Some 54 years ago, after much agitation and struggle for political, racial, economic, social and financial freedom, Nigeria attained got independence. Imperialism and Western domination by our colonial masters prior to the attainment of independence was fingered as the cause of the many challenges facing the nation at the time. Then, Nigeria was chafing under rule of Her Royal Majesty, the Queen of England and her emissaries, who took the best of the nation to England and left us with little or nothing to fend for ourselves.
Then, Nigerians were slaves in their own country. We laboured, while the colonial masters ate from our sweat. Our situation could be likened to a case of a farmer with all the sophisticated farming tools but still with a poor harvest despite the fertility of the farmland.
Then, racism was a major determinant of social status and political relevance. Majority of the black race at the time believed that it was ordained by God for them to be inferior and thus accepted the tag and behaved as subordinates in their thoughts, actions and decisions; we were contented with being servants of the white. The white, on the other hand, expanded their civilisation to the fullest and lived as ‘gods’ of the black in their own continent.
It is no wonder that a few well-informed and brave Nigerians then, who are today, regarded as nationalists, fought to a standstill, the continuous enslavement of not just Nigerians but also our brothers in other countries on the continent.
After sustained agitation for independence, Nigeria finally got freedom with much expectation and hope. Relief finally came the way of the country and its citizens as people of same colour and with identical cultural origin were expected to understand themselves better.
In the early years of independence, Nigeria and its citizens were in a hurry to develop and experimented with various forms of government to see which suits the country the most.
One military intervention after another did not allow stable democratisation. Men in uniform neglected their primary role of defending the territorial integrity of the nation and chose rather to become insatiable potentates in their quest for power, which was evident in the way they threw away esprit de corps and overthrew one another to assume leadership.
With the exception of the Olusegun Obasanjo and Abdulsalami Abubakar regimes, men in uniform clung tenaciously to power; they were booted out by aspiring military dictators.
Rather than continue with the policies of the previous administration, successive juntas preferred to start afresh and jettison previous developmental strides, if there was any.
Thus, after years of independence and struggle for freedom, Nigeria was still virtually in the same place. Men in uniform made a mockery of civilian rule for the total emancipation of the people as they were more concerned with enriching their pocket rather than developing the country. Corruption had already reared its ugly head at that age of Nigeria’s growth.
The advent of the 4th Republic in 1999 brought a lot of hope and reprieve to the people. Almost 16 years of democratic experiment, the much desired reprieve is yet to happen. Civil rule came with it a lot of agitations and more ways in which citizens could express their fundamental human rights as enshrined in the Constitution. Perhaps, this could be said to be the beauty of democracy as people sought for more ways to be relevant and contribute to national discourse.
While a school of thought is of the opinion that the Nigeria remains a dream after 54 years as independent nation, others point to the fact that major world powers took hundreds of years to attain their current status and that the country could not be an exception.
However, some of the indices to which one could use to measure a country’s growth as a yardstick for its progression such as the standard of living, education, health care, employment opportunity etc are nothing to write home about.
For instance, prior to the discovery of oil in Oloibiri in 1958, much emphasis was laid on agriculture as a major source of revenue generation for the country but since the discovery of oil, agriculture, which had the capacity of employing millions was relegated to the economic backyard and this could be said to be the genesis of the high unemployment rate ravaging the country.
Nowadays, agriculture is seen as an occupation for the poor and less privileged even though it could be the solution to the ever growing unemployment challenge of the country.
Furthermore, corruption has now become a norm in virtually all segments of our national life. These days, everybody believes that all those at the corridors of power steal with the pen and the younger generation is already buying into this idea that is being implanted in them. Thus, corruption has eaten deep the fabric of the public sector to the extent that there is hardly any job, admission, promotion, transfer or salary increment that does not come with one form of inducement or the other. This scenario has made our service rendering system questionable.
Hunger and starvation are fast becoming part of life in Nigeria, even as our population is exponentially growing beyond our imagination. No additional infrastructure is being put in place to prepare for the escalating population. The number of sick people is rising daily without the corresponding medical facilities and personnel to cater for their need.
It can be said, without fear of contradiction, that the combined effect of hunger, terrorism and lack of adequate medical facilities in the country is worse that the effect which the civil war had on the Nigerian economy.
As we marked 54th independence anniversary, we must first look within ourselves and bring back the “can do” spirit that is in all of us. The notion that everybody at the corridors of power is corrupt is not completely true as the nation still has men and women of impeccable character, who have not soiled their conscience and who still believe in the progress of the nation.
Efforts must be made to ensure that young people follow in the footsteps of the few patriots who are still in positions of authority to bring Nigeria back on track towards achieving its objective of becoming one of the top 20 economies of the world in the year 2020.
Yes, Nigeria has had a chequered history since independence but all hope is not lost. Effort must be made by those in authority to implement good policies that will touch the lives of average Nigerians and those seeking to aspire to key offices must endeavour to continue projects that they inherited from their predecessors.
At 54, it is high time the people changed their orientation about the country. We only have one country and we must work as a team to ensure that it is great again. This can only be done if we, in our own little way, ensure that the needed change begins with us. We cannot remove a speck from someone else’s eyes without first removing what is preventing us from seeing clearly with our own eyes.
Philip, is a graduating student of Electrical, Electronics and Computer Engineering, DELSU
