Nigerian Internet Revolutionaries

By Internet revolutionaries I am not referring to those people that brought about the Internet revolution but to those people that think they can bring a revolution using the Internet. Many times you come across them in forums or see their comments on blogs and news sites. They talk about how bad things are in Nigeria and how frustrated they are and how very soon those on top will pay for everything they owe.

The ones I am very familiar with are typically found on the political section of Nairaland or commenting to articles on 234next.

First of all, I disagree with their idea of a violent revolution being the solution to our problems in Nigeria. The solution should be built from the ground up and not the other way round.
The solution starts from you, what have you done lately to make things better. Have you stopped shunting in queues? Have you managed to fill that pot hole on the road in your neighborhood? Have you stopped that guy dumping refuse by the roadside. No I don't think so, because all those things happen in the real world and not in cyberspace. To get to the real world, you have to leave the coziness of your room or office and get out to make a change.

But I forgot, just getting outside is not enough because the greater number of the revolutionaries have left the country and plan to come back only when things get better.

Definitely the revolution will come, it will not involve shedding blood but individual efforts coming together to build a better system. But the Internet revolutionaries are going to miss it. They will miss it because it will not be fun as they imagined. They will miss it because they can't risk leaving facebook , twitter or Nairaland for so long as five minutes.

But they will read about the revolution, in fact, they have been reading about it because the real revolutionaries also use technology, but they don't call for bloodshed. They use technology to create positive change. And after adventures in the real world, some come to cyberspace and tell their stories in blogs and forums. They just know that you don't tweet a revolution.

So. What have you done for Nigeria lately?