Independence Day Celebration

Nigeria at 64: A country of possibilities still struggling

By Usman Muhammad Salihu and Muhammad Umar Shehu

As Nigeria celebrated its 64th independence anniversary a few weeks ago, it is essential to reflect on the nation’s potential and the persistent challenges that continue to hinder its progress. Despite being blessed with vast natural resources and a vibrant population of over 200 million people, Nigeria’s struggles have deepened rather than improved over the past year. From widespread poverty to increasing insecurity, the country’s path to growth remains uncertain unless urgent and substantial action is taken.

Poverty in Nigeria continues to be one of the most pressing challenges. A significant portion of the population, over 40%, still lives below the poverty line. As the cost of living soars and job opportunities remain scarce, millions of Nigerians find themselves trapped in cycles of deprivation. While government programs aimed at alleviating poverty have been implemented, the results have mainly been insufficient due to inefficiency, poor implementation, and corruption. 

The lack of job creation remains a critical concern. Despite having a young and dynamic population, many Nigerians face an uncertain future as there are not enough opportunities for them to contribute to the nation’s economic growth. The high unemployment rate, particularly among the youth, exacerbates feelings of hopelessness, contributing to social unrest.

Corruption continues to plague every sector of Nigerian society, from the public to the private sector. It has been described as a systemic problem deeply embedded in the fabric of governance, politics, and even business practices. Public funds for infrastructure development, healthcare, education, and poverty alleviation are often diverted for personal gain, leaving the masses to suffer.

Though active in many areas, the fight against corruption has proven ineffective in bringing about substantial reform. The long-standing lack of political will and the entrenchment of corrupt practices ensure that those in power remain immune from real accountability. Until corruption is thoroughly tackled, Nigeria’s progress will continue to be hampered.

One of the most alarming issues Nigeria faces today is the increasing insecurity. What began as localised conflicts in specific regions has evolved into nationwide terror. Terrorist groups, bandits, and separatist movements are now operating with impunity across the country. The rise in violent crimes, abductions, and ethnic clashes has not only resulted in loss of lives but has also displaced millions, further straining the nation’s resources.

Investors remain wary of Nigeria’s unstable environment, while everyday Nigerians are forced to live in fear. Insecurity has undoubtedly slowed economic activity, as businesses are reluctant to set up or expand in areas prone to violence. The government’s inability to secure the nation and protect its citizens is a glaring failure that demands urgent attention.

The educational sector, too, is still struggling. Though the government has made some efforts to reform education, such initiatives have not yielded the desired results. The country’s education system remains underfunded and ill-equipped to handle the growing demands of a population that values knowledge and skills as the gateway to prosperity.

A critical shortage of teachers, infrastructure, and learning materials leaves millions of children and young adults without access to quality education. Many Nigerian students are forced to attend overcrowded classrooms, while those in rural areas often lack basic educational resources. The result is a generation of young people who are ill-prepared to face the challenges of the modern world.

Unemployment remains at an all-time high. The nation’s reliance on oil as its primary source of revenue has left it vulnerable to global price fluctuations, causing economic instability. Additionally, the lack of diversification into other sectors, such as agriculture, manufacturing, and technology, limits job creation.

Without a comprehensive economic overhaul focusing on sustainable development and the growth of non-oil sectors, Nigeria’s economy will continue to stagnate. The country must invest in infrastructure, create an environment that nurtures entrepreneurship, and promote policies that stimulate job creation.

The question is not whether Nigeria has the potential to be great but whether its leaders can rise to the occasion and make the necessary changes to unlock that potential. There is no shortage of resources in the country—natural, human, or financial. What is lacking is effective governance, transparency, and leadership that prioritises the needs of the people over personal gain.

The Nigerian government must take decisive action to address poverty, reduce corruption, enhance security, and overhaul the education system. Citizens, civil society organisations, and the private sector must also play their part by demanding accountability, fostering innovation, and supporting initiatives that contribute to national development.

At 64, Nigeria remains a land of possibilities. However, unless these challenges are addressed, the country will continue to suffer, and the future will remain uncertain. It is time for bold steps and concrete reforms to secure the next generation’s prosperous and peaceful future.

Usman Muhammad Salihu was among the pioneer cohorts of the PRNigeria Young Communication Fellowship, along with Muhammad Umar Shehu. They can be reached at muhammadu5363@gmail.com.

Nigeria at 63, what are we celebrating? 

By Usman Zubairu Yakubu

On a day like this in 1960, Nigeria gained independence from Great Britain. But the question today is, is Nigeria an independent nation? I think the first and only Nigerian prime minister, Alhaji Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, during the 1960 independence speech, answered this question. He said, “Political independence is totally inadequate if it’s not accompanied by security and economic stability”.

