Femi Falana, rights activist and lawyer has stressed the need for all Nigerians irrespective of affiliations to be part of the instruments for genuine change in the country. He said this while delivering a keynote address titled, Beyond 2015 General Election: Delivering On Election Promise, at the 2015 Social Weekend organised by the Life Theological Seminary, Ikorodu, Lagos.
He said beside voting Nigerians need to do more. “The genuine change is not about political change, it must go all- round-social involvement, social integration and so on. It is time for all to hold the government accountable, especially the media,” he said.
While reeling out indices to prove that Nigeria is a wealthy nation,Falana condemned the level of corruption in the country and what he described as the “dollarisation” of the economy.
He urged President Goodluck Jonathan to ensure that the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, is given a free hand to carry out its statutory roles, especially in the use of the card readers.
The activist also urged his audience which composes mainly of students of the seminary and other Nigerians to fearlessly challenge religious leaders, who collect money from politicians. “How do you justify that in the church of Christ? He asked. Falana, also said every church that has university in the country must establish a scholarship scheme for children of the poor members who cannot attend the schools, “that is how churches can be relevant” he said.
In his speech, Cletus Orgu, Provost of the Seminary, said Nigerian politicians always renege on their promises because, “they are not held accountable. If there is free and fair election and people know you don’t fulfill your promises, they won’t vote for you, you will sit tight. But our people are busy collecting money from them.”
The Social Weekend is an annual programme of the Seminary which features conferences and social actions designed to contribute to topical issues of interest to the nation and alleviating the problems of the less privileged in the society.
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