Cover Story:
Nigeria @ 59: Are We On Course?

Nigeria marks her Fifty Nine Years of existence as a sovereign nation with much expectations from the people


On Tuesday, October 1, 2019, Nigeria, the acclaimed giant of Africa and the most populous black nation in the world clock fifty nine (59) as an independent nation. On that date in October 1960, the British Union Jack was lowered while the Nigerian Green-White-Green flag was hoisted in its place, thus, signifying the birth of a new nation and the withdrawal of the colonialists from directly calling the shots of the affairs of the nation. That singular act heralded Nigeria as an independent nation free from the apron strings of Great Britain that had hitherto, colonized it since 1914 when the northern and southern protectorates were amalgamated by Lord Frederick Lugard who later became its first Governor-General.

At independence, Nigeria had all the trappings of a great nation in the making. Indeed, it made significant showing in many spheres of human endeavours that spoke volumes of a nation that was prepared to give developed economies the run for their money.

Its economy showed strong indications that it could stand shoulder to shoulder with others. Its currency was strong, industries sprung up in all the regions, the standard of education was high, likewise the health system. In fact, it’s socio-economic, political and foreign policies displayed a nation that was in a hurry to catch up with the advanced countries of the time. Such was the spirit of the time. But regrettably, some years after this scenario, a tidal wave of retrogression fuelled by instability in government combined to deal a devastating blow on the nation resulting in its inability to achieve the earlier aspirations. Currently, some of the countries it was better off at inception have out-paced it, not to talk of its ambition to catch up with the developed nations of the world.

In the year 2010 when it celebrated golden jubilee independence popularly referred to as ‘’Nigeria @50, the then President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan noted thus in his independence broadcast. “On this day in 1960, the heroes of the nationalist struggles and all Nigerians were full of hopes and dreams. The citizens of the new country danced in colourful celebration of the newfound freedom. Nigerians were filled with expectations as the Union Jack was lowered and the green-white-green flag was raised in its place. A new country was born. A new journey had started on a road never taken before. The future was pregnant with promise. “With patriotism and pragmatism, our founding fathers charted a course for the greatness of this country. While there were differences and disagreements, they did not waver in their desire to build a country that future generations would be proud of. They made compromises and sacrifices. They toiled night and day to build a viable country where progress and peace would reign supreme.

“Our independence was gained by men and women who envisioned a land of freedom and one of opportunity. Our founding fathers sought a government of character, that seeks justice for her citizens as our national anthem so eloquently describes: One nation bound in freedom, peace and unity. However, today, the opinion of many Nigerians is that these dreams and expectations have not been fulfilled. Not only have people despaired about the slow pace of progress, some have in fact given up on the country. Some believe that if the colonial masters had stayed longer, Nigeria may have been better for it.

“All these postulations, we must admit, are borne out of somewhat justifiable sense of frustration. Our troubles and failures are well catalogued. For a country that was, in terms of development, on a similar, if not better level with many countries at independence, it is discomforting that we are lagging behind as the economic indicators among nations now show. “In the midst of these challenges, it is easy to forget our unusual circumstances. We have actually been moving from one political instability to the other such that we have barely been able to plan long-term and implement policies on a fairly consistent level. “This instability has also impacted negatively on institutional development, which is necessary for advancement. The structures of governance had barely been developed when we ran into a series of political obstacles shortly after independence”.

Those were the lamentations of former President Jonathan, nine years ago when Nigeria celebrated its golden jubilee independence anniversary and Jonathan held sway as president. The issues raised by Jonathan are far from being over as the country marks fifty nine years of independence. There is no sign of ‘uhuru’. No sign of silver lining at the end of a dark tunnel. This is in spite of repeated assurances from successive governments which have become a circus show.

In the early hours of Monday, October 1, 2018 being the country’s 58th Independence Day anniversary, President Muhammadu Buhari addressed the nation. The speech showed no serious departure from the norm. It was laced with promises of fixing debilitating infrastructure and assuaging the fears of the citizenry. The president in his speech talked about many critical issues concerning the nation. He pledged to work for a peaceful, prosperous Nigeria. He appreciated Nigeria’s 58 years of existence as a sovereign nation and gave kudos to the “founding fathers who laboured so hard and sacrificed so much to build and bequeath to us this wonderful nation”.

