Does anyone know of any real existing movements /groups that have a singular purpose of trying to influence/ change the derogatory state of the country Nigeria with a defined purpose of making better the lives of the low and middle class Nigerians. If anyone does, I would appreciate it if you could please provide details of these groups as well as contact information if possible.
Are there also people with a genuine desire to come together to start a movement geared towards influencing and changing the political and economic landscape of the country as a result of frustration with the current state

- Please if there are people thinking the same thing, it would be very helpful if they could provide relevant information as to details of existing movement

- If there are also people with the same passion for such a movement, not for personal gains but with a genuine intention to do all within their ability make a contribution to change the lives of the down-trodden and neglected masses please indicate interest

Such a group would be characterised by the following


PURPOSE :

to attempt to make significant contribution to influence the political /economic landscape of Nigeria

REASON:

This is home, there is no other place that can be called home.
- If events continue as they are with no change, the future might not be one to look up to

- A lot of people are suffering and their condition definitely needs to change and the government doesnt seem capable of doing this or they have no desire or plan to

- We are Nigerian and African before we are anything else. Nobody will come and fix the nation on our behalf, they will only come to exploit. It is left to the people of the country to come together and try to influence their reality by either demanding for more accountability from the government or forcing the government to do the bidding of the people by either identifying people with the correct purpose of positively influencing the lifes of the masses and getting them into these positions of authority .

- It can either be a non-violent or violent attempt of getting the country back on course with a non-violet approcah being the preferred option

- With the current changing global political and economic landscape, if Nigerians do not start to attempt to influence the actions of their government or ensure people with the right intentions start to occupy these political positions, we might find ourselves in a situation where we reman in our current deplorable state with the inability to develop and/or excape from our present reality

- A country that starts to works is a country that its sitizens will be proud to belong to and one which could foster patriotism with the end result of people being able to act in the interest of the increased development/growt/betterment of the country

- A the end of the day, what a major proportion of the Nigerian polulace wants is economic prosperity but this cannot happen if the correct condusive political conditions do not exists or if the correct economic policies are not adopted and unconditionally implemented



HOW

- Like minded individuals with a desire for change need to come together, put individual differences aside and start to engage in intelligent discourse to determine how the end goal can be achieved.

- Attempt to get the right peeple into political office or influence the decisions of those that occupy political offices

-Start a group and engage with the masses with the intention to get them to join this group/movement/ organization as the desired change can only be actualized by a mass movement of the people wanting more, requesting more and not willing to accept anything less than a better socio-econimic environment charactirised by economic and social prosperity

- Peaceful demonstration to draw the attention of the masses we well as the government with the singular purpose of creating an avenue for discourse between the existing government officials and the polulace





END GOAL

- Economic success brought about by correct political and economic policies strictly for the benefit of the masses and not a selfish government or foreign bodies/institutions as the government needs to be a representation of the desires of the people and needs to work on their behalf

- Ensuring that a political climate exists with a singular purpose of driving economic growth and success reflected in the daily lives of the citizens of the country

- This could involve occupying political offices or influencing the decisions of those occupying policial offices

Ok

Grammar

Since 2013, I have asked myself the singular question over and over again ” what is the way out of this sad state of the country”

I have tried to understand why we are where we are, most people around me keep pointing to the fact that its caused by corruption and this led me to the next question, ” how do we attack the root cause of our deplorable state and start to move forward?” In my bid to understand the problem and the solution, I embarked on a mission to educate myself on the true reason why my country Nigeria is the way it is and I came to the conclusion that it is caused by a combination of corruption, neo-colonization, incompetent leadership and laxity of the people to hold their government accountable and do what needs to be done

Governments have come and gone and the economy has remained battered and gets worse with each passing day

Various indices are provided by the various government institutions in an attempt to show growth but these do not translate into visible benefits in the lives of the masses as their lives get worse with every passing day while the elite and ruling class keep getting more comfortable and richer with each passing day

How did we get to this point? The remainder of this article is my interpretation of events and a possible solution

Before slavery, there were various tribes and states in Africa which were economically and socially successful. We have read about the various empires/Kingdoms in the various parts on Nigeria including the Yoruba kingdom, Hausa kingdoms, Benin kingdom, amongst others. In their own rights, these Kingdoms were largely successful engaging in commerce with each other as well as foreigners from various parts of the world

The continuity of these various Kingdoms in the space today called Nigeria was disrupted by slavery and eventually colonization which ran for several decades unchecked resulting in the degradation and almost elimination of whatever civilization these kingdoms possessed and the people were reduced to slaves and eventually forced labourers by the Imperial nations of the West.