From the above-quoted speech, I think that Nigeria’s independence is inadequate. For this reason, we must all put hands on deck to ensure we build a prosperous Nation that will fill the missing inadequacies. A safe country for all. This is our responsibility, my responsibility and your responsibility.

The decreasing numbers of celebrants on this day show that things are not working well in the country and that the drivers of the nation are not doing the necessary to bring back hope into the hearts of Nigerians. Many Nigerians have lost hope in the country; this may arise from the ugly condition of almost everything. They feel hopeless not because they don’t love the country but because the leaders made them feel that way. We may tag that as unfortunate, but the truth is always bitter, and that doesn’t make them less Nigerians because they have their reasons to feel so. The optimistic ones who believe that Nigeria will one day get better are only trying to be stronger. Count me among them; I hope the leaders will not kill our little hope for the country and its future.

Many things have happened in less than a year of Tinibus Administration. First, the subsidy removal imposed a lot of hardships on Nigerians. Second, Economic destruction left millions of Nigerians in abject poverty and the bedevilling issues of insecurities affecting the country, especially the Northern region of the country. And by mere looks, things are only getting worse, not better. The current abduction of the Federal University Gusau students is an alarming sign of left dust that needs to be cleaned. This is to talk less of the economic hardship Nigerians are going through.

In a situation like this, independent celebration shouldn’t be the focus of any sensible Nigerian. On every blessed day in the country, Bandits kidnapped people, some killed, and some thrown out of their homes. Many Of the victims were left homeless. Go to the streets of Katsina, Zamfara and Borno to have a glance. Is this what we are celebrating? I believe independence under insecurity, corruption and poverty shouldn’t be celebrated. Until these issues are addressed, we will celebrate Nigeria’s independence with true love and patriotism. But at the moment, we don’t have the energy to celebrate.  

In a country where over 40% are living in abject poverty. And 63% are dimensionally poor as of 2022. This is before subsidy removal; how many per cent will now be in poverty as the economy shakes? Tell me, should we celebrate poverty? Or should we celebrate insecurity at the moment? Unfortunately, the future of Nigeria is gloomy as its youth remains jobless. Should we celebrate unemployment? In a country where justice is abolished, is that one country to celebrate? In a country where tertiary education is on the verge of becoming a privilege and not a right, please tell me, should we celebrate that country? In a country where the leaders don’t care about the educational future of its citizens, is that one country to celebrate? In a country where a man can’t afford healthcare, food, and life necessities, is that a country to celebrate now? Nigeria’s problem is far beyond what one can imagine. At this moment, celebration is not for us but rather a critical way of thinking about building a prosperous nation because it’s possible.

But despite all the challenges, I  believe Nigeria shall prosper, and we will live in a country devoid of insecurity, corruption and abject poverty. We will live in a peaceful nation of economic prosperity educational rights, and a country that will stand on its feet as the Giant of Africa. May God bless Nigeria!

Happy independence.

Usman Zubairu Yakubu writes from Toro, Bauchi state, Nigeria and can be reached via usmanzubairuyakubu@gmail.com.

What independence do we celebrate?

By Muhammad Mubarak Ibrahim Lawan

I still wonder about the “independence” that people celebrate on Social Media. Are we independent? Anyway, that’s a topic for Postcolonial theorists. However, I pity the barely Nigeria-educated boys and girls who blocked our roads yesterday shouting with fanfare about that “Independence”. Are they celebrating the blessed geographical entity called Nigeria or the non-working national system that was poorly set on the landmass exactly 61 years ago?

I for one find no reason to celebrate these years of bloodletting, corruption, political prostitution, misgovernance and economic mismanagement that destroy education, healthcare, transportation and hope. To respond to some commenters, I do not I receive “free education” from “Nigeria” nor pay very low tax. We all receive the education we pay for and also pay the tax that is barely seen in government’s projects.

We all pay school fees. One may argue that it is low compared to what is paid in other countries. However, the quality education that students receive in those countries is commensurate with what they pay. Here, we pay less money and get less, poor education. I believe he is sick in the head whoever thinks that parents should pay huge amount of money to enroll their children into the highly dilapidated public schools that have no toilets, no seats, no chalkboard let alone marker board; no teachers, no laboratories, no security and any academic aura.

Similarly, do we get electricity, roads, hospitals, schools, etc, from the little tax we pay? What we pay is even bigger than the little they give in return. Whatever subsidy that a government puts in place to ease the life of citizens does not exist in Nigeria. Yet some people tell you that Nigeria is the best country to live in. I pray may God heal their hearts!

