Mr Femi Adelegan is founder of Terrific Headlines. He was Chief Press Secretary to four consecutive governors of Osun State from 1994 to 2000; and served as Chief Private Secretary/Special Adviser (Policies, Programmes and Plans Implementation between 2003 and 2010.
In this interview, he unfolds details about the family values campaign being prosecuted by his outfit in Abuja. Excerpts:
What is it about good governance that you are so inclined to?
Good governance is about doing things the right way and must be the guiding policy and principle in both the public and private sectors. Good governance entails accountability, transparency, adherence to the rule of law, freedom of expression and association and such other factors that ensure that necessary changes are firmly fixed into the process of managing an organization or society. I acquired some invaluable experiences in government and I am generating literature on this critical activity.
From the civilians who encouraged the military to govern, to the civil society who prefer to be subdued instead of holding their representatives to task, to voters sell their votes and rights, on to the purchaser of votes, as well as all of us who are insincere about moving our society forward, and the government and the governed; have contributed to our inability to advance beyond our present level of development.
There are so many issues that stand between us and development. These include insincerity, tribalism, religion and nepotism that have combined to affect the quality of leadership at all levels. We are our own enemies through our preference for selfishness instead of selflessness. I think that will suffice.
You are running a campaign on family values. What are the moving factors?
This idea actually dropped on my mind in the first quarter of 2018 while reflecting. I try to read any literature that comes my way, except it is esoteric or too technical. Then, each time I have travelled out of Nigeria, I observed how things work and how citizens of those developed nations conduct themselves. It occurs to me that our hard-earned democracy would achieve the objectives we set only if we devise appropriate remedies for our perceived shortcomings.
It is important that we discuss our changing social, economic and political circumstances to reconcile all opposing interests and assuage our various feelings. And it seems to me that we could commence this process from our individual homes. And it is never too late for any parent, no matter how old, to get closer to the children or even grandchildren.
What we are saying is that we cannot be too busy to take care of our families. We must pay attention to our families, to our children. In the words of Elder Felix Ohiwerei, any nation that neglects its children is destroying its future.
What are the reasons for your disposition?
My social life is almost nil, and that has been prompted by some unfortunate incidents of the loss of my beloved junior ones in the 1990s. I just discovered that I started withdrawing from the social scene and my old friends and extended family members kept wondering what was happening and some counted this against me. The situation was such that if anybody knocked on my door, the sound reverberated in my heart and I was told it was the tremendous shock that I experienced that caused that.
At that time, I was Chief Press Secretary in Osogbo and was living alone in my official apartment. But I knew what I went through and my decision to embrace Jesus Christ fully brought me out of that unpleasant situation. I was in a state of shock for three years and I could have died of heart attack but for God. How many people would I explain this to?
The responsibility for socials got devolved to my wife and I encouraged my siblings, relations, and church members to deal with her on socials and functions generally; while I paid attention to working on my computer.
I kept on reading and reading and got more deeply involved with serving my God. Again, that state of shock was brought about by the deep love I had for brothers, excellent first class brains; but God knows best. Our bond was the result of family values.
How did you come about family values in your campaign?
It is a product of reflections. I also want to believe my interest is being influenced by nature and nurture. I had parents who demonstrated those virtues and who appeared inseparable. I decided that I should lead an advocacy and public enlightenment campaign to promote family values as part of our mandate of encouraging virtues and values that are worth emulating for the purpose of re-orientating the society, particularly the growing ones.
Does this have any correlation with the family values that you are preaching?
Yes, it does. We all are told, and we believe that governance started from the Garden of Eden, inhabited by the first couple. God created a man and woman, and housed them in the privileged place with regulations that must not be violated. But Adam was a weak governor who succumbed to temptations. As it was then, so it is till now.
A family is a microscopic component of the society. There is hierarchy and there must be regulations governing conducts and responsibilities. In our part of the world, our culture allocates the role of the head of the family to the man, while the woman is the deputy head. Both have the joint responsibility for training their children and managing their home. If they fail, it will take the grace of God for their offspring to succeed in life. And this trend cumulatively affects the society.
