Nigeria is celebrating her 54th anniversary as an independent nation. Traditionally, every national anniversary brings with it reasons to roll out the drums in celebration. But across the country, the candid opinion of the citizenry is that there is nothing to celebrate in a country where the people are bogged down by several inadequacies; Nigeria, a place where nothing works, where political office- holders are there to line up their pockets with public funds, where graduates are wandering here and there with no job opportunities, where Boko Haram is having a field day, where there is no security of lives and properties, where fuel scarcity is becoming the order of the day and only rich can afford to buy it, where the poor masses are down- trodden on daily basis; so many are indeed wondering how they have survived the national rot for so long. Most Nigerians, rather than laying up celebration plans as it was the practice year back, are busy taking stock of their country’s journey from an optimistic point in 1960 to the valley of despondency it is at present. Can a man be a toddler at 54? This is the question confronting Nigerians from all walks of life as the nation marks 54 years of independence from British colonial rule. Though this is the longest run of civil rule in the country after the enthronement of democratic rule in May 1999. Many ills still bedevil the sleeping giant of Africa 15 years on.In the main, a family political system has led to the “selection” of incompetent ruling class that is bereft of ideas that can maximize the huge but wasting potential of Nigeria. With an inept leadership, Nigeria, the seventh largest oil-producing nation in the world, suffers massive corruption, insecurity, poor infrastructure . Lack of electricity, bad roads, and a moribund railway system for example, a dilapidated education and health system,have combined to leave Nigerians seeking redemption from their self-inflicted woes through several unorthodox means. Indeed, assessing a country that has witnessed many military and civilian governments in her 54 years of existence can not be a tea party. Nigeria has seen over 30 years of military regimes and a total of 22 years of civilian administrations. And while a total of eight soldiers had ruled the country, civilian administrations had produced only six leaders. Interestingly, while the military rulers-General Aguiyi- Ironsi, Yakubu Gowon, Muritala Muhammad, Olusegun Obansanjo, Muhammad Buhari, Ibrahim Babangida, Sanni Abacha and Abdulsalami Abubakar-were believed not have impacted much on the growth of the country because they were soldiers whose regimes in modern language were termed aberration, Nigerians have not ceased to bemoan the reality of their faring badly under democratic administrations. But for brief glimpses of hope demonstrated in the shortlived first republic manned mostly by nationalist figures, neither the administrations of Alhaji Shehu Shagari from 1979 to 1983, nor the eight years of Obasanjo as president, the majority of Nigerians continue to submit, brought progress and positive change to the country. The four years of President Umaru Yar’Adua categorized as a slow pace administration, with amnesty given to the people of Niger-Delta region to reduce militancy in the region, and spent most of his term in Saudi hospital for medical treatment, and eventually brought back to the country dead. The incumbent President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan’s three years plus in the saddle, critics argue, hold no promise of improvement, characterized with outbreak of Boko Haram insurgency in Northern part of the country causing untimely death to many Nigerians. Indeed, it has been canvassed over time that the problem of the nation lies at the doorstep of bad leadership. Perhaps, for the exception of Nigeria’s first generation leaders in the class of the late Dr Nnamdi Azikwe, Obafemi Awolowo, Sir Ahamdu Bello and their band of independence fighters, nearly all that had subsequently held leadership positions, especially in the political realm, had been found wanting. As the nation marks her 54th independence anniversary, questions and more questions must be asked. Has the country come of age? Is there need for celebration? Is there hope of better tomorrow? The issue of celebration of 54th anniversary is far more than the issue of attaining political age and accomplishing the dreams and visions of the founding fathers. Perceptive analysts also frown at the level of infrastructure in the country in the last 54 years. In education, economy, sports, health, agriculture, security and other socio-economic endeavors, it has been a long story of regret
Posted on: Wed, 01 Oct 2014 19:16:03 +0000
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