusions and observations fit clearly into the Nigerian question I would like us to consider carefully and have edited Voranajv’s article with Nigerian applications in brackets
” I’m sorry, but what’s the big deal over an Abac Poll? So 84.5% of 1,228 household respondents in 17 provinces across the country say they accept corruption as a normal practice in business. Meanwhile, 51.2% admit they don’t mind if a government is corrupt so long as it manages to bring about prosperity and livelihood to the people.
Dear readers, are we only finding out for the first time in the history of Thailand [Nigeria] that we, the Thai [Nigerian] people, don’t mind corruption? This is news to whom? Isn’t it already widely known that corruption is not only okay, and we don’t mind it, but by gad it’s our national tradition – ranked right up there with shopping and drinking?
For people my age, we don’t remember the day when corruption wasn’t something normal and accepted in Thailand [Nigeria]. Like saying the sky is blue, or this commentator will not live a long life, the results of this poll simply state the obvious, simply reinforce our cultural values.
How could it not be okay that government and business is corrupt, when the average citizen is complicit in corruption with them and each other on a daily basis?
Of the respondents to the poll, 31.6% were in the farming sector. Debt-ridden farmers toiling the fields under the yoke of landlords and money-lenders. Of course they believe corruption is okay.
They have been robbed systematically by the rich and powerful for as long as they can remember – corruption is the way it has always been, a fact of life – might as well accept it.
Of the respondents, 27% were entrepreneurs. Show me a businessman who has never slipped something under the table, or fudged a few numbers here and there, and I’ll show you a TV soap star who can actually act.
Of the respondents, 15.2% were company employees. The average working man and woman, who of course, never run a red light, never slip a red bill to the traffic police, never cut corners or slide anything under the table, never install illegal software into their computers, never buy pirated DVDs … do you see where I’m going with this?
Certainly, the scale between buying a pirated version of 24 because you hope one day to grow up and be just like Jack Bauer and stealing billions from the country is huge. But it is the same social consciousness that says it’s okay, is it not?
From pae jia [egunje] (sliding something under the table) to a kickback, we were taught to be corrupt since we were young. A wee little lad knows his teachers and principal pocket a little “something-something” in pae jia [egunje].
In his adult life, he knows that to get anything done in this country, he has to give a kickback, a little “something-something”, to everyone involved. Face it, corruption is not only institutional, it’s in our genes. Lastly, of the respondents, 11.5% were government officials. Need I elaborate on government officials?
Let’s not be hypocritical, I myself have been corrupted. Dear readers, have you? As well, to be fair, there are honest, upstanding businessmen, employees and officials. The problem is, there’s only a handful of them. When the majority is corrupt, then corruption is the constant, the normalcy.
Not to mention, the “handful” may end up, in an extreme case, like human rights lawyer Somchai Neelaphaijit [Nuhu Ribadu] – if not dead, then definitely marginalised.
We are not a society conducive to heroes and crusaders. In fact, heroes and crusaders often get censored, condemned, abandoned and forgotten by Thai [Nigerian] society.
The key idea in the Abac poll is: Corruption is okay, as long as the people prosper. Translation: You can take your cut, as long as I get my cut. Selfishness and short-sightedness, those are the values of our society.
And it is especially stupid, because we can never truly prosper, save for a selected few, when corruption is accepted, as that means it will always be constant and endemic.
Am I being rude, inappropriate? Some may not like what they’re reading, but I dare anyone to prove me wrong. “The truth shall never die”, or “Speak the truth and you shall die” – the future of our country depends on which proverb we decide to follow.
There’s a reason why Thailand [Nigeria] is like it is today. It’s because, though not all of us, but too many of us, from top to bottom, are corrupt, which makes us a corrupt society as a whole.
We Thai [Nigerian]s need to stop being hypocritical. Stop pointing the fingers at the government and the rich. The government and the rich are only symptoms of corruption. The disease of corruption is with us, the people. Remember, in a democracy, the country is what the people make of it.
