The Next Frontier: Calling Right, Right Again_
1. A TIME TO SPEAK. Solomon said in Ecclesiastes, “There’s a time to speak, and there’s a time to be silent.” Maturity is knowing what time you’re in. Is this a time to speak boldly, or a time to walk away?
2. THIS IS THE TIME. My fellow compatriots, this is a time to speak. Nigeria is suffering not only because bad things happen, but because we have given bad things good names. We no longer steal — we hustle. We no longer lie — we package. We no longer cheat — we are smart. We no longer bribe — we settle. When a nation renames its sins, it no longer repents of them. It celebrates them.
3. THE NEW DICTIONARY. Listen to our streets. The boy who forges results is a sharp guy. The girl who sleeps her way to a job is connected. The officer who locks a file until you pay knows the system. The politician who loots and shares a little is a generous leader. We have turned shame into style, and dishonesty into a skill to be admired.
4. WE KNOW, YET WE LOOK AWAY. Deep inside, we know. A mother knows when her son’s wealth has no work behind it. A father knows when his daughter’s promotion has no merit behind it. A pastor knows when the offering smells of stolen money. But we look away and say, “Everybody is doing it.” Fellow compatriots, when everybody is doing it, everybody is drowning together.
5. ABUJA IS ONLY A MIRROR. The problem is not only in Abuja. Abuja is only a mirror of our markets, schools, offices, churches, mosques, and homes. A nation that cheats in WAEC will cheat in elections. A nation that pays for admission will pay for justice. A nation that rewards the thief in the family will soon be ruled by thieves in government.
6. WE CAN RENAME THEM BACK. But there is good news: we can rename them back. We can call truth, truth again. We can call hard work, honour again. We can call stealing, stealing again — even when the thief is our brother, our friend, our party man, our church member. That is National Rebirth. Not a new government. Not a new constitution. A new tongue. A new conscience.
7. THE WITNESS ASSIGNMENT. In your home, teach your child that small honest bread is better than a big stolen feast. In your school, let excellence be louder than expo. In your office, let service be stronger than settlement. In your church and mosque, let holiness produce honesty. This is our 5Cs: CONSCIENCE to name wrong as wrong, COMPETENCE to earn without cutting corners, CHARACTER to refuse what is sweet but stolen, COURAGE to stand alone, COMPASSION to protect the honest man.
8. WILL YOU JOIN THE RENAMING?* Will you stop calling corruption hustle? Will you stop calling bribery appreciation? Will you stop calling cheating smartness? If we refuse to lie to ourselves, no corrupt system can lie to us. Every true rebirth was resisted by those who benefited from the rot, yet it still came — because ordinary men and women refused to bow. Our weapon is not violence. Our weapon is CONSCIENCE, COMPETENCE, CHARACTER, COURAGE and COMPASSION. Let us call right, right again. And let Nigeria live again.
_Convener and Author — WITNESS 2026/2036_
_Author of NIGERIA NEEDS A NEW NATIONAL MODEL_
_CONSCIENCE • COMPETENCE • CHARACTER • COURAGE • COMPASSION_
_Inspired by Boniokoye Imegwu.
