PROTOCOLS:
I
welcome you all to this important occasion of the launching of the National
Re-orientation Campaign, called ‘Change Begins With Me’. Nigeria today is
passing through a challenging moment where hardly anything works in a normal
manner. Many have attributed this phenomenon to the total breakdown of our core
values over the years.
2.
It is safe to say today that honesty, hard work, Godliness have
given way to all kinds of manifestations of lawlessness and degeneration in our
national life. This is why we have among our cardinal objectives ‘change’,
which implies the need for a change of attitude and mindset in our everyday
life.
3
I need not mention the serious effort we have engaged in since the
inception of this administration on the fight against corruption in our public
life. With the progress we have so far made in that regard, we feel the need to
ensure that we put in place the necessary sustainable framework for
action and measures that will help to entrench and consolidate the progress
achieved so far.
4.
This we believe can best be maintained through attitudinal change, and
the change of our mindset in private and public life. The campaign we
are about to launch today is all about the need for us to see change not merely
in terms of our economic, social progress but in terms of our personal
behaviour on how we conduct ourselves, engage our neigbhours, friends and
generally how we relate with the larger society in a positive and definitive
way and manner that promotes our common good and common destiny, change at
home, change in the work place, change at traffic junction, change at traffic
lights etc.
5.
This campaign is part of the determination of our party to seek to carry
all Nigerians along on the journey to a better and greater society that we all
can be proud of.
6.
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.
7.
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 why
motorist 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.
8.
We must resist the temptation to fall back on the same
partisanship, pettiness and immaturity that have poisoned our country for so
long. Let us summon a new spirit of responsibility, spirit of service, of
patriotism and sacrifice, Let us all resolve to pitch in and work hard and look
after, not only ourselves but one another, What the current problem has taught
us is that we cannot have a thriving army of rent seekers and vested interests,
while the majority suffers.
9.
Rather than sit back and complain endlessly, we have decided to act
pragmatically, with the launch of this National Re-orientation Campaign. The
campaign will not be a sprint but a marathon that will run the course of our
tenure. We are under no illusion that the changes we seek will happen
overnight, but we have no doubt that the campaign will help restore our value
system and rekindle our nationalistic fervor
10.
I am therefore appealing to all Nigerians to be part of this campaign.
Our citizens must realize that the change they want to see begins with them,
and 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’.
11.
While the government will drive the Change Begins With Me’ campaign, it
must be strongly supported by all concerned individually. In this regard the
private sector is a major stakeholder. Indeed when the campaign succeeds, it
will impact heavily on the private sector. A punctual, diligent and hardworking
staff can only be of benefit of not just himself or herself or the organization
they work for but to various governments whether at local, state or Federal
level.
12.
While congratulating the stakeholders, especially Ministry of
Information and Culture and the National Orientation Agency for conceiving this
campaign, I charge all to pursue the campaign with vigour and ensure its
sustenance by taking it to all the nook and crannies of this country, with the
aim of getting the buy in of the old, the young, the rich, the poor
irrespective of gender or other social positions.
13.
Your Excellencies, Honourable Ministers, Members of the National
Assembly, Ladies and Gentlemen, it is now my pleasure to formally launch and
handover the instrument of the Change Campaign tagged Change Begins With Me to
the Honourable Minister for Information and Culture, for transmission to all
Nigerians and friends of Nigeria. Indeed I say to the glory of Mighty Allah,
“Change Begins With Me”
Thank you all for your kind attention
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