By Nurudeen Oshinlaja
Many Nigerian communities today are confronted with an unsettling picture: the distance between our words and our world keeps widening. We talk passionately about development. We debate the shortcomings of government with venerable fluency. Often, after our talks, we are mostly short on ideas to change the narratives and push the envelope for quality development to happen. And many in public offices make promises to us, to our youth, to our women, to our elders, to our future with incommensurable actions to back up their promises. They cannot perform to save their lives.
The truth is we cannot deny that more is needed to be done – it is of no use to “grow old trying to turn lies to truths.” The physical realities of our communities remain stark and unchanged like bricks that refuse to soften under the warmth of our lips. As we remain upbeat about what to come from public officials, we, the people, have to be collective in moving from words to actions!
Focusing on the Hard Realities of Our Ikorodu Division
The metaphor of the title may sound playful, but its question is serious: will our lips put hickeys on bricks? Will our words, our complaints, our long speeches, our endless discussions, and our promises leave any mark at all on the hard surfaces of our daily reality in Ikorodu Division? Or will they simply glance off and evaporate?
From the conurbations of Ikorodu, Igbogbo, and Ebute/Ipakodo to Imota and Ijede, the salient reality is that talk alone will not rebuild our schools, health centres, parks, markets, roads etc. It will not clean our streets, drains and gutters. It will not put books in our classrooms nor will it create safe places for youths to gather, socialise, do sports and learn. Just as to leave hickeys requires more than lips, to leave lasting marks of community impacts requires more than words. It requires hands, hearts, and a collective will.
We have to catalogue all roads in our towns and villages that have surrendered to erosion. We have to take actions to make the road motorable. We have to stem the sights of every rainy season turning into an unnecessary test of endurance. We have to move from one affected place to another with solutions. Same treatments must be accorded to other challenges like broken streetlights, damaged market stalls, gutters that overflow, schools that operate without desks, windows, reading books, school clinics or first aids kits or functioning toilets, and health centres that open their doors without essential supplies and personnel. We must correct these failures systematically and persistently.
Then, there is the youth who are the heartbeats of our communities. That so many of them are bright, capable, imaginative, and eager to work is incontestable. It should therefore be unacceptable to our societies and governments that many of these youths are trapped in cycles of underemployment, unemployment and frustration. Since their creativity and reach are abundant, their opportunities must not be scarce.
Reviving Our Spirit of Community Altruism
We are blessed with the innate ability to solve our challenges. Our culture has always preached shared responsibility. The idea of àjọṣe – the spirit of cooperation – has long guided collective efforts as a Yoruba people.
Àjọṣe is not a foreign concept. It is our way of life. For generations, communities watched out for one another, fed themselves, protected themselves, and developed themselves ahead of any intervention from governments. Have we been changed by the unrealistic expectation that development must arrive from above? It is not productive to be expecting fully packaged, ribbon-tied community developments while we watch from the side-lines? Development does not descend like rainfall. It grows upward like a tree, starting from seeds planted by those who live closest to the soil and the chains of productivity continues thereafter passing from one set of persons to the others.
We cannot but rediscover and revive our spirit of community altruism. When our strong attribute of àjọṣe are jettisoned, the lost will be massively destructive. It is even already upon us as evidence of failing education system, drug abuse and misuse, decrepit social infrastructure from many communities is pervasive. When our communities lead, progress is inevitable. Our communities must refuse to wait. A lot is possible when our communities act out of shared ownership rather than shared frustration. Our communities must walk the talk. Although resources and money are important, the most important development tool is our collective resolve.
The easiest thing to do is blame governments for all of the deficiencies. Of course, indeed, governments have their responsibilities. Public officers have their work cut out. But the government alone cannot fix what decay, time, population growth, and neglect have compounded over decades. If we continue to wait, we may wait forever. If we continue to talk without acting, our words will continue to fade without leaving marks.
I argue that if we step up community actions on development, governments (public agencies and officers) will intervene more quickly. Momentum attracts momentum; momentum pulls momentum – it is a basic fundamental of ‘social physics’!
Words Alone Are No Longer Enough
There is nothing wrong with talk. I have always pointed it out that talking is where ideas and actions begin. It is where shared problems are identified and solutions are coproduced. But when talk becomes the end rather than the beginning, it becomes fruitless. A problem discussed endlessly becomes an inherited problem. A challenge debated for years becomes the next generation’s burden. A community that complains in unison but acts in fragments will only watch its environment deteriorate. But a community that aligns its conversations with its actions will always find ways to thrive.
The gratifying news is that many people who speak at online and physical platforms now provide solutions. The people are identifying societal issues and governance breakdown and they are providing ideas for solutions. This co-ownership of challenges and solutions are good for our community development. It is left for public officials to not only reply but act in decisive manners. It then begs the question; how can our words turn into actions?
We can start from microcommittees. Street-level, wardlevel, or villagelevel groups should focus on one task at a time: levelling up learning systems; doing school facilities upgrade; security support; youth engagement; water provision; sanitation (one clear aspect that a few of us have advocated for long time ago and many are now seeing why it is expedient) and market hygiene systems. Smaller groups act faster and build trust quicker. Then, we must be fair and transparent to build confidence and sustain trust across board. No one wants to be left behind in contributing to community progress.
We must also step up on putting the youth at the centre of actions so that they can plan, lead and execute more. Happily, the imperative for this action is now widely appreciated. The achievements of youths who already successfully handle public offices, development groups, community events, and sports groups validate the need to use the youths more as builders of community development.
Without prejudice to the above call for community altruism, community action is not an excuse for government inaction. The whole essence of community action is not to replace government but to partner with it. Historical accounts have shown that community actions will compel government interventions and engagements, attract support, and open doors that were previously closed.
Perhaps, more than elsewhere, public officials in Ikorodu Division are condemned to do serious governance as nothing short of serious governance can be tolerated at this period in time. There are numerous works in terms of roads, physical infrastructures, and human capital development to be done. There are environmental challenges of haphazard street structures, flooding, poor sanitation and improper waste management to be tackled frontally. There are schools to be built, rebuilt, equipped and standardised. We could go on and on because we know all these problems. This situation, as demanding as it portends, presents opportunities for all public officers to shine with solid performance and delivery of their official duties.
Rallying All to Leave Our Marks on the Future
In the end, the question applies to all of us (private citizens and public service official) in similar measures: will our lips put hickeys on bricks? Will our words make contact with our realities? Will our words and actions leave evidence of gravitas, commitment, and love for our communities? Will our words and actions leave marks that future generations can point to and say, “Here is where our predecessors and forerunners decided to stop waiting and start building”?
So let us start where we are. Let us use what we have. Let us repair what we can reach. Let us build what we can imagine. Let us grow what we have competitive advantage to do. In general, it cannot be overstated that our communities have people, youth, tradition, pride, skills, memory, and hope. We will develop more when these resources are combined, not when they are outsourced.
The message here is simple: as our lips speak, so must our hands, our collective will, and our hearts make the marks that truly matter. Clearly, bricks do not respond to talk; they respond, always, to action.
Nurudeen, who serves as the DG of Ona Ogo Management and sits on the Board of Trustees of the Achievers Crew, writes from Cardiff, UK