To what extent are parents responsible for the rot in the society?
The rot in the society is terribly huge, perhaps more than what we imagine. The expectation is that parents, right from the birth of their children through impressionable ages must take responsibility for ensuring that these children are well brought up.
The Creator said in Proverbs 22:6: “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.’’ The truth is that too many parents these days shirk their responsibilities. A deceitful parent would surely breed deceitful children.
At impressionable ages, children mimic their parents; hence the need for spouses to be cultured in their conducts because children would mimic parents. This is one of the reasons why we must allow virtues of unity, love, praying together and leading them aright be watchwords in homes. Parents must also teach their children to be obedient.
What is the major thrust in your family values campaign?
It is being implemented to bring about attitudinal changes across all strata of the society, to promote positive family values and the attainment of desirable goals that are set out in the country’s national plans. We have been on this campaign for over one year because such social development activities must be continuous for long to have the desired impact.
The activity focuses on the need for an urgent intervention in family values and virtues, at a time that the whole world faces multi-dimensional challenges, including security breaches, and criminal and social vices that are threatening peaceful coexistence and values that were handed down by progenitors.
We have come a long way. That oil boom era bred several multi-millionaires and promoted the high propensity of Nigerians for the acquisition of wealth. To make matters worse, those who successfully cornered a substantial part of the society’s wealth engaged in wanton profligacy and demonstration of affluence, a development that led to a feverish struggle for acquisition of wealth at all costs by the old and the young, male and female.
Here lies the very salient factor that produced armed robbers in a nation that placed great premium on family values, morality and good name. This development could be reversed with time. We also preach non-discrimination as enshrined in the Nigerian Constitution to encourage parents to pay equal attention to bothe male and female children.
So, how do you correct these perceived distortions?
Whoever still touts the belief that successful children belong to the father; while unsuccessful offspring are for mothers is living in the past. Reversing awkward beliefs is a huge task because of cultural beliefs. It is important to address the target audience through an articulate Plan of Action. And the target audience consists of parents who have the greatest responsibility for bringing up their children. It doesn’t seem wise to bring into the world children you have no capacity to provide for.
Other stakeholders include government that must create the enabling environment, organisations with parental responsibilities, including educational institutions; places of worship; civil society organizations and the civil society itself. In sensitising the citizenry, our social intervention campaign strategies suggest preventive, rather than reactive strategies, as well as joint responsibilities by both parents.
Our plan takes cognizance of the need for attitudinal changes across all strata of the society, in order to promote positive family values and the attainment of desirable goals that are set out in the country’s national plans. For this purpose, a dedicated website and other social media channels are in place for interaction and publishing of information on family values and virtues all year round; with a view to contributing to local and global efforts to build families and encourage women emancipation.
What form does your campaign take?
It is a multi-pronged campaign with three segments. We commenced the first segment one year ago and we are pleased with reactions and feedback. Everyone in a society has some basic functions to perform as influencing development is a joint task of the government and the governed, as well as organizations with parental responsibilities.
The roles of these bodies are so important that in situations where they are not able to perform efficiently and effectively, the society suffers tremendously. It is what they sow in terms of bringing the young ones up that they reap. We also preach that proactive steps are required to control social and criminal ills, and also promote family values.
The second segment is the awards ceremony planned to hold in Lagos. We tell whoever bothers to listen or read our plans that we are organising a distinct event. Who are we honouring and why? Couples, who are graded as role models, whose conducts could positively influence other couples and the growing ones are being celebrated through publications on family units that could promote feelings of empathy.
One should be interested in couples like the Adeboyes, the Subomi Baloguns, the Adekunle Ojoras, the Yakubu Gowons, TY Danjumas and others at the lower rungs of the societal ladder, who are still on honeymoon decades after their marriages. And these are people who don’t joke with their family units.
We are promoting the interests of the female gender too, because we believe women are the pivots around which family units revolve. A woman combines several roles that place her at a unique and advantageous position of a major stakeholder in whatever happens in a family unit. Women are actually proving their worth, particularly in corporate governance, and getting more space would be advantageous for the society.