The president also emphasized on the need to be more united ahead of the 2019 general elections. He noted that the year’s Independence Day celebration was the last before the general election in 2019 and therefore used the opportunity to call on Nigerians to be more united ahead of the polls. On security/Boko Haram, President Buhari said there “has been a steady improvement in the security situation in the northeast and restated his administration’s commitment to “ending the crisis and make the northeast safe for all”. He commiserated with the victims of Boko Haram insurgents and their families and reiterated that his administration will not allow the deadly insurgents achieve their goals, which according to him, include “capturing territories, destroying our democracy and denying our children the right to education”. He paid tribute to the men and women of the armed forces, the police and other security and law enforcement agencies, who have been working under the most difficult conditions to keep the country safe. He assured the security agencies of continued empowerment through professional training, adequate payment of entitlements and other welfare packages. On economy/foreign investment, the president gave an account of what his administration is doing to improve the economy. He stated that his government is “diversifying away from reliance on oil to increased manufacturing capacity, solid minerals development, and agriculture”. President Buhari added that with his administration’s economic reforms, there is now an enabling environment for local and foreign investment in Nigeria. On herdsmen/farmers conflict, he talked about the herdsmen-farmers conflict which is posing a great threat to the peace of the country. He restated his administration’s commitment to partner with relevant civil society organisations to find lasting solutions to the crisis.

Environmental degradation: President Buhari noted that Nigeria is one of the countries in the world most affected by environmental degradation which is a consequence of climate change. He stated his government’s efforts to address the challenges, adding that he “will continue to mobilise international support for efforts in this regard”. Anti-corruption fight: The president also talked about corruption which is one of the cardinal programmes of his administration. He said his administration is “making progress in the fight against corruption and recovery of stolen public funds and assets despite vicious and stiff resistance”.

On infrastructural development, he said that despite the financial challenges his administration faces, he has been able to do “more with less in infrastructural developments”. “Roads, railways, major bridges, schools, energy and power, air and seaports, welfare of serving and retired personnel both civilian and military including payment of legacy debt such as pension arrears, have been attended to,” the president said. He identified social media as a challenge. President Buhari cautioned that Nigerians should use the social media for knowledge and understanding rather than abusing the technology. He said: “Never before had we faced such a challenge. We must all rise to the responsibility of shutting out those disruptive and corrosive forces that hide in today’s world of social media. We need critical minds and independent thinking, to question and question until we are satisfied we have the facts. Otherwise, all the progress we have made as a democracy since 1999 is at stake.”

On international relations, President Buhari said Nigeria remains “a responsible and respected member of the international community, playing active positive roles within ECOWAS, the African Union and the United Nations as well as all other regional and international organisations and institutions of which we are members”. Sadly, a year after these lofty assurances and promises were made, not a few Nigerians believe that Nigeria’s 59 years as a sovereign nation has suffered more deprivations, uncertainties, hunger, unemployment and insecurity in the run up to this anniversary than it had ever suffered.

In his 59th Anniversary speech on Tuesday, October 1, 2019, which have no significant departure from previous anniversary speeches, the President told Nigerians that the nation must show commitment towards real change to improve the nation’s fortunes and that Nigerians must rededicate themselves to becoming a united and prosperous nation in the 21st century. He then reiterated a point he made in his 2015 Independence Day speech about Nigerians being law-abiding citizens to bring about real change. He said, “In the past four years, the majority of Nigerians have committed to change for the better. “Indeed, this administration was re-elected by Nigerians on a mandate to deliver positive and enduring change – through maintaining our national security; restoring sustainable and inclusive economic growth and development; and fighting corruption against all internal and external threats. “This change can only be delivered if we are united in purpose, as individuals and as a nation. “We must all remain committed to achieving this positive and enduring Change. “As I stated four years ago, ‘Change does not just happen. We must change our lawless habits, our attitude to public office and public trust. “Simply put, to bring about change, we must change ourselves by being law-abiding citizens.’”

The President highlighted his government’s efforts in improving security, accelerating sustaining and inclusive economic growth, fighting corruption and restoring good governance. According to the President, after the Nigerian economy recovered from its worst recession in 2017, it has been growing at a slow pace and the country needs radical economic policies to fix the loopholes.

He also called on Nigerians to be united so that the country will emerge from its present challenges stronger than ever. On Critical Infrastructural Development, the President said that the government will welcome and encourage private capital for infrastructural development through Public-Private Partnerships. “Through the Road Infrastructure Tax Credit Scheme, which I initiated in January this year, we are giving incentives to private sector inflow of over N205 billion in 19 Nigerian roads and bridges of 794.4km across in 11 States of the Federation.”

On the issue of Power sector, the President stated that his government is serious about reforming the power sector. According to him, “In August this year, we launched the Presidential Power Initiative to modernise the National Grid in 3 phases: starting from 5 Gigawatts to 7 Gigawatts, then to 11 Gigawatts by 2023, and finally 25 Gigawatts afterwards. This programme, in partnership with the German Government and Siemens, will provide end-to-end electrification solutions that will resolve our transmission and distribution challenges.”

