True Citizenship

This post is the fourth volume of PEOPLES DREAM INITIATIVE weekly voluminous article Titled: True citizenship

Citizenship is the status of a person recognized under the custom or law as being a legal member of a sovereign state.  And active citizenship is a combination of knowledge, attitude, skills and actions that aims to contribute to the building and maintaining of a democratic society.

It is quite appalling to think that the educational curricular of our nation no longer has a place for citizenship education. And the few schools that teach it negate practical citizenship as much as possible. Little wonder why the young ones of this generation lack the skills and right attitude for nation building.

Being a citizen is beyond a birth certificate and it is beyond just a registration. Aristotle suggests that a citizen is someone who shares in the administration of justice and the holding of public offices in a democratic society.

It is true that solving the problems of Nigeria can be as difficult as bisecting an ant to carry out a heart surgery, if it has one. But it is also very true that if we could learn practical citizenship from the life of the ants, we could have a better nation.

Chinua Achebe highlighted that “until the lions have their own historian, the history of the hunt will always glorify the Hunter”, in same vain, until the citizens take responsibility, the history of a nation will always glorify the leaders.

It wasn’t your choice to be a Nigerian, it wasn’t your choice to be born in the country you were delivered. So of what use is it to discriminate or hurt a fellow citizen because of your choice of land, religion, and career. Of what use is it to chastise your nationality because it wasn’t your choice……  Do not place your choice above that of your creator. For when two brothers fight to death, a stranger inherits their father’s estate.

Remember, you cannot succeed in a nation you do not believe in. Obama was the president of USA but will forever be a son of Kenya….. The leopard can never change it skin. You can buy a house but you can’t buy a home…… And Nigeria is our home!

You can become part of PEOPLE’S DREAM INITIATIVE and begin to impact life positively. It’s a progressive youth movement that stands for the liberation of humanity from intellectual degradation. Our motto is empowerment for competence. You can also send your written articles of not more than 500 words to us on Volunteer@pdinitiative.com.

Our Campaign “GIVE A CHILD A BOOK” will be going into marginalized communities across the nation to share free English text books in partnership with BOOKS2AFRICA a UK Charity organization that donates books to Africa. So we invite you to support us in actualizing our goal which is to diminish illiteracy in our society which is the root cause of poverty.