₦airaland Forum

A Story About How Collective Action Makes Change Happen.

Meet Habib.

The Day He Stopped Complaining Alone Was The Day Things Changed.

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2/10

Habib lives in a small town where the only community well has stopped working.

Without the well, people must walk kilometers every day to fetch water.

So Habib goes to the local authorities to complain.

They tell him:

"Come back next week."

3/10

Mama Jide also reports the problem.

She is told to come back next week.

Papa Obinna goes to complain.

The same response.

Nothing happens.

In fact, over 500 people report the problem, one after another.

One by one, they are turned away.

4/10

Then something occurs to Habib.

The problem isn't that the authorities don't know about the broken well.

The problem is that 500 people are complaining separately.

Their voices are never loud enough to be heard.

5/10

So Habib changes strategy.

Every day, he waits outside the local council office.

Whenever someone comes to complain about the well, Habib invites them to join a community group.

6/10

Days turn into weeks.

Weeks turn into months.

Soon, hundreds of community members have joined.

Then Habib, Mama Jide, Papa Obinna, and hundreds of others decide to act together.

7/10

They choose a day.

They invite journalists.

They show up at the council office as one group with one message.

The next day they return.

And the day after that.

Again and again.

8/10

Soon the story becomes local news.

Then national news.

Suddenly, the authorities begin paying attention.

Engineers are sent.

The well is repaired.

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9/10

The authorities didn't act because they suddenly discovered the problem.

They didn't act because the issue suddenly became important.

They acted because the voices became louder together.

One voice is easy to ignore.

Hundreds of voices speaking together are not.

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10/10

This is not a story about a broken well.

This is a story about 2027 elections.

If you've been told to come back because the server is down...

If you've been told to come back tomorrow...

If you've been told to keep waiting...

Remember Habib.

A word is enough for the wise.

Seun nlfpmod

Wow impressive story, that shows the influence of collective and constructive journalism.

This well was made possible through Unity and Support

RealityKings1:
Wow impressive story, that shows the influence of collective and constructive journalism.

This well was made possible through Unity and Support

True. They ignored each person until the voices became loud together. Thanks to Habib taking charge and everyone joining hands together.

Obi supporters think the world revolves around them and the Obi they support.

IamPatriotic:
Obi supporters think the world revolves around them and the Obi they support.

If this is all you could deduce from the message above, the idea of doing things collectively...then that's quite disappointing.

Not everything has to be viewed through the lens of "us vs. them" political bickering.