Nigeria needs a mind-shift when it comes to activism [#Highway2014]

Anyone who has spent any time in Nigeria will know about the many problems the country has as well as its massive potential. With an estimated population of just over 170-million and an internet audience of more than 55-million, its 33% internet penetration means 67% opportunity. One such opportunity lies in the field of governance and listening to the multitude of Nigerians taking to the web to air their issues around injustice.

This is what Enough is Enough is trying to do. The youth-led organisation that wants to challenge the status quo in Nigeria by introducing the culture good governance and public accountability in the country. Started in 2010, the organisation reckons that this can be achieved through activism, advocacy and the mobilisation of Nigeria’s 70% strong youth population. It has begun naming the many faceless people who die daily in terror attacks in Nigeria, where newspapers reduce them to faceless numbers.

“In sharing the stories and names of people who die in the Nigerian insurgency, you humanise them,” commented Yemi Adamolekun, the executive director of EiE Nigeria at Highway Africa.

In the Africa voices are rising from the fringe to stand up to governments and dictatorships. For Nigerians online presents a chance to shed the shackles of legacy constraints led by oil and corruption. But even in a society of 40-million odd internet users, surely the concerns remain, even if Enough is Enough is preached to converted who are aware and attempting to fight for change?

To this Adamolekun responds with a cautious yes and no.

“We have very clear about who our target is,” she says. “The young Nigerian that has access to technology.”

She says that EiE’s mandate isn’t to reach the grassroots individual but rather to encourage the youth to educate the people outside the online conversations.

“We can’t go after everybody, that’s not our demographic. What we do say to the people online is that they should teach other people,” she adds.

Activism in Nigeria is a process

Most young Nigerians are waking up to a new world bustling with information thanks to social media. Like never before people are becoming empowered through access to information and understanding of how governance works and how it should work.

“Social media is an extremely powerful tool,” she says. “In a context where your phone opens up you world to a host of information you wouldn’t already have. You can suddenly become a bee hive of information of what is happening in your community.”

But there are problems.

“There is a generation that has gotten used to Nigeria as it is,” she concedes.

On the surface, the danger is to believe that Nigerians are ready and interested in change. It is easy to assume that the average Nigerian is happy to live his or her life around the government and adapt rather than protest.

Adamolekun reckons that a light-bulb moment is not on the cards for Nigeria, simply because “you cannot wake up one day and reset everyone”.

“Its is a process. It is process that is driven by increased knowledge, a better sense of self worth and an understanding of what good governance is and celebrating victories. There needs to be a mind-shift.”

Image: Wikimedia