The Peace and Unity that end our National Anthem are never true to the nation today. No region is peaceful or united from within let alone with other regions around. Everyday dozens of people die like fowls; tens are kidnapped and billions of Naira are embezzled and misappropriated. Still we lie to ourselves about the nation and even celebrate it’s “independence” day.

What is it to celebrate in Katsina, Zamfara, Niger, Kaduna, Borno and other places where thousands of women are made widows and their children orphans, still, running into thousands in IDPs? As such, is the celebration not a betrayal of our humanity? Are we truly celebrating this independence that equips bandits, kidnappers and other terrorists with more state-of-the-art weapons than the Nigeria Army?

We are not well-meaning Nigerians by mere celebrating independence day and sharing the “un-presidential” speech of the president who has been cocooned from the real world for years. Poor opportunists! We are not well-meaning Nigerians until we share the tragedy of every Nigerian. Similarly, we could only be Nigerians by fighting injustice, misgovernance and insecurity in every possible way.

Mubarak Ibrahim Lawan is a socio-political analyst. He writes from Kano, Nigeria.

Nigeria @ 61: I will not celebrate sickness

By Aliyu Nuhu

At 61 years of age the only progress Nigeria made is in population growth, something that is not properly managed. It jumps from 36 million people formerly, we are now approximately 200 million. A clear case of quantity without quality.

What do we have to celebrate while Nigeria today is in company of Somalia, DRC, Sudan, Zimbabwe, Afghanistan, Niger, Iraq, Pakistan and host of other failed states in terms of development?

According to UNICEF about 20 million Nigerian children are not attending primary school, about 6 million that are attending will still come out illiterate due to poor quality of teaching. The worst is that the government pretends that all is well and is doing nothing about it. Almajiri system of education is still in practice and not properly managed. It is one of the indicators that Nigeria is not serious about its future.

Another tragedy is that, around 80 million Nigerians are unemployed, in fact about 98% of Nigerian youths are all without job or any form of social and economic engagement. Suddenly, Covid-19 came and made matters worse as more people are losing their means of livelihood. Banditry and kidnapping have chased people away from their farmlands.

Nigeria is without electricity, roads, railways, good airports, clean water and sanitation, public toilets and all other critical social and economic infrastructures.

The government naively claimed that the economy is growing forgetting the relationship between economic growth and job creation. How can growth be justified with 80 million unemployed citizens? How can growth be justified with 3000mw of electricity? That is far below what South Africa generates from renewable energy. According to the Ministry of Energy, South Africa’s total domestic electricity generation capacity is 51,309 megawatts. About 91.2%, or 46,776 MW comes from thermal power stations, while 4,533 MW or 8.8%, is generated from renewable energy sources.

How can growth be justified with industries failing, the entire Northern Nigeria is without viable industry! All the critical sectors that make a nation strong are either absent in Nigeria or in shambles. The chemical, commercial, communication, manufacturing sectors, dams, defense, emergency services, energy, banking and other financial services, food and agriculture, health care, information technology, nuclear reactor, material and wastes management, transport and waterways, all and sundry are either not working or completely corrupt and dubious.

Don’t roll the drum to celebrate, as a matter of fact we should remain in our houses and mourn our collective failure as a nation.

The Mo Ibrahim foundation just placed us among the 10 worst governed countries in Africa. The Economic intelligence Unit (of the London Economist) placed us among the world’s failed nations. And these institutions are not the opposition, it is not PDP that is giving this grim picture of our country.

It is easy for Nigerians to rise and say we are not a failed state, but going by the definition of state failure, a nation that fails to discharge its obligation to its citizens, is indeed heading to the direction of a failed state.

Everyone knows Nigeria cannot provide basic security to its citizens. We have hundreds of thousands of people displaced by insecurity. This is the kind of story associated with state failure because the state, after failing to secure lives, will also not be able to bring the criminals to justice.

We are never worse in terms of security, people are killed daily in our cities. They are kidnapped and attacked in their homes. Corruption has never been worse, yet the courts have simply joined the thieves. In Nigeria today, nobody gets jailed for corruption.

To me there is no need to celebrate, we should all put our hands on our heads and cry. Our leaders, both past and present should bury their heads in shame for bringing our country to its knees.

Nigeria is also practically not good for the poor and vulnerable. If you can’t get plum government appointment, just be rich.The rich are allowed to claim fuel subsidy, evade tax, have import duties, manipulate commodity prices, bet on stocks with privileged information they get from golf clubs. The equivalent of all these or even less, when done by the poor, is called stealing. And the poor also had their bad ways as well. Leaders looting by example while followers learning by instinct.

