Co-founder of RED, Adebola Williams was one of the speakers at the just concluded Obama Foundation Summit held on October 31 to November 1, 2017, at Illinois, Chicago, the United States.
Mr Williams regaled the attendees with the story of how at eighteen, in partnership with friends, he saw the need to combat the helplessness in the society most especially in Nigeria.
This helplessness: a common enemy of young Nigerians, the incompetence and absence of empathy for citizens by government.
This propelled the RED idea which later birthed other firms which are totally involved in the active participation in nation building and citizen engagement through media.
Speaking at the summit, Williams stated that the office of the citizen is the highest in the land, challenging participants to get involved and take up the responsibility of deciding who leads them.
Williams’ speech wouldn’t have come at a better time than now when Nigeria is at a crossroad in its political journey as the current crop of political leaders have failed to account for their deeds in office.
Majority of state Governors in Nigeria today are owing salaries as the bailout and Paris Club refund were frittered away but citizens seem to be calm and quiet, when they ought to be engaging in a mass action.
The State Houses of Assembly that should be the voice of the citizens are in connivance with the powers that be, to rip off citizens.
Therefore, the office of the citizen campaign is the next bloodless revolution to take the world by storm as seen in other nations of the world like Saudi Arabia where women now have the right to drive a car unlike when they were prevented from doing so.
Office of the citizen engenders development through active citizen participation in governance process.
As Mr Williams said, the highest office in the land is not the office of the President, it’s that of the citizen.
Omoleye Omoruyi… an apprentice web/game developer, novelist, sensitive to happenings in the world. Meet him @Lord_rickie on Twitter/Instagram
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