Nigeria has existed as a united nation for well over a century (i.e. 1914 – 2019). The country is endowed with both natural and human resources, some of which include different minerals like limestone, tin ore, columbite, gold, iron ore marble, granite, coal, salt, lignite, glass sands, clay, bitumen, petroleum and gas , etc.; good soils, good climate, different kinds of vegetation, many ethnic groups and many intelligent people. With the aforementioned resources which God has given our country, she could be described as a land flowing with milk and honey.
Before independence on October 1, 1960, Nigerians from different walks of life teamed up to agitate for her independence from colonial masters. As soon as we got what we wanted, we started to fight with one another on how to share the National Cake. The fight among our political leaders led to military rule from January 15, 1966 to September 30, 1979 and again between December 31, 1983 and May 29, 1999. The military that came to power was not better than the civilian government because the men in khaki are also Nigerians. The warring for supremacy among the men in khaki led to an internecine civil war which lasted 30 months.
Nigeria is now 59 years old as an independent country since the first day of October, 2019. Regrettably, Nigeria at 59 is still crawling like a baby. She is now faced with many problems. And the causes of the numerous problems are, among others, traceable to ethnicity, insecurity, bribery and different forms of corruption, theft in different forms, killing of innocent people, drug trafficking, secret societies, kidnapping and failure to invest in the years of oil boom. Having failed in many aspects of our life as a nation for the past 59 years, it is high time we decided to move forward and become one of the great nations of the world.
In our march forward to attain greatness, let us resolve to have the fear of God, ask for the forgiveness of our sins, worship God in humility and turn away from our evil ways for the healing of Nigeria; love one another genuinely, love our country passionately; diversity our economy by making use of our good soils, vegetation and climate to embark on aggressive agriculture in the short- run and establish agro –based industries to create jobs particularly for the teeming population of our youths.
We should decentralize the generation and distribution of electricity in the country for rapid industrial development; shun all forms of corruption; make partisan politics less attractive monetarily to ensure that the remunerations we offer participants in the Executive and Legislative Arms of Government do not cause any calculable damage to the Nigerian economy.
In spite of Nigeria’s obstacles to progress, the country can still thrive. We are now in the twenty-first century. Nigeria should, like many nations in the world, struggle to enter the new century. As I have outlined in the opening paragraph of this article, Nigeria has the human capital at her disposal. We should now make use of it to make the country’s Economic Miracle possible.
There are some Nigerians who have made money from the lifting of oil and politics. Instead of saving their money in foreign banks, they should invest such money in Nigeria and boost the economy of this country for the overall benefit of all Nigerians.
Deacon Dapo Omotoso,
Ado –Ekiti.