Nigeria allows great deal of latitude to the rich. The courts are even scared of them. This is our way of making up to them for creating a society in which everything can be done for money, while nothing is worth having at all.

I can only say happy independence to the Nigerian rich, they, along with our leaders, help in ruining this nation. They are now reaping the fruits of their labour. As things get so bad, there is no peace for them to enjoy their wealth. They are an endangered species on the highway. Kidnappers are looking for them the way hunters look for antelope. At home there is no peace. Even behind heavily fortified walls, they sleep with open eyes. It will continue to degenerate because peace exists only in a society that has shared prosperity among its people.

Sadly again, Nigeria is the most badly governed and mismanaged nation on earth. Most poor and backward countries owe their present condition to war, natural disasters, geography and size, but it is not the same with Nigeria. It is its people in the hierarchy of the leaders, the rich and the poor masses.

Vietnam was in a state of war for 20 years. Korea was at war for three years. Today they are developed economies.

Nigeria only witnessed civil war for three years and remained in peace for the best part of its 61 years existence, earning about $1 trillion from sale of oil. Yet with all that money it achieved nothing in terms of development. Most of it has been shamelessly mismanaged or stolen!Today Nigeria is 61 years old. Here are some reasons for sober reflection and adjustments by our leaders.

1. In 1960 Nigeria has only 2 universities. Today it has 40 federal universities, 40 state universities and 61 private universities. However its people have to run to Ghana, a country with only 9 universities to study. The reason is because the 141 universities in Nigeria are below international standard due to corruption, mismanagement and neglect. The country, according to UNICEF has 10.5 million children outside primary school. It means in 20 years, about 30% Nigerians will not be able to secure employment as security men, because the job will require basic literacy as qualification. Public primary and secondary education system has collapsed in Nigeria. Parents spend their earnings to educate their children. This goes to say adding weight is not equal to good health.

2. Twenty years ago India has the largest number of pure scientists in the world but it was considered a poor country compared to China because the number of scientists did not transform India into net exporter of goods and services. It was until India changed its ways and started producing technicians like China that it began manufacturing goods and earned the respect of the world. Numbers matter but vision matters most. The Indians were not seeing the world as the Chinese. Like India and China, Nigeria has abundant human and intellectual capital which have been wasted by neglect due to poor attention to education. And because of that our numbers produce nothing. In this age with our size we cannot produce needles, toys and bicycles. These are simple products that don’t require rocket science.

3. Today we have 193,600kms federal highway. Out of that length, only 28,200 kms are paved in the whole 60 years of the country’s existence. The paved highways are death traps killing hundreds of people daily. Meanwhile in 1960 Nigeria had 8,800km of paved federal highways in relatively good condition. The increase in the length without quality today does not translate to progress. Nigeria is considered the worst country among it’s neighbors in terms of road infrastructure. Quality matters more than numbers.

4. In 1960 Nigeria had 118 mission hospitals, and 101 government hospitals. Today it has 22 Federal Medical Centers, 23 giant teaching hospitals, about 46,000 state owned hospitals/health centers and hundreds of thousands private hospitals, clinics and dispensaries. But Nigerians run to Ghana to treat skin infection and UK to treat ear infections! For most heart and brain surgeries we have to go to India or Egypt. Some of us go to Niger and other neighbouring countries!

5. In 1841 Britain and Wales had a population of 15 million people. However Great Britain virtually held the entire world by the jugular, colonising all and every important nation and defining their destiny. Dynamites come in small sizes.

6. Today the US has a population of 325 million people but controls and sets standards for the world with a population of 8 billion. By contrast Nigeria has a population of 182m and military of 400,000 strength but is overwhelmed by a rag tag Boko Haram with a strength of 16,000 followers or even less.

7. Nigeria has 91 million hectares of arable land of which it is able to cultivate only 42% of it using crude and simple tools. Industrial scale holding is nonexistent in Nigeria. Despite being able to produce large quantities of rice, beans, sesame, cashew, cassava, cocoa beans, groundnuts, gum arabic, kolanut, maize (corn), melon, millet, palm kernels, palm oil, plantains, rice, rubber, sorghum, soybeans, bananas and yam; Nigeria is not a net exporter of agricultural products and it imports food to feed its population. FOA report put Nigeria slightly ahead of Niger, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Burkina Fasso and Sierra Leone in food security. Today Nigeria is facing food crisis due to inflation. Most households cannot feed. Those barely eat, eat poisonous, damaged or expired foodstuffs.

It is not how old you are but how well you are. It’s not your numbers that matter but the quality. I feel we have nothing to celebrate. Let’s not be a bunch of jokers!

Aliyu Nuhu, a public commentator, writes from Abuja, Nigeria.