Nigeria Critically Needs Change

Salako Olukayode founder Fasholamania speaks with P.M.NEWS about his new project, Change Agents of Nigeria, Governor Fashola’s administration and the state of the nation

The feeling around town is that Governor Fashola’s performance rating has dropped drastically in this second term. What is your own assessment of his government so far?

To those of us who are realistic enough, Lagos is still working progressively and satisfactorily. This is definitely not the way Lagos city was before now. The present government has changed so many things. The process of reforming and transforming the socio-economic environment of Lagos for better is ongoing and will continue. Many of us still know and agree that Fashola is still performing.

But it seems Mr. Babatunde Fashola is no longer as aggressive as he was during his first term in terms of contract awards, projects execution and commissioning?

I want to agree that the aggressiveness we saw in the efforts of the governor during the first term has disappeared and I think he is just governing now according to instruction and preference of his political party. We all know that what we saw in the first four years of this government was the passion of an ideal and concerned Nigerian leader who knew that so many things were wrong with Lagos State; got the opportunity to govern and was ready to go all out to correct them or reverse the situation no matter whose ox is gored.

Lagos still has some urgent needs. What do you think these problems are and how should the government tackle them?

There will always be problems in every facet of the human life. But, some problems are peculiar. Lagos State is over populated and many problems subsist. It’s the duty of an ideal government to put up a resistance, by using the instrumentality of the law to check the excesses of the perpetrators and properly regulate how people live in the society. The government is already tackling many of the problems. But, the areas I will still want to experience satisfaction are in the ones being perpetrated by the okada operators. One of the major problems facing Lagos now is the frustrating and lawless activities of the okada riders. Many of them are very lawless and criminally orientated. With the transportation system put in place, Lagos can survive without Okada as a means of transport.

You seem to believe so much in Governor Fashola. Why are you so fond of him?

Governor Fashola is 100 per cent my kind of a leader. And I have never pretended or being hypocritical about it. One unique attribute of the man is civility and sincerity. He is highly civilised, sincere and responsible. My strong attraction to him is in the conviction that he has a conscience and he has been governing Lagos with the best of it. I am highly attracted to Governor Fashola because he is an ideal leader. He is endowed with high sense of values and responsibility, peace, law-abiding, intelligent, hardworking, visionary and focused. He is the type of governor Lagos State deserves. What I want to continue to celebrate in any government is what I see in that Ikeja Shopping Mall; those beautifully constructed state roads; those world class recreational facilities and garden parks; those modern and classical school structures and public health facilities and the likes.

Now, let us talk about your new project, Change Agents of Nigeria. What is the idea about and what does Nigeria stands to benefit from the activities of this project?

Change Agents of Nigeria (CAN) is our new project and it has a national appeal, unlike Fasholamania that seeks to support only Governor Fashola and his government. We are passionately developing and promoting CAN to start championing the call for the course of the change our nation deserves. The reality around this period is that Nigeria critically needs change and development, and there should be a movement of the Nigerian people that must be positioned to always call for that change. What I have observed is that various pressure groups have been making different calls and demands in Nigeria that are evidently not sinking into the consciousness of the country’s political leadership. The Federal Government appears not in tune with these demands. The MASSOB in the South-Eastern part of Nigeria has been desperately asking for an Igbo nation. The Niger Delta Millitants, MEND are calling for resource control and equitable distribution of resources of their region. The OPC in the South West are stubbornly positioned to defend the survival of the Yoruba region and also calling for regional autonomous government. The Boko Haram is calling for an Islamic Northern region and political domination of Nigeria. The Civil and Human Rights community in Nigeria have been frustratingly calling for the urgent convocation of a Sovereign National Conference (SNC). Others have been calling for True Federalism as the right Federal government system for the country and many more on the demands of calls and agitations like that.

But the Nigerian political leadership seems not comfortable with all these demands. We now feel we should then start asking them to change and develop the country. The feeling is, if you don’t like all the demands Nigerians are making, then develop the country! Then, change the country so that Nigerians can continue to enjoy their country!

We plan to paint and brand the whole of Nigeria with the necessity of this national demand. If other questions are not going down well with you, then change the country! While the likes of Save Nigeria Group can continue to agitate to save Nigeria from collapsing, we will continue to ask the Nigerian leadership to change Nigeria in a very intellectually engaging and persuasive manner.

And how do you plan to sustain it financially. Or are you still going to be the sole financier?

I don’t start anything I cannot maintain. My believe is that God will use my activities in the Fasholamania movement to compensate me for the ones I will do in Change Agents of Nigeria. Strategies are in place to finance and sustain this project, not even by only me. A lot of well-meaning Nigerians are already identifying with the objective of this brand. Many people that have spoken with me are very much interested in helping to build the promotion and survival of CAN in and outside Nigeria because they believe it is a necessary project around this time. This is a project of necessity for all Nigerians. If calling for revolution is wrong, then let us continue to call for change in Nigeria. And that is what we have been building change agents in Nigeria to be doing.

What type of change is this movement going to be calling for?

Nigeria needs the change of repositioning the country. Nigeria needs change in every facet of Nigerian life. Almost every aspect of the Nigerian economy needs serious surgical diagnosis. So many things are wrong with us here and we need this change in all the areas where Nigeria as a country has been badly affected. For the fact that there have to be probes, counter-probes and task forces set up everywhere in almost all the sectors of the Nigerian economy, is evidence that so many things are wrong with our nation. There is no light in Nigeria. We are going to be asking them to give Nigeria light. Nigerians have been denied the right to an ideal life. We are going to be asking them to give us life in Nigeria. Systems that work in other countries don’t work in Nigeria. We are going to be asking them to give us systems that work for Nigeria and Nigerians. Nigerians are dying of preventable diseases, dirty water, stress and frustration in Nigeria every hour. We are going to be asking them to give us convincing reasons to continue to live in Nigeria. To all of us who have lived all our lives here, Nigeria is not doing well. Nigeria is sick! Nigeria is not working. And so we are calling for change in Nigeria. So, the type of change we want in Nigeria is the type that can always make Nigerians proud and fulfilled to be Nigerians.

What do you think is wrong with Nigeria?

The problem of Nigeria is materialism, so that we can be recognised and celebrated in the society. Nigeria is a society where a man is a nobody if he does not have money. What we value here in ourselves is the amount of money we can exhibit. It is the society of the-rich-enjoys-all. Those who have so much wealth are the real valuable human beings in Nigeria. That is why everybody is now conscious of making money at all costs so that they too can be recognised and celebrated. Who does not want to be celebrated? That is the question.