The People And Their Duties In The Community.

The People And Their Duties In The Community.

This piece is written not as a government official, a member of any political party (yet) nor as a sympathiser to any tribe or religion.

For any nation, community or ethnic group to develop and succeed then it is equally important for the people to be loyal, perform their roles, duties, responsibilities, and functions.

Tax - This is a compulsory and mandatory charge or levy imposed by the government, either Federal, state or local government on every business transaction, income or goods and services (V.A.T). In most societies, any form of tax evasion or failure to pay is a criminal offence and punishable by law.

These taxes are collated and used by the government to provide social amenities and infrastructure for the populace. They spread these taxes towards the Provision of health care, workers' salaries, pensions, motorable roads, pipe borne water, security and justice among various other sectors of the society.

Now let’s relate this to the continent of Africa and development. People see paying taxes as a robbery by the government and they will do anything humanly possible to evade it. They will prefer to import their goods through a back door border to avoid paying import duties, they prefer paying cash for goods and services in order to declare zero tax to the government, and they will avoid the banks and keep their cash at home to avoid stamp duty.

Nobody enjoys paying taxes but it gives comfort when you remember the fact that you are investing in your police to provide security, schools for your children, reliable health system and good roads etc.

The tax officials in charge of these collections will start doing their bits too by stealing from the government, at the end of the tax year, they will under-declare their collection to the government and set files ablaze, in some cases they will burn their offices to cover their tracks.

Now the government is struggling to meet up their budget, the schools are threatening strikes; workers are protesting for non-payment of their salaries, retirees are after their gratuities and pensions. The roads are in a very bad shape; hospitals are without medicines or qualified medical personnel.

The people successfully created issues for themselves unconsciously by avoiding their duties as a taxpayer and expecting some miracle with social amenities.

Voting - As part of democracy, the people are entitled to express their right to choose, decide or endorse any candidate to represent them at any tier of government. To do this it is important to have a record of voters and document them irrespective of their beliefs. It is important for any and every citizen to be involved and be informed on who is governing them as well as how.

But in Nigeria and Africa – it is a different case, people don’t care about elections. A state with an average of 15million adults and 650thousand votes to elect a governor? And we are wondering while the governor is not performing, it’s obvious that he wasn’t widely accepted neither was he popular but where are the rest of people during the election? The same set of people are the ones complaining about lack of security, bad governance, and leadership, lackadaisical approach of these public officials towards the plight of the people.

As a responsible people with the interest in what direction your government is leading you, it’s paramount to register to vote and speak out your interest, be part of the process in selecting your leader and make your vote count. Only then can you have a say, you can’t challenge a leader you didn’t vote for or against. Be a good citizen before asking to be counted as a citizen.

Rules and Laws - In any society where there are no laws and rules, there is bound to be disorder and chaos. The three arms of government, the legislative, the executive and the judiciary are established to make the law, administer the law and adjudicate the law. There are checks and balances in place between these arms to make sure human rights are not abused.

Have one of these arms of government missing or corrupted, then may God help such community or nation. They are like a tripod, one leg missing and that’s the end of the stand.

When a Nation starts having to satisfy every tribe and every ethnic group in appointing a Supreme Court Judge, Federal ministers or Country Ambassadors then competence is out of the window for tribal correctness.

Being a good Neighbour and respecting the rights of others – To be a member of any society or community then it’s not just to be law abiding but also to respect others in terms of their choice of business, association or belief.

In a situation where being a Muslim is a problem to a Christian neighbour and being a Christian is making a Muslim co-resident uncomfortable. We are all humans and that’s the only thing that matters – religion is a matter of personal choice.

As a neighbour, seeing Uloma as Igbo, Kemi as Yoruba and treating Audu differently is nothing but creating unnecessary bad blood. Obviously, they are not blind to your actions and they are reciprocating soon enough, now we have a divided community – If only we remember the fact that colonization had us divided, we were once one big happy family with no differences. Only religion and place of birth makes you and I different.

In a Country where you do not have the right to start a legal business simply because it’s against the tradition of the land or the community religion. You are not free to be friends with the locals because you are from another tribe. We can do better as people; all animals get along in the jungle despite their differences.

Protection of lives, property and the environment – No doubt the government must play an important role in protecting the people but first and foremost, the people must do their bit and want to be protected.

In any society where money matters more than lives, where people will do anything for money and even kill for it – that includes police killing innocent citizens, people lynching others over small crimes. Aged people are not left out and at the mercy of armed robbers; young children are being killed for rituals.

Any little protest in the community usually leads to chaos with houses, cars and other property being burnt. In most cases, anything that belongs to the government, including historical sites get touched and people lose their lives. One thing the rioters usually miss is the fact that this is your community, your cousins, nephews, nieces, uncles, and aunties are here. The government won’t be in a hurry to reconstruct the burnt properties neither would they be available to rehabilitate anyone affected. Who can blame them? There are various other communities yearning for what you burnt and you can’t be a priority as now everyone knows what you are capable of as a society.

The government cannot function properly without the people exercising their rights and being a better citizen.

Register to vote and make your voice heard.