THE NEW CHANGE WE SHOULD ALL EMBRACE By Laleye Lashore
Change is a word that has been with man since creation. Creation itself is creating an order from the void and the formless that preceded creation. Change is dynamism. It is transformation and growth. At the micro and molecular levels, chemical reactions produce changes that finally produce physical new conditions.
Change is the central point of Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution which says different organisms were produced through adaptive processes during a long period of time. Whichever way one looks at it, change is an ever-present factor in the affairs of man. It is commonly said that change is inevitable and that it is only change that is permanent. Since we all pray for positive change in our individual lives, we must ruminate and meditate on the word change. Most prayer points in our places of worship centre around desirable changes. We all look forward for change. Change has quality and in most cases quantity. Paradoxically, man hates change and would, in most cases, resist it.
We feel at home sitting in our comfort zone not willing to try new things. We hear people condemning new things, new technology, new fashion trends and new government policies, but eventually new things always come to stay. It happens that new things always arise after old ones have died and decayed. There can’t be new yam if the yam cell doesn’t decay. Same goes for every crop. The world would no longer be habitable if parents don’t die. Our old ideas would eventually die and where we resist change, there will be conflict. This is why youths are seen as rebels of every generation. Change is inevitable. The only thing that is permanent is change. Where people refuse to change with time, they are swept away by the new trend. During the last governorship election in Ekiti state, people sought for change and got it.
Things are changing in Nigeria. The party is over. We have to embrace new order. The economy, for instance, has to be reworked. Oil cartels can no longer control world economy. There are alternatives to oil. An oil dependent economy like Nigeria will have to look for alternative sources of funding. For a long time, we have proudly called our public funds tax payers’ money, when in actual fact, we know that our public funds don’t come from tax payers and that we depend on petrol dollars. It is time for us to look inward with people paying taxes and levies to finance the economy. We love the way the developed nations are financed through tax payers’ money. We should be ready to make the sacrifices their people are making. The change we so much seek must start from ourselves. We have to contribute our quota by ensuring prompt payment of our dues to the state. God has been fair to us by giving us oil deposits, when petroleum was ruling the world, and now that we have wasted the opportunity, we must take our destiny in our hands.
We should move beyond the mere sloganeering of the All People’s Congress, APC, to embrace the new change that has enveloped Nigeria, as the APC appears to be badly prepared to confront the realities of this time in our history. As the APC was busy shouting change! Change, the reality dawning on all Nigerians is that we all have to adapt to a new way of doing things to bail ourselves and future generations out of this economic turmoil.
This is not time to blame the government, past or present, but a time for sober reflection on the way forward. If our government fails, it means we have all failed. Nigeria and its states need our individual contributions. For long, we have all sought what Nigeria could do for us, it is now time for us to think about what we can do for Nigeria, let us start by paying our levies and taxes as and when due. Government should negotiate with the different sections of the society in fixing these rates, while it should also ensure judicious spending of the revenues so collected.
In Ekiti state, the people are already cooperating with the government in the area of increased internally generated revenue. This is because government has embarked on transparency in the judicious use of public funds. Government’s developmental activities that are germane to the improved well-being of the people can be found all over the terrain of Ekiti state.
It is only the people who will finance the economy now
Laleye Lashore is a veteran broadcast journalist based in Ado-Ekiti.
NIGERIASPOT Edited by Laleye Lashore 