On Monetary, Fiscal and Trade policies, the President said that the recently constituted Economic Advisory Council will advise the government on inclusive and sustainable macroeconomic, fiscal and monetary policies. He stated further that his government will be committed to ensuring that the inconvenience associated with any painful policy adjustments, is moderated, such that the poor and the vulnerable, who are most at risk, do not bear the brunt. On controlling the activities of revenue-generating agencies, the president said the merger of the Ministry of Finance with the Ministry of Budget and National Planning will ensure proper scrutiny of revenue-generating agencies and reward exceptional revenue performance, while severe consequences will attend failures to achieve agreed revenue targets. On the problem posed by our ever-increasing population, the President observed that the nation’s population growth rate had remained among the highest in the world, presenting both challenges as well as opportunities. According to him, “It is our collective responsibility to ensure that we provide adequate resources to meet the basic needs of our teeming youth.”

He said his government will continue to invest in education, health, water and sanitation, as well as food security, to ensure that their basic needs are met, while providing them with every opportunity to live peaceful, prosperous and productive lives. As the nation marks this important milestone in its history, the question of unity, security, hunger, corruption, infrastructural decay have all become a recurring decimal and intractable. Rather than fixing the vexed issues, a lot more ugly occurrences and phenomena kept rearing their ugly heads in the arena without a whimper from the government.

At 59, we are in addition to the Boko Haram menace, grappling with armed banditry that threatens to overrun some states in the North West. Here, rather than government living up to its billing in securing the lives and property of its citizenry, government and security agencies after a long period of suffering casualties in Zamfara, Katsina and others, began negotiations with the bandits in what can be termed ‘amnesty’, as if the bandits were involved in freedom fight or even engaging the state on legitimate demands. Apart from banditry, kidnapping and freeing hostages for money has also become a norm and lucrative business.

The Abuja-Kaduna highway has become a death trap as kidnappers have taken over the expressway as they can block the road and whisk their targets away into the bushes almost unchallenged. Most commuters of that road now resort to the use of train services that are always accompanied by helicopter hovering over it as it moves.

Herdsmen clashes with farmers have also become almost intractable as government has failed to solve the problem. Most of the federal government action to solve the problem has always been viewed with bias. Ritual killers are also on the prowl. At every twists and turns, there are tales of woes of different kind of killers. In addition to these are the regular armed robbers that do not let citizens sleep with their eyes closed. There are also tales of hijacking of full loads of buses with passengers and taken to unknown places for money making. While the security agencies are doing their best to combat these menace, many feel and for good reasons too, that their best are not good enough. This is more so, when some security agents collaborate with the gangs. The above scenario is just for the social upheavals. The situation is frightening as hunger, unemployment; child trafficking and prostitution are all in astronomical rise.

STATEMNTS
In a press release signed by the President, Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) Comrade, Ayuba Wabba, to mark Nigeria at 59, the labour leader explained that in our 59 years of existence as a nation, we have had a number of highs and lows. While we should celebrate the highs, we must also ponder on the lows and pick useful lessons from them. According to him, there are certainly a lot of room for self re-discovery in the midst of the current grave challenges in human capital development, infrastructure, security and public order. Now is the time for the Nigerian renaissance. This is a call on both the leadership and followership. At stake is our pride as the largest population of black people on earth. We have a duty to make that count for something! Now is the time to make our public schools and hospitals the centres of excellence. Now is the time to climb out of the tunnel of darkness and provide the electricity needed to power the potentials of our people. Now is the time to clean our political space and ensure that every vote counts. Now is the time to drown the noise of strife and violence with conversations for peaceful co-existence.

Now is the time to build the critical infrastructure that will become the backbone of our collective quest for relevance globally and leadership on the African continent. No nation survives or thrives by chance or wishful thinking. The 59th Independence Anniversary offers us a moment to reflect, re-prioritise, re-strategise, re-position, and re-launch the Nigerian dream. Some nine years ago at the occasion of Nigeria’s fifty years independence, former president Goodluck Jonathan said, ’’Today, we need to celebrate the remarkable resilience of the Nigerian spirit. We need to appreciate, that even though the road has been bumpy, we have trudged on, in hope. We may not have overcome our challenges, but neither have our challenges overcome us. Whenever we are completely written off, we always bounce back from the edge to renew our national bound for the benefit of our progress. That is the Nigerian spirit. This is what has kept us together as a country even when other countries with far less challenges have fallen apart’’.

This Magazine remembers with nostalgia the frenzy with which Nigerian school children looked up to independence anniversary activities. For so many years now, the trappings of the anniversary are lacking. Apart from the normal public holidays, it has been difficult to witness the march past by enthusiastic school children at the three tiers of government. Government has often cited security issues and dwindling economy for low ceremony. Not a few Nigerians are looking forward to a day that we can truly say, “Nigeria we hail thee.”