September 30, (THEWILL) – Nigeria clocks 64 tomorrow, Tuesday, October 1, 2024. It is her Independence Day, an occasion for celebration and merriment.
This time around it looks like there will be more of stock-taking and sober reflection than celebration. Indeed, for many Nigerians struggling to survive the prevailing hardship in the country, there will be no celebration.
Nigeria gained independence from Great Britain in 1960 and almost immediately settled down to the intricate business of nation-building. Critics were quick to predict that the future of the young African nation was bright and gifted with abundant natural resources and human capital, she was sufficiently equipped to play a dominant role in Africa.
Awed by Nigeria’s vast potential, they called her the ‘Sleeping giant of Africa.’ As it turned out, the rest of the world reposed enormous confidence in the former British colony.
Unknown to the leaders of the new country, the path to greatness was strewn with obstacles and danger. Soon, seven years after independence, a series of unwanted events conspired to plunge the country into a civil war that lasted three years, between 1967 and 1970.
The war cost Nigeria about 1 million lives and additional losses through the destruction of physical infrastructure and social capital. One of the bloodiest in Africa, no doubt, it left a legacy of death and destruction, particularly in war-torn southeastern Nigeria which was the main theatre.
Fifty-four years after the end of the conflict, it seems clear enough that Nigeria has not quite recovered from the effects of the war. Many of the country’s post-war problems are still plaguing it today. As a matter of fact, the unity of the country is persistently under threat from such problems.
Ethnicity, one of the factors that precipitated the Nigerian Civil War, which may likely hasten the collapse of the country anytime, is still dominant in the affairs of government.
With an estimated population of 200 million, Nigeria is yet to fully achieve peaceful coexistence among her component ethnic nationalities, no thanks to prevailing ethnic tensions and the absence of peace-building structures in the country, as well as failure on the part of the leaders to actively promote peaceful coexistence through their actions and utterances.
Successive events in the country within the last 20 years have shown that Nigeria is in dire need of good governance and visionary leaders who understand the real challenges of nationhood and are competent enough to steer her along the path she has desired since independence.
Corruption, which has reached endemic proportions, remains one of Nigeria’s biggest problems. In spite of genuine efforts by successive Nigerian governments to get rid of it, it has over the years embedded itself deep in the fabric of society.
Corruption lies at the root of the country’s stunted development. It is the reason why Nigeria is beset with a myriad problems that could have been successfully solved or managed by a committed government with the right focus an attitude to governance.
Nigerians are tired of the endless fight against corruption that have so far failed to yield positive results. They want a change.
Also, they desire an end to banditry, kidnapping for ransom, human trafficking, armed robbery, impunity, fuel scarcity and persistent hikes in the pump price of fuel, unprovoked attacks by various ethnic militia, poverty and of course, the prevailing hardship in the country.
The judiciary, once a highly respected institution in Nigeria, is no longer viewed as the common man’s last hope for justice. Due to recent events which seem to cast it in the image of a failed system, many Nigerians have expressed their desire for reforms.
The bottom line is that the people are fed up with the entire system and its deficiencies. More than anything else in the world, they want a break.
