Nigeria @61, Still a toddler

By Norbert Fidelis

As Nigeria marks another independent anniversary, it is pertinent to know that the Country has come a long way and gone through thick and thin to remain a Sovereign State, and a United Entity. The journey so far can be likened to that of the Israelites where what should have taken them 40 days, took them 40 years because of disobedience. However, in Nigeria’s case, the reason can be said to be bad leadership and corruption.

The journey started in Oct. 1st 1960 when the then colonial masters handed over the mantle of leadership to Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, as the first President of the Country and Alhaji Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, as the first Prime Minister. These two, one a Southerner （Azikiwe）and the other a Northerner （Tafawa Balewa） were supposed to steer the nation forward and continue where the white colonial masters stopped.

However, it took only six（6）years before the monster called greed, reared its ugly head on the Nigeria leaders as the war started in 1966, just because some people believe that they have the right to everything in the country without being questioned. This war continued for the next four to five years killing millions of citizen. This is the same country where the colonial masters have ruled for decades without having any misunderstanding, even with their neighbours not to talk of fighting war among themselves, but in just four to five years, most of the infrastructural development and social amenities built by the colonial masters have been destroyed by the government and citizens of the Nigeria.

After the war, ,it was an avalanche of bad leadership, greed, corruption and nepotism as successive governments looted the country and acquired ill gotten wealth, before you know it, the country lost most of its Industries and Companies as they became moribund, thereby leading to unemployment.

According to the older ones, back in the seventies and eighties, as an undergraduate, you already have a job waiting for you before you even graduate.

Again, things were relatively cheap as one can afford good accommodation anywhere in Nigeria, but unfortunately, the leaders we had couldn’t think ahead of time on how to improve the infrastructural developments, like elctricity and health services. They couldn’t plan ahead on how to sustain the growing economy by investing in the country, and bringing in more job opportunities for people and they couldn’t see the future on the growing population, where more accommodation and infrastructure will be needed to sustain the growing economy, instead they were busy stashing away money abroad and eating their future ahead of time.

And finally it came to pass that the country where Ghanaians, Indians and even Europeans and Americans come to dwell in the country that use to have its local currency stronger than the American dollar. The country that use to feed its citizens and even other Nations, has turned into another Haiti and Somalia. No thanks to its leaders who couldn’t see the future and manage the wealth of the country.

However, the worst scenario so far is this present government. With all the sophisticated economic tink tank and the technological manpower, the country still finds itself in its deepest recession as the major assignment for every family and individual now is how to feed

This government came in and destroyed all the good and promising ideas of the former government. The worst decision it made is to ban the importation of food items such as rice and other consumable goods into the country when it cannot even feed its citizens. Now see where the country is as even the locally produced rice is nof affordable for the masses. The ones that are imported to complement the locally produced ones are seized. Ditto goes for prices of grocery items and other products. Look,at the issue of electricity, road infrastructure, housing and health, all is zero . The worst of it is security as nobody is safe in the country, even when there is no war.

It can clearly be seen and concluded from the above that Nigeria is still toddler and an overgrown baby even at 61 years.

On a final note, the solution to Nigerias problem is to bring back the white colonial masters to rule the country. If I’m wrong, kindly correct me or prove me wrong. If you dont know where you are going, you should know where you are coming from. Happy Independent Day Nigeria.