Six decades is regarded as the diamond age, the most precious and hardest natural mineral resource yet known to mankind. Scientists have found that these two distinguishing qualities of diamond are acquired “under extreme conditions: temperature of more than 1,200 degrees Centigrade and pressure of about 330,000kg per square inch. These happen at more than 90 miles under the ground and over a period of a billion years.”
As Nigeria attained the age of diamond as an independent country, it is arguable that it has acquired these qualities. Experts do not think so. And so do available current economic indices. The country’s political journey so far and the current situation paint a gloomy, work-in-progress picture. However, what obtains is cumulated successive bad leadership. We didn’t get to where we are overnight.
We are saddened that the country at 60 is beset by insecurity, poverty, unemployment and secession threats.
In the last few years, terrorists, bandits, gun-wielding herdsmen and kidnappers have killed at least 25,794 persons. More than 100,000 others have been killed by Boko Haram while 1.9m people have been displaced since the murderous insurgents kicked off in 2009 in North-East Nigeria.
Professor Banji Akintoye, a historian, noted that growth and development indices have been on the decline since 1960. Nigeria has overtaken India as the poverty capital of the world. About 80 million citizens now live below $1.90 or N700 per day.
Life expectancy is 55 years, the fifth worst in the world, compared with Nigeria’s 1960 peers like Cuba, 78 years; Singapore, 83 and Malaysia, 76.
Population is growing at three percent while economic growth is just about two percent. Electricity generation in the country is between 3,500 and 4,000MW; unemployment reached an all-time high of 23.10 percent in the third quarter of 2018, with a record of 13.5m out-of-school children. And the number is growing.
While Nigeria has basked in petro-dollars over the years, citizens of the oil-rich Niger- Delta have wailed ceaselessly of “the toxic legacy of 60 years of abundant oil” and that the region “is one of the most polluted spots on earth, and prospects of a turnaround only get worse as oil’s importance is fading fast.” At independence, there was healthy competition among the regions and a great promise of a rosy future. But the journey has been characterised by instability and relative peace.
There have been five attempts at constitution-making – 1960, 1963, 1979, 1993 and 1999. The sixth attempt, following agitations for a more perfect union, was a constitutional conference held during President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan’s administration (2011 – 2015).
But the agreed constitutional changes never became law.
And despite efforts by the 7th National Assembly, NASS, whose members traversed the length and breadth of Nigeria and came up with a review of the 1999 constitution, President Jonathan refused to accede to the bill. Today, Nigerians are sharply divided along ethnic lines. Old fault lines have opened up in greater fissures and with drums of hatred, disintegration and separation being heard loud and clear almost everywhere.
Even so, Nigeria’s leaders have struggled and are still doing so to put the country on the high pedestal in the committee of nations. Will the next decade be better? ThisNigeria believes that Nigeria can and should be more prosperous in the next decade. We align with the administration’s promises on October 1, to make Nigeria better and also engender national ethical rebirth. We expect the government to match words with action.
Government spokesman, Lai Mohammed, acknowledged the daunting task when he said: “Nigeria today faces a lot of challenges. But whatever situation the country has found itself in, things would have been much worse but for the deft management of resources, unprecedented fight against corruption, determined battle against insurgency and banditry as well as the abiding courage of Mr President in piloting the ship of state.”
Government said that “Nigeria today is not a failed state, but a nation that is courageously tackling its challenges and building a solid infrastructure that will serve as the basis for socio-economic development; laying the building blocks for industrial and technological development and building massive infrastructures in the areas of power, roads, bridges, rail, and by developing human capital.”
While we applaud government’s infrastructural initiatives, we believe that it can do more in terms of promoting unity, cohesion, ethnic harmony and spirit of belonging among the different nationalities that make up our nation.
Leaders like former President Olusegun Obasanjo; Nobel Laureate Professor Wole Soyinka, radical former governor of Kaduna State, Col Abubakar Dangiwa Umar, have alluded to lopsided appointments, widening ethnic restiveness and clannish disposition on the part of the current administration. Their observations should not be wantonly dismissed as we march on with hope to the next 60 years. As a leader with eyes on the legacy of his administration, we encourage President Buhari to work on this observed lapses.
We note that while the bad state of the country as painted by experts and world financial institutions can depress any true patriot, the situation is redeemable, given the nation’s abundant human resources. Nigerians should not be pessimistic about the country’s future. The young, progressive, and active citizens who will bring about change are abundant. Nigeria only needs national rebirth by returning to true federalism which it practised in the first republic. Government must work assiduously on sustainable development through resource diversification.
Political leaders must jettison going to Abuja at the end of every month to collect their share of the ‘oil booty.’ States’ chief executives must know that the sustenance and development of the states depend on resource diversification. Nigeria has such vast areas of fertile land, so it must revive agriculture. Our tourism facilities have been left to decay and other potentials left untapped; governors of states with vast solid mineral deposits, it would appear, are not interested in their exploitation or, if they were, couldn’t because the law says such minerals belong exclusively to the federal government. This is not acceptable. Governments at state levels should look inwards and be creative with resource generation. The law on mining should be reviewed to enable access and activities by other tiers of government instead of the current inactive state.
Issues that can easily be cured with true federalism should not be allowed to continue to provoke and heighten unsavoury action from the people as all calls for separation have been due to the extremity to which people have been pushed, more especially denial of opportunities and access to good life.
We support the government’s justification of the celebration, in so far as it would be the beginning of a new cycle of life. Thus, every Nigerian should be involved in all activities targeted at making the country greater and meeting the yearnings and aspirations of its citizens.
Congratulations to a nation on the march!