During the period of slavery, there were various Africans and Nigerians including but not limited to the likes of Kwame Nkrumah, Patrice Lumumba, Nnamdi Azikiwe, Herbert Macaulay, who fought for independence for individual African States including Nigeria and they were eventually successful. During colonization there were massive revolts by the masses and organized movements which reflected the desires of the masses to be free to determine the course of their existence and they fought and died to get an independent Nigerian state

The attainment of independence was just the first step in the journey towards the rebuilding of the Nigerian state and there would have been a need for the nation’s leaders to engage and lead the masses in a journey that would result in socio-economic prosperity for the citizens of the country and ultimately the country as a whole

Post 1960, we are aware of the numerous attempted and successful coups led by the military which yielded little benefits for the people because these subsequent administrations were characterised by continuous decline of the economy and a worsening of the living conditions of the people as well as a significant increase in the enrichment of government officials and their accomplices due to the diverting of resources which were meant for nation building to their private pockets and this is what we currently characterise as corruption. A further analysis of the ruling class between 1960 till date would also show that we have been led by the same people since independence with power simply being handed over between previous administrators from the military regime or to civilians with close ties to past administrations. This can be described as a scenario where the elite simply come together to form and constitute the various political arms including but not limited to the National Assembly and assume leadership over the rest of Nigerians

A simple description of what has been happening from 1960 till now as seen by through my eyes is provided below:

After the exiting of the colonial masters whose rule was characterised by presence of a foreign military force to maintain and control the economic power, power was handed over to a civilian government comprising of a combination of military officers that served under the previous colonial government as well as Nigerians who actually fought for the independence of the country
Due to various factors, there was a seize of power by the military and subsequent coups before democracy in 1999. Each of these subsequent administrations was marred by corruption with the country experiencing increasing revenue earnings but at the same time experiencing increasing infrastructure degradation and increasing poverty among the masses.
The known and acceptable reason for this inconsistent behaviour was that monies which could have been invested to grow the economy, build new infrastructure, invest in education , invest in significant skills acquisition programmes for the unskilled populace, invest in agricultural programmes aimed at making the country agriculturally self -sufficient, drive local production which would have reduced importation and hence created jobs and put money in the pockets of Nigerians were siphoned into private accounts of various public officials and their cronies hence creating a highly segregated society with a wide gap between the rich and the poor.
This period was also characterised by the adoption of numerous damaging economic policies either single-handedly or under recommendation by the IMF and World bank ( both of which were and are still agents of the First World which are used to maintain economic control over previous colonized countries) which saw the receipt of various large sums of foreign aid and grants which were eventually not utilized for the primary purpose for which they were received by which were also siphoned into private pockets. One important thing to note here is that foreign aid is never given freely but comes with a list of conditions which need to be accepted by the recipient country with these conditions being pretty damaging in the case of Nigeria and either sought to devalue the Naira, open up local markets to influx of foreign goods hence preventing local production and accept economic conditions that were favourable to the West but very damaging to Nigeria
The text below provides examples of actions that could have been performed by previous government in the post-colonization era which was characterised by significant exponential increases in foreign earning from agricultural export and oil sales

