October 1st of every year is a notable day on which Nigeria celebrates its independence. Last week, Nigeria clocked 54, but it is quite unfortunate that despite the rebasing of the country’s economy, its acclaimed development has not reflected in the lives of most Nigerians. The economy is still in the doldrums.
When Britain colonial administrators lowered the union jack in Lagos on October 1st, 1960, Nigeria was Africa’s hope of economic transformation. But despite our vast wealth, the nation has continued to struggle to provide basic necessities for its citizenry.
Before now, many Nigerians were battling with epileptic power supply but now that the sector has been sold to the private sector, the situation has worsened.
In 1999, when President Obasanjo came to power, the citizens were told that with the massive investment in building generating plants, Nigeria by 2003 would have at least 10,000 megawatts installed capacity. Eleven years down the line, the available power some months back was 2,400 megawatts. Several billions of dollars have been spent, lots of new generating plants built and commissioned, old ones renovated with billions of dollars but today, the situation remains the same.
Meanwhile, the missing NNPC $20billion dollars which roughly translated to $3.2 trillion using N160 as the exchange rate will not only revamp and restore our four comatose refineries to full production capacity, it could build more additional ones, going by a $4.5 billion deal Nigeria struck with a US-based firm in 2012 to build six refineries.
Countries like China and Malaysia, which have ingeniously translated their countries from hitherto shackles of poverty to world-class developed cities detest corruption because it retarded their development and threatened their survival and sustainability. But here in Nigeria, corruption has really eaten deep into the Nigerian system. Fifty-four years down the line, we celebrate independence and other anniversaries with absolute impunity.
The country’s resources were mismanaged as less than 15 out of about 460 forest reserves are effectively functioning. The question is what happened to others? Many Nigerians now struggle to get their civic rights because the government could not provide the wherewithal.
Employment, which should be based on merit, is now hijacked and manipulated by politicians. This, to some extent, has denied the less privileged or the average Nigerians who do not have people at the top, the opportunity of getting jobs in the country.
For instance, the last Nigeria Immigration Service {NIS} employment scheme which claimed about 19 lives and left many injured revealed that millions of Nigerian youths are jobless, an ugly situation which calls for urgent attention of the government. It is very disheartening that job seekers were asked to pay certain amounts for government jobs, which do not even guarantee automatic employment.
Youths in the country that constitute 65-70% of the population are excluded from decision making and not allowed to make any input in laws or policies that concern their future. Yet, they are regarded as the future of the nation.
Insecurity and insurgency are other cankerworms that have eaten deep into the fabric the country. Innocent souls, especially students’ lives were claimed and many properties destroyed by the so called ‘Boko Haram’ and Fulani herdsmen, yet no lasting solution has been proffered to cushion the menace which has put Nigerians in captivity.
Incessant ASUU and ASUP strikes and fuel scarcity as a result of the government not fulfilling the promises made to the unions, fuel subsidy removal issue and pipelines vandalisation are no more news but national anthems that secondary school students and primary school pupils recite on the assembly ground every morning.
Perpetrators of evil operate with impunity, because there are highly placed Nigerians who finance their operations with millions of naira. It seems that the only thing for us to do at the moment is to keep hoping for a messiah to emerge and save the country before it falls apart.

Celebrating independence in a static economy