Recently, I discovered a flame of hope emanating from the Brick House; a flame that has the capacity to revive the dying embers of our societal values – if only we can keep it burning. The flame is RivEthics; and as it turns out, it was ignited by the amiable Wife of the Governor of Rivers State, Her Excellency, Justice Suzette Eberechi Nyesom-Wike.
I must say that Rivers people are very fortunate to have our able Governor and Mr Projects, Chief Nyesom Wike, improving the physical infrastructure of our state, through the rehabilitation, expansion, and building of new roads; and the construction of many flyovers. While his wife, on the other hand, is on a mission to restore our future today; by reviving and strengthening our values and moral infrastructure.
I never knew or heard of RivEthics until two weeks ago when my father called me from Bonny, with instructions that I should go online, and download every episode of the RivEthics programme on radio since inception. Initially, I resisted, but my dad is 82, and for him, everything is a matter of life and death.  So I acquiesced, but not before he told me what he intends to do with the RivEthics files. He told me that he has been a regular listener of RivRthics on Wazobia 94.1 FM for more than two years, and the caliber of guests and the content they put out is rich soul food. In fact, he asserted that the RivEthics radio programme should be made compulsory listening for every child in primary and secondary school here in Rivers State.
According to Her Excellency, the thrust of RivEthics is behavioural change and reorientation of the youth, through civic education and role modelling via radio programmes, school visits, and community tours. RivEthics on radio brings a diversity of experts, ranging from medical professionals, academicians, religious leaders, captains of industry, civil society organisations to tackle the major changes facing society.
In the last few episodes, the programme has addressed issues such as mental health, diabetes, breast cancer, gender-based violence, suicide, human rights, human trafficking and volunteering. To actually satisfy my curiosity, I listened to episode 292, which had Dr. Emenike Amadi of Ignatius Ajuru University of Education as a resource person, discussing International Day of Education 2022. My conclusion is that my father was right. RivEthics, if it continues, could be a primary weapon in correcting the current ills of our society; and building a better future.
The programme also uses the occasion of various international days to address pressing issues in our society. Recently, World Education Day, World Cancer Day, World Radio Day, and International Mother Language Day have been used as occasions to create awareness using credible resource persons, speaking in both English and pidgin.
This laudable initiative is coming at a time when we are overwhelmed by the colossal failure of the current crop of politicians, who have failed us in every ramification. Aside from being incompetent, most of them are very selfish. They view political office as a road to wealth; and as a consequence, they put themselves first in every case. They disregard the maxim that leaders eat last. The worst part is that they do not care about the plight of the electorate that put them in office.
Last Friday, the Senior Special Assistant on Media to the President, Femi Adesina, in an article he titled, “ Knock, knock: who’s there?” made a comment that was unbecoming of someone occupying any political office, when he said that ‘the heavens will not fall’. This statement was made against the backdrop of outcries of Nigerians because of the current fuel scarcity. You can imagine the audacity of such a heartless statement coming from a man whose salary is paid by our tax.
Unfortunately, this is the stock-in-trade of most of our current leaders; they do not take responsibility, and neither do they apologise when they fail woefully, as is evident in the dirty fuel saga. Or even speak compassionately to Nigerians, bearing in mind that the people at the last rung of the ladder will be hit the hardest; especially when the price of everyday items spirals out of control.
If according to our former president, many who are vying for the highest office in the land ought to be in prison, what does it say about our country? What if one of these persons so thought of wins the 2023 elections? What will be our fate? In 2015, Muhammadu Buhari was sold to us as a saint by most of those contesting for his position today. They said he had changed; he even told us that he was for everyone and for no one. But his presidency will now go down in history as the most nepotistic, and the real bad part is he does not care.  We are now reliving the early 1980s again, if only worse.
RivEthics is not bringing anything new to the war against moral and civic decadence; rather, the programme has shown its adeptness at digging up those long forgotten values that held the fabric of our society together. It is fighting a battle of attention, because the message is yet to permeate every facet of our society, the way I think it should. Most students I spoke with are not aware of it, and the same applies to teachers.
The values espoused by RivEthics are not limited by tribe, religion, age or geography, they are universal. They are values that keep families together, ensure the sustainability of businesses and economies. The values of honesty, empathy, hard work, patience, humility, community, and so on, are the pillars for every thriving society. Unfortunately, even though 297 episodes of RivEthics on Radio had been aired, we are yet to feel the buzz; and my take is that this could be as a result of low buy-in of five critical influencers in our society, namely: traditional rulers, teachers, pastors, politicians and artistes.
If we take stock of how far we have fallen as a people, and how long it took to get to where we are today, we must know that RivEthics is on a marathon. It is on a journey that will begin to bear fruit long after the administration of Governor Wike. If we hope to see the fruit from the seed being planted today, we must put on patience like the Chinese bamboo farmer. It is said that the Chinese bamboo sprouts in the fifth year, but grows as tall as 80ft in just six weeks. Therefore, because of the level of decay in our society, the impact of RivEthics will take time to be felt. But if we persist in watering its ideas, before long, change will come.

By:  Raphael Pepple