What you can do today as an active citizen

Ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country.

illustration by freepik

As an active citizen of Nigeria, here are a few things you can do today to improve the political space of the country.

Join a political party

While everyone doesn’t need to join a political party, there are a lot of impacts and changes you can make by being a member of one. Aside from collectively ensuring the right people contest for political positions, you also use it to push issues such as gender equality, better pay, climate change, and improved economic conditions. See, regardless of your opinions of political parties, you cannot effect change from the outside.

The things you should consider when choosing a political party include:

• The party’s core values and ideals
• The party’s goal and mission
• The party’s stance on salient socio-economic issues
• The party’s scorecard

Be part of a movement

Are you an Obi-dient, City boy or girl, Atikulate, or a supporter of one of the other presidential or political candidates? Do you believe your candidate has what it takes to change Nigeria for the better? Then spread the gospel. Let other Nigerians — using facts and without sentiments — know why your candidate is the best for the country.

Here are ways you can be part of a movement:

• Volunteer for your candidate’s political campaign. Your candidate will need event organisers, fundraisers, and foot soldiers willing to spread the word.
• Engage with people, offline and online, to raise awareness for your candidate
• Create spaces for meaningful conversations on the state of the country.

Encourage people to vote wisely

There is hunger in the land, and people will do anything to satiate that hunger, including selling their future and that of their children. As a well-informed and educated citizen, it’s your duty to sensitise people about the negative impacts of selling their votes for a paltry amount that won’t benefit them in the long run.

A few things you can do to achieve that include:

• Evangelise on Facebook, WhatsApp, and marketplaces
• Have conversations with family, friends, and relatives
• Paste posters and distribute handbills, and if you can, do billboards.

Engage with your representatives and political aspirants

Are your representatives working for the betterment of your community or constituency, or country? What are the plans, objectives, and goals of the various candidates vying to represent you on the local, state, and federal levels? These are the things you need to know because their actions will eventually decide your future and those around you.

Get the phone numbers and addresses of your representatives and political candidates, especially those on the local and state levels, engage them on salient issues, and take action if you realise they are not working for the collective good. That action can include recalling them, voting them out, or going for a better candidate in the next election.