By Longtong Ibrahim
Kaduna (Nigeria) – President Mohammadu Buhari has on Thursday launched the National reorientation campaign ‘Change Begins With Me’ telling Nigerians that, the desirable change prayed for cannot be achieve without them committing to attitudinal change in both their private and public life.
Speaking during the launch in Abuja, President Buhari said the campaign is part of the determination of his party (APC) to seek to carry all Nigerians along on the journey to a better and greater society that we all can be proud of.
He said Nigerians need to see change not merely in terms of Nigeria’s economic, social progress but in terms of personal behaviors in all spheres of life that could promote common goal and destiny.
“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.
“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,” Buhari lamented.
“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.
The president however appealed to Nigerians resist the temptation to fall back on the same partisanship, pettiness and immaturity that have poisoned the 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.
“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,” he emphasized.
Earlier speaking, the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed said the campaign is aimed at achieving a paradigm shift in the way Nigerians do things; saying “Each one of us must be the change we want to see in our society!”
According to him, the campaign will be largely youth driven and would be carried out in all major Nigerian languages and aired through multi-media.
He added that, “we will expect all the states of the Federation to partner with us, especially through the provision of air time on their radio and television stations. This way we can reach every Nigerian.”
