The central point of Rotimi Amaechi’s treatise is this: Nigerians as a body are not ready to change things.

Change is one thing that people find difficult to accept. No matter what kind of change it is, good or bad, people will always kick against it. Baffling especially if it is a change that is necessary to better their lives. The reason though, is really simple. People have a way of adapting to the circumstances that they find themselves in, and once they have gotten into that comfort zone, coming out of it is difficult. Any attempt to move people from that comfort zone will be resisted. In most cases, it takes an event of almost seismic proportions before people are forced to accept changes for the better. Changes for the worse on the other hand tend to creep up on people and become a part of life. Such is the nature of man.

As an example, the elite of Europe had for centuries seen themselves as being put in charge of the people by God. For them it was the natural order of things that there must be masters, and serfs (or slaves) to be lorded over. When the French Revolution happened, things like equality were given lip service. The truth however, remained that for more than a century afterwards the upper classes in Europe still considered themselves to be the Lord and Masters of all that they surveyed. Hence expressions such as ‘old money’ and ‘new money’. Someone who was not born a ‘gentleman’ could not hope to aspire in his lifetime to respect and privilege. He could aspire to riches all right, but that was it. As long as he was ‘new money’, certain doors remained firmly shut in his face.

All that changed when The Great War happened. As had happened for centuries, the proletariat were herded off to the battlefields to fight and die for the whims and foibles of their masters. And as had happened for centuries, the proletariat went off to the die like sheep being led to the slaughter. But this war was different, and its outcome was different as well. Maybe it was the scale of the slaughter this time around, but for the first time ever, whole armies (starting with the French) mutinied. Most of the mutinies were brought under control and the leading mutineers were shot. The only exception to this was the mutiny of the Russian Armies which snowballed into open revolution. By the time the Russian Revolution was completed, the Imperial Dynasty had been swept away. It was the same in much of Europe as well. The Great War ended with many dynasties making the transition from absolute monarchies to ceremonial ones. King Edward in Britain no longer commanded the kind of authority Queen Victoria had, and in Germany, Der Kaiser was forced to abdicate his throne. That was the effect of people power. The people had had enough.

Two days ago, the governor of Rivers state, Rotimi Amaechi, in front of a cross-section of some of arguably Nigeria’s youth leaders, made comments to the effect that Nigerians were not ready for a change. For all of the anger that has accompanied Mr. Amaechi’s frankly condescending posture, the truth was said in that meet in Ikogosi. Nigerians have not had enough. A few minutes afterwards, when Amaechi and the Ekiti state governor, Kayode Fayemi were departing, people could not get over themselves enough to have photo opportunities with the governors. One person sang and sang at Fayemi, and got a N500 reward, I shit you not.

Do you think such people are ready for change?

The central point of Rotimi Amaechi’s treatise is this: Nigerians as a body are not ready to change things. The people who should provide the vital spark for that change, are not ready to change things either. By applauding him, or worse, sitting through his arrogant speech in silence, we, the young, educated elite, proved him right. The few who walked away, proved him right as well. What Amaechi needed, what he got in last year’s symposium, was a heckler. Unfortunately, her efforts last year, only earned her a brief applause, and that was that. For now, Nigerians are ready to simply applaud those who take the podium, no matter how good, or how odious, what the speaker has to say. But to follow a real leader who wants to take us to a genuine change? We are not yet ready.

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Op-ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija.