We believe Nigeria will be great, with you taking action.
The engine of the movement is good citizenship. The thrust is that change will come from ordinary people. It requires everyone to make a pledge to change first, above all else.
Re-orientation
After thinking through this severally, and going by the ideas espoused in some groundbreaking books, especially ‘Start with Why’, by Simon Sinek, we are of the conviction that our movement should have as its rallying cry – the pledge declared beside.
While the pledge would be the fulcrum of the movement’s engagement with the populace and the “oath” to be subscribed to by members, there would also be a great focus on “making good trouble”.
This would mean that the leaders and members of the movement would constantly be using all legal and acceptable means combined with application of superior intellect, while avoiding violence, to achieve the objective resetting the mentality of the people and putting the country back on track for greatness.
For example, several suits could be filed to force public disclosure of the emoluments of members of our National and State Assemblies, and force a reset to reasonable levels.
Another key focus of the movement would be massive campaign of values reorientation of the society. Why celebrate instant and questionable wealth? A poor fellow is elected or appointed into public office, and within months has humongous buildings, choice cars, and is now living a life of millionaire. How come?
We must teach our people to question questionable and instant wealth, and call out and shame traditional rulers and religious leaders who celebrate such people.
The movement should also attack those mindsets and practices that have kept us down (wasteful “befitting burials’ for parents not taken care of while alive, elaborate weddings for children who have never worked and/or are still being supported by parents, etc.) , thoroughly thrash ethnic rivalries and break its chain of transmission to younger minds, wage a war against mediocrity in public service, and lastly kill corruption and connection as the major means of getting rich.
Public Petitions
We would get millions of Nigerians to sign petitions about matters of public importance and use it to marshal public opinion for our cause.
Litigation
We will use the court system to fight about bad policies and actions, and focus public attention on change. We will flood the courts with suits against the activities that we feel can provide a rallying cry for our movement.
Messages
Carefully tailored but powerful messages about the problems and their solutions. We will employ every available means of public communication to reach every Nigerian wherever they may be.
Public (press) Statements
We will use established mass media to communicate to the public, influential officials, world leaders and the world at large. The channels include press statements, adverts, billboards, letters to world leaders and other such ways to keep burning issues in the public space.
Newsletter
An eNewsletter would be sent out every month to subscribers to draw attention, on a monthly basis, immoral and other undesirable acts being committed by public office holders and politicians. Attention would be drawn to all those ‘evils in the system’. Sign Up Now
Annual Notoriety Award
Additionally, the movement should also seek to achieve the objectives of creating a “Longlist” of Nigerians who are working against the people’s interest.
On December 31 of every year, LongListNigeria will announce its Notoriety Awardee of the year. This would be the person who has been adjudged as contributing to the fouling up of the system the most.
At later years, an ‘award ceremony’ might be held, where a crown of thorns is placed on the effigy of the awardee.
