About Us

Democratic Nation Building Programmes

To accomplish both our long and short-term goals and objectives, Openmind Foundation has developed and will pursue the following set of nation building programmes:

• Programmes to develop political awareness and promote democracy:
  1. Educate Nigeria, one family at a time, on the presidential system of government, the strengths and limitations.
  2. Educate Nigeria, one family at a time, on the voting rights of citizens and the art of effective voting. i.e. voting on issues and candidates’ characters and competencies rather than tribe, religion, ethnicity, state, etc.
  3. Seminar on the key components of the Nigerian constitution.
  4. Use television programmes – soaps to reinforce these trainings /seminars.
• Programmes to enhance national unity and social harmony:
  1. Identify and target families, households, villages, districts and the nation as a whole with civic education and awareness campaigns that enhance national unity.
  2. Reinforce patriotism through public consciousness and youth training programs.
  3. Encourage cultural and social interaction among ethnic and regional groups through exchange visits, national days and cultural programs.
  4. Encourage political parties to formulate specific ideologies with which they can be identified and enable the electorate to vote on the basis of issues rather than tribe, region, religion, bribery, etc.
  5. Soaps on television aimed at highlighting the social evils of the Nigerian society, the costs and remedies.
• Programmes to increase awareness of human rights and civic responsibilities:
  1. Support the independence and responsibility of mass media so that they can report on cases of breaking the law without fear and favour.
  2. Create awareness at school, institutions and village levels on the role of independent media and ways to approach the media with public interest information.
  3. Educate families on the key components of the Nigerian constitution.
  4. Increase civic education in school curricula on rights, responsibilities and respect for the law.
  5. Enhance access to legal assistance through putting together volunteer legal aid by members of the legal profession in Nigeria.
  6. Educate families on the importance of respect for customary or traditional laws – particularly with respect to marriage, conflict resolutions, and respect for parents, adults and institutions, etc.
  7. Re-enforce the importance of and assist in modernising the traditional village level mediation of the local conflicts.
  8. Start civic education about the law and legal procedures in Nigeria. Provide civic and law workshops and seminars in educational institutions and in every village level.
• Programmes to promote the Spirit of National Service and Self-Help:
  1. Persuade those with special skills, for example physicians, nurses, professors, engineers, and others to reserve a few days in a month for community service.
  2. Promote the youth to engage in national service at college and secondary school levels through programs such as summer camps and others.
• Programmes to develop political awareness:
  1. Educate Nigeria, one family at a time, on the presidential system of government, the strengths and limitations.
  2. Educate Nigeria, one family at a time, on the voting rights of citizens and the art of effective voting. i.e. voting on issues and candidates’ characters and competencies rather than tribe, religion, ethnicity, state, etc.
  3. Use television programmes – soaps to reinforce these trainings.
• Programmes to promote Accountability and Control of Corruption:
  1. Sensitize people about the costs of corruption and creating a culture that is hostile to and intolerable of corruption.
     • Develop programmes to make the populace aware of the advantages of transparency, accountability and disadvantages of corruption; and the benefits of exposing and punishing offenders accordingly.
     • This is to be reinforced with the aid of television programmes.
  2. Holding seminars on corruption and accountability in Federal and State civil service departments or organisations.
  3. Campaign for state and federal government protection and reward of those who expose corruption. Have laws in place to protect the whistle blowers against corruption.
  4. Champion the creation of an independent watch dog to monitor the overall performance of the local, state and federal government offices and bench mark them against those of advanced and emerging economies, particularly in the following areas:
     • Contract awards and executions
     • Educational institutions
     • Health care institutions and service providers
     • Aviation industry, etc.
     • Human rights
     • Law and order

 

It’s possible. Just believe!