If the boss is corrupt, then surely the employee would also corrupt. In a democracy, we, the people, elect the government. If the government who’s our employee is corrupt, it’s because we the people who are the boss are corrupt.
Here’s an easy example: We Thai’s [Nigerians] can only think of electing a government that will put money into our pockets – whether directly through vote buying, or indirectly through economic policies. But when we allow money – the symbol of temptation and greed – to be the deciding factor in our national agenda, in our national consciousness … corruption follows like a tsunami.
With that in mind, would it shock anyone if politicians and officials look for their cuts, their share of the cake, their kickback and pae jia – whether in the 800 billion baht loan, the NGV buses, or any other projects? Honestly, they are only doing as the many of us Thai’s [Nigerians] would, aren’t they?
The rich and powerful few “get away with it”, because at the end of the day, the majority – though we may whine and cry – ultimately hope that one day we too can be in the circle of the rich and powerful, so that we can “get away with it”. That’s why so few are willing to upset the status quo, express outrage or stand up and speak out publicly.
Can we change? When will we change? Take Alcoholics Anonymous. The first step to recovery from alcoholism is to stand up in front of a crowded room and announce: “My name is … and I am an alcoholic.” The psychology is simple. You can’t cure a disease without first acknowledging that you have a disease.
So if we want to change Thailand [Nigeria] for the better, we need to stop pointing fingers at the politicians and the rich. More importantly, we need to stop being so thick-skinned and keep lying to ourselves and everyone else.
If we want to marginalize corruption into isolated incidents, rather than let it flourish as a cultural norm, then first and foremost we’d better stand up and admit: “This is Thailand [Nigeria], and we are corrupted.” Then add a postscript: “But I will make a change. Starting with myself.” -voranaiv@bangkokpost.co.th ”
This Cannot be a fight about Fuel Subsidy it has to be about change
Words from Abraham Lincoln almost 150 years ago but as accurate today as they were then. During this critical season, let us be reminded of these wise words:
You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong. You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift. You cannot lift the wage earner up by pulling the wage payer down. You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred. You cannot build character and courage by taking away men’s initiative and independence. You cannot help men permanently by doing for them, what they could and should do for themselves. –Abraham Lincoln
I would like to end with a story from Stephen R. Covey’s book “The 3rd Alternative titled”Creative nonviolence ”
When I met Arun Gandhi, grandson of the legendary Mahatma Gandhi, he told me his insights about his grandfather’s life: Ironically, if it hadn’t been for racism and prejudice, we may not have had a Gandhi. See, it was the challenge, the conflict.
He may have been just another successful lawyer who had made a lot of money. But, because of prejudice in South Africa, he was subjected to humiliation within a week of his arrival. He was thrown off a train because of the color of his skin. And it humiliated him so much that he sat on the platform of the station all night, wondering what he could do to gain justice.
His first response was one of anger. He was so angry that he wanted eye-for-eye justice. He wanted to respond violently to the people that humiliated him. But he stopped himself, and said “That’s not right.” It was not going to bring him justice. It might make him feel good for the moment, but it wasn’t going to get him any justice. It would just perpetuate the cycle of conflict.
From that point onward, he developed the philosophy of nonviolence and practiced it in his life, as well as in his search for justice in South Africa. He ended up staying in that country for twenty-two years. And then he went and led the movement of India.
And that movement ended up with an independent country, something that no one would have ever envisioned. Gandhi is one of my heroes. He was not perfect, and he did not accomplish all his goals. But he learned synergy within himself.
He invented a 3rd Alternative: creative nonviolence.
He transcended 2-Alternative thinking. He was not going to run away, and he wasn’t going to fight. That’s what animals do; when cornered, they fight or they flee. That’s also what 2-Alternative thinkers do. They fight or they flee. Gandhi changed the lives of over three hundred million people using synergy.
Today there are more than a billion people in India. It’s a tremendous place. You can just feel the energy, the economic and spiritual vigor of that great, independent people. – Stephen Covey.
Thank you so much for reading this, God bless, Nigeria
Francis E. MADOJEMU