The proceeds from this increased revenue should have been utilized to heavily invest in education for the majorly uneducated public. There should have been a major consistent investment in transport systems, power generation, healthcare, technical training for the citizens as these would have been the building blocks for continuous sustainable development in the country
Local production should have been encouraged and importation of finished good discouraged as it is literally impossible for a country to be economically successful if it imports more than it exports as cheaper imports stifle local production thereby resulting in an imbalance of trade. Note here that refusal to locally produce a number of items was politically motivated e.g. petroleum products
The government should have ensured that the refineries continued to operate optimally because local refining of the product would have led to reduced importation which when coupled with increased local production of other popular items would have reduced the demand on foreign exchange and would have left the Naira stronger.
Local production e.g. local refining of crude oil, would have taken advantage of the local markets hence providing a guaranteed market for sale of manufactured products such as refined oil which would have provided guaranteed profits and accumulation of surplus for re-investment in other areas of the economy
Local refining of the product would have also resulted in the creation of jobs locally which would have increased the purchasing power of the populace
Local refining would have also created the demand for other raw materials used in the refining process which would have been sourced locally which would have led to an increase in local production of other goods and the generation of more jobs for an increased number of citizens. The local refining of crude oil would have had a massive ripple effect on other sectors as it would have created several other manufacturing concerns
Local productions of various items would have also kept the cost of the product low hence reducing inflation and the cost of goods and services.
A policy of local production should have been encouraged and actively and correctly implemented and importation discouraged for items including but not limited to textile, several agricultural products, several household goods, leather goods and new items should have been identified on a continuous basis which should have been locally produced rather than imported into the country because local production and consumption with exportation of surplus creates employment for the masses, reduction in cost of goods due to competition from other local producers, increase in GDP and purchasing power on the masses and ultimately economic prosperity

Local production => Job creation => More disposable income available to employed workers => Increased purchasing power => Better standard of living for the populace and poverty reduction

Instead the adopted policy was an intentional sabotage of the local refineries, exportation of unrefined oil and importation of refined oil at a higher price, non-maintenance of government owned power generation and distribution assets, privatisation of government owned assets hence putting control of the means of production into the hands of a few private individuals under the guise of increased effectiveness and FDI ( this takes away the wealth meant for a millions of Nigerian’s and puts it in the hands of a few) , non-maintenance and eventual shutdown of a majority of the local manufacturing companies including but not limited to various government owned steel manufacturing firms, NITEL, non-investment in electricity and transport infrastructure. Other actions performed include the opening of the Nigerian market to foreign goods hence making it impossible for local producers to compete with foreign goods causing them to shut down with this having the effect of loss of jobs by the Nigerian people, limitation on availability of avenues for the development of technical skills by Nigerian workers , constant increase in the cost of goods due to a weaker Naira caused by increasing imports and minimal local productions and export, continued patronage of FDI as against local individual and government ownership of various means of productions, mass poverty due to an absence of jobs caused by an absence of local production firms.

The summary of this write up is this, the masses and citizens of the country cannot afford to let the country continue to be run like this and if this is left unchecked by the masses the following will happening

– The country will not be able to meet its financial obligations as it will not be earning enough to do so

– There will be no economic progress as there is little or no local production and very limited earning opportunities provided for the local populace

– The people will not be able to set up industries or invest in production as they will not have access to capital and even when they do, the interest rate will be too high making it difficult to create a profitable business

– The government will privatise most of the government owned entities which will result in a situation where the means of production which should be owned by the people and which should cater for the people will be owned by a few private individuals which will lead to a gross unequal distribution of wealth amongst the population with the masses earning little or next to nothing with the rich getting richer

– The Nation is blessed with an abundance of natural resources, a massive population which translates into a massive market and the availability of a workforce who are willing to be trained and who will put their skills to use to generate an income for themselves and wealth for the nation

– I personally do not believe in the explicit capitalist tenets where the wealth is owned and controlled by a few individuals but I believe the wealth should be shared amongst the people with the government having significant stake and ownership in the major means of production included but not limited to telecoms, oil refining, power and energy generation , to ensure that these parastatals are kept productive and would guarantee jobs and ensure surplus is retained within the country for re-investment and expansion of other areas of the economy

– If everything is privatised and owned by foreign investors and corrupt Nigerians, what is the difference between that and slavery, it’s just modern day slavery

– The responsibility of the government is to ensure that welfare of the masses/populace is paramount and protected above any other thing and to continue to guarantee this



If a mission to make a change resonates with you, please join the facebook group “Movement for the re-creation of a great Nigerian/African civilization” where we will attempt to bring together like minds who possess singular purpose of attempting to trying to influence/ change the deplorable state of the country Nigeria

Mods, is there a chance of this making front page as I believe its a message that very Nigerian should see