Thoughts on Nigeria at 50

THE independence celebration, if it has any significance, should be an occasion for reflecting on the time Nigerians were under servitude.

However, it becomes an event for celebration, when a nation has fared better than when she was under foreign domination.

Now, the question that comes to one’s mind, as one ruminates over the state of the nation 50 years after independence is, has the attained independence by Nigeria 50 years ago impacted on Nigerians?
The post-colonial leaders, mostly nationalists, set the nation on the path of greatness, in spite of the ethnicity problems that plagued the nation then. A leader in each region made meaningful impacts on socio-economic development. Relics of their efforts abound in various parts of the country.

Also, the incursion of the military in Nigerian polity since 1966 truncated the nation building process, because of greed, tribalism and lust for power.

A critical analysis of the post-1966 leadership shows that the mission of past leaders was the same, in spite of different guises. What were the motives of those thirsty for power, both as military or civilian? Similarly, their driving force was avarice, greed, lust for power, self-aggrandisement, etc.

Except for the brief period between 1975 and 1976, and December 1983 through August 1985, when attempts were made to bring sanity and decorum to the Nigerian polity, the story of succeeding governments was that of lost opportunities.

The misfortune the nation witnessed during military regime, manifested in political and economic stagnation in all sectors of the economy. There were also coups and couter-coups, annulment of elections, denials, killings of political opponents, etc.

The high hope Nigerians had about democratic dispensation was disillusioned early enough by greed and avarice of the ruling elite. All the vices that bedeviled the previous dispensations again reared their ugly heads.

In spite of unprecedented foreign exchange earnings accruing to the nation, the condition of an average Nigerian has not improved for the better.

Political leaders are power drunk. Political power has become an end in itself, and not a means to an end.

In all, it is the ordinary Nigerian, on whose behalf the independence was fought and won, that bears the brunt of mismanagement of the God-given human and material resources the nation is endowed with.

However, having survived socio-political upheavals like the Civil War, June 12 crisis, Niger Delta uprising, etc, and still remains a united nation, calls for celebration. But the fact that Nigeria is still contending with problems of nation building 50 years after independence, is a cause for concern. Afterall, nations that started the journey with us, which are even less endowed had left us behind in the race for development.