Nigeria at 60. How far?

By LaBode Obanor

Nigeria will celebrate sixty years of self-government from Britain this October 1st, 2020. A look back 60 years ago at the lowering of the British Union Jack on the midnight of September 30, 1960, and declaration of independence on October 1, 1960, expectations were understandably high-pitched and the hope that the newly liberated nation had all it might take to lead Africa, not just as an emerging first superpower, but also as a stabilizing force on the continent. (Siollun 2009).

In his gratifying words to the departing British Governor, Sir James Robertson, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Nigeria’s first Prime Minister, stated: “Nigerians are grateful to the British officers, whom we have known as masters, and then as leaders, and finally as partners, and always as a friend.” An olive branch extended to the taskmaster because the country saw a bright future ahead.
The excitement was real. It was all fanfare, the streets teeming with jubilant citizens garbed with yearning desires for a more prosperous future.

For the most part too, the prospect of a vibrant nation, the allure, especially for a country with the largest cluster of Black people in the world, and a seemingly robust agrarian economy with oil reserves waiting to be pierced, was more realism than probability.
Nigeria was the new envy of the world. The Americans and the Europeans jockeyed to partner with her, its prime minister shuttled from one world capital to another addressing the world’s major parliaments. That was sixty years ago.

But as we examine the country 60 years after independence, the tale is different. Now the country boils. After years of multiple military takeovers, the civilian rule did not prosper the nation. Corruption in all facets is ubiquitous. Ethnic and religious violence permeated. Competing tribes threaten to secede from the British arrangement and a greedy political class has drained the hopes of this once upon a time aspiring nation. Albeit a people who gradually became numb and complacent to their new reality.

Although, it is unclear that greed is the singular factor for governance, misadventures and the ruining of the country. The undeniable fact is that progress has been elusive for decades.

Nevertheless, can this country still fulfill its potential and become the success story it once hoped to be? The answer is an incontrovertible YES!

The country’s redemption lies in its vibrant youth population who themselves are the most oppressed. Nigeria youth unemployment now hovers around 38 percent. A large fraction is on an exodus to Europe and other parts of the world, a disturbing number see no redress to their hopelessness and result in a crime. Yet, a vast majority of these teeming youth sees strength in the face of pain and despair. The Nigerian youth is loud, savvy, spirited, gutsy and an ardent social media user. They perambulate and bluster in the world wide web, and their presence is widely seen and felt. From Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram to YouTube messenger, Twitter, etc.

Howbeit, their voice must now go beyond social media and transform into active political and socio-economic participation, using protest and mass demonstrations to demand accountability and good governance. Their silence in the social-political sphere is no longer sustainable. Their future and the destiny of the republic depend on them. The noble laureate, Wole Soyinka, once stated: “The man dies in all who keep quiet in the face of tyranny.” Late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr similarly stated, “And there comes a time when silence is the betrayer.”

The recently concluded Edo State election illustrates this very obvious credence that when the youth rise up and oppose bad governance, they can force a change and alter the current course of their crumbling social-political milieu.

As we celebrate these threescore years since the British exited Nigeria, the country must use this start of another decade to gauge, reassess and rearrange the track, so that the tale will be different when the country turns 70.

Happy Independence Day.

Happy Independence Day.