The Citizen and his Responsibility to Society
By Femi Olugbile
Recently the Association of Lagos State Retired Heads of Service and Permanent Secretaries (ALARHOSPS) held its 12th Summit at the Adeyemi Bero Hall at the Lagos State Secretariat, Alausa.
The annual Summit is a policy think-tank at which past top civil servants who have served the state, and who represent a vast pool of knowledge and historical insight, gather to discuss topical issues affecting the society. Subject matter experts from private and public sectors make keynote presentations and sit on interactive panels that exhaustively analyse issues and articulate profound and sometimes divergent insights. At the end of every Summit, a communique is prepared as an advisory document for the government of the day.
This year the focus of deliberation was on the Citizen of Lagos and his Responsibilities to Society.
There has been a lot of complaining about the abysmal state of public and individual morality in Nigerian society, evidenced by very poor ethical standards and non-adherence to any agreed set of values. Public behaviour is not only detrimental to social good, but also often even harmful to the welfare and happiness of the protagonists themselves. On the roads, motorists behave like desperate, hungry rats liberated from a cage, seeking unmerited advantage at the expense of other people. Yet, Nigerians are among the most demonstratively religious people on earth. Religion to them appears focussed on getting to heaven, or achieving prosperity, but not on behaving well to one’s neighbour, or having social interest.
Through the years, leadership has been rightly pilloried for not being good exemplars of values, as illustrated by such measures as Nigeria’s poor showing on the Corruption Perception Index of Transparency Internation.
The Summit theme sought to ascertain what responsibility the citizen himself had in this situation. Was there a solution to the perrenial Values and Behaviour problems that could be fashioned out by Social Science analysis and operationalised, beyond the perpetual blame-setting and handwringing?
A keynote address by Wusu Onipede, Professor of Sociology and Demography at the Lagos State University, Ojo, provided an overview of the theme. He defined ‘Citizen’ as anyone who resided in a community and made a living there, and who owed responsibility to the community, irrespective of whether he was an ‘indigene’.
‘Social Responsibility’ meant ‘Working and operating in ways that are not harmful to society or the environment’.
‘Citizenship Behaviour’ could be positive or negative. Positive citizenship behaviour described intentional actions by members of the community aimed at improving the social and environmental conditions of their community. Negative citizenship behaviour was the opposite – an attitude of disengagement or active malfeasance detrimental to the community, like someone stealing parts from a transformer and plunging the neighbourhood into darkness.
Intentional public action to improve society often started with leadership, he averred, quoting the example of Singapore, an erstwhile small fishing community that has pulled itself up by the bootstraps to world prominence. Human society was like a living organism – it could grow and attain excellence, or it could remain backward, sick, and eventually die. There was a need for an intentional desire on the part of the Lagos community for the family, the schools and other institutions to become places where positive citizenship behaviour was groomed and fostered, just as there was a need for leadership at all levels to set the tone.
Oluwatomi Alade, a Professor of Management and Evaluation at the University of Lagos held forth on the topic ‘The Home, the School and the Community – a Triangle for Change’. The three, according to her, could either build or destroy society. She stressed the role of parents, teachers, and community leaders in shaping character, separating right from wrong, and education. Encouraginging more people to engage in Community-centred actions such as volunteering could promote positive values and challenge detrimental traditions, laying the foundation for a just, compassionate and progressive society. Her general tone was optimistic about the future of Lagos.
Professor Oguntola-Laguda, an expert on Philosophy of Religion, examined the place of Religion in ethical values and beliefs. Religious groups were moral agents whose focus should not only be on the esoteric values of religion but also its social values. Unfortunately, this was not so in current Nigerian society. As remediation, religious and cultural leaders could be challenged and recruited as stakeholders to help formulate and drive citizens’ rights and social responsibilities.
On the second day of the Summit, it was the turn of Akin Oyebode, former Vice Chancellor, outspoken legal and academic luminary with a ‘progressive’ bent. His topic was ‘The Impact of Corruption, Impunity and the Rule of Law’. He pulled no punches. On Impunity, he had ample grist for his mill in the recent incident of the ‘connected’ musician who stood in front of an aircraft at Abuja airport to prevent it from flying, and how the agents of Law Enforcement were timidly pleading with the fellow, instead of dragging him away in handcuffs to face the full consequences of the Law.
He decried the absence of Ideology in Nigerian rhetoric and policy formulation. Nigeria was an unhappy federation with a lot of frustrated citizens, but people needed to continue to beat the drum of good governance to mitigate against corruption, arbitrariness and disregard for the rule of Law.
Mrs Tayo Popoola, convener of ‘Lagos Women Run’, concluded the presentations, speaking on the need to encourage the spirit of Volunteerism which could help in building resilient communities and fostering inclusive development.
At the end of the two-day brainstorming, the Communique, among other things, acknowledged the need for sustainable ethical and moral rebirth at individual, family, community, state and national levels. Government, in collaboration with private sector, community leaders, media and educators, was urged to strengthen institutions to uphold the rule of Law, and create structures to channel youthful energy into innovation and economic productivity. Voluntary work for the community was to be encouraged among youths and the general citizenry.
It was obvious to all present, as they departed, that the issues that had been discussed with such openness and candour over so many hours were of crucial importance for a state and a people that truly aspired to Excellence.
