Nigeria at 62

NIGERIA has clocked 62 as a country, with most of its population suffering from unfulfilled aspirations. The country is besieged by poverty, extreme inequality, insecurity, high and rising youth unemployment and huge infrastructure deficit. Many Nigerians question the achievements of the country after 62 years.

At independence in 1960, Nigeria was one of the most promising new states that came out of colonial rule in Africa. Indeed, it was described as the African giant. During the first few years shortly before and after independence, it broke new grounds. The economy, which previously relied on the exportation of agricultural produce, began to benefit from the exportation of crude oil. The economy grew rapidly, education was progressively expanded at all levels, and roads and communication networks were constructed far beyond what was inherited from colonial rule. Hydroelectric dams and secondary industries and automobile assembly plants were built. But these did not ward off political crisis.

By 1966, democracy was toppled in a bloody coup by the military and military rule led to a 30-month civil war. The oil boom in the 1970s helped Nigeria to recover rapidly from its civil war and carry out rapid industrialisation. Many manufacturing industries sprang up and the economy experienced rapid growth of about 8 percent per year that made Nigeria by 1980 the largest economy in Africa. The growth, however, was not sustained. The country experienced food shortages in the 1970s and 1980s, which necessitated the importation of food. Poverty became widespread. Nigerians now live under the collapse of even basic infrastructure and social services. Nigeria’s debts have continued to mount. Like in the 1980s, external borrowing and subsidies on gasoline prices feature in every debate about the precarious economy and its lack of diversification to sustain development. Tensions over the skewed appointments that characterised President Muhammadu Buhari’s government, banditry, kidnapping and oil theft have continued to fuel discontent and cast a dark cloud over the independence celebrations.

There is urgent need to move the country away from the precipice, driving it towards unity, security and stability. As Vice President Yemi Osinbajo noted during the Public Lecture on National Unity at the State House Conference Hall to mark the 62nd independence anniversary celebrations, to build a successful society and nation, there must be a deliberate effort by the elite to create unity, with equity, justice, the rule of law and accountability as components. However, Nigeria’s elite have failed to take up this responsibility. Rather than sacrifice on behalf of the communities that make up Nigeria, they have embarked on primitive accumulation of wealth. They have preyed on the resources of the state for individual profit and aggrandizement. They have instituted predatory governance at every level. They have driven the Nigerian vehicle to the precipice. This visionless leadership that the country has been saddled with for most of its independent existence must change. It did not have to be that way in the past. It does not have to continue that way.

We believe that it is not too late to rethink the situation. The Nigerian elite, especially its political, economic and intellectual leadership, must raise the country from its fall. They must re-strategise and return the country to the path of growth and development. The Independence Day anniversary provides an opportunity for Nigerians in governments and other leadership positions to reflect on the unenviable and precarious state of their country and begin to work to change the narrative and herald a return to progress, away from the dog-eat-dog, cake-sharing competition and predatory approach to governance. The requirements are not prohibitive or unattainable.

A big and multi-ethnic federation like Nigeria ought to rest on a decentralised design that enables the constituent units to compete around productive activities. The structure of the federation should enable the harnessing of the varying potentials of the constituent units in the various sectors based on the rule of law, equity and justice, value for hard work, and innovations which are the true basis of development. This is the concrete change of perspective and perception that should guide reflection as Nigeria moves on from the celebration of its 62 years of independence.