Nigeria @ 64

Last year when Nigeria marked its 63rd independence anniversary, this column ran a piece painting a gloomy picture of our situation as a nation. Tuesday was yet another anniversary, and nothing has changed. I reproduce below the 63rd-anniversary tribute to also mark this year’s Independence Day. To my fellow countrymen and women, especially those finding it extremely difficult to meet their basic needs because of the harsh economic policies, I say, happy Independence in an era of Renewed Shege!

Perhaps because we have suspended the teaching of history in our schools and since about 70 per cent of the nation’s population is under 30, we need to remind them that on October 1, 1960, Nigeria gained independence from British colonialism.

Even though yet another anniversary of this freedom will be celebrated three days from today, the nation’s current state raises questions about the relevance of celebrating this milestone.

In a commendable move, the federal government has opted for a low-key celebration for the 63rd independence anniversary. This decision aligns with the prevailing sentiment among many Nigerians. Why should we celebrate when the majority of our citizens struggle to survive due to the crippling economic challenges exacerbated by ineffective leadership spanning successive administrations and made worse by the current administration?

Seemingly intractable challenges

Over six decades after gaining independence, Nigeria still grapples with fundamental issues that were being addressed by early post-independence leaders before military rule intervened. Ironically, even during periods of military governance, the situation was not as dire as it is today. Corruption, unemployment, poverty, and skyrocketing prices of essential commodities have left us pondering whether we’ve regressed rather than progressed. As a matter of fact, most Nigerians believe, and maybe rightly so, that the nation is in a reverse gear.

Consider the depreciation of our currency, the Naira, against the US Dollar compared to the 1980s. The alarming gap and the fact that the nation is heavily dependent on income in a dollar-controlled market speak volumes about today’s economic challenges.

Nigeria, an oil-rich nation, lacks a functional refinery and exports crude oil while importing refined products, weakening the Naira further. Despite abundant arable land, the country struggles to feed its citizens, relying heavily on food imports.

Shockingly, in 2022 alone, Nigeria spent a staggering N1.9 trillion on food imports, a five per cent increase from the previous year. Over six years, the nation accumulated a food import bill exceeding N7 trillion. This has exposed serious doubt about the nation’s ability to achieve sustainable food security and eradicate hunger, a fundamental goal of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2030.

The food crisis intertwines with the escalating rate of unemployment and poverty, contributing significantly to the worsening insecurity. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, over 130 million

Nigerians are living in multi-dimensional poverty, with 63 per cent of the population, primarily in rural areas, trapped in extreme poverty. More than 20 million of these individuals are facing severe hunger, according to the World Food Programme.

That a resource-rich nation with arable land suitable for the cultivation of different food and cash crops is facing an existential threat posed by hunger no doubt defies logic. But that is the story of Nigeria, where prolonged activities of terrorists and sustained farmers-herders clashes are having a telling impact on food production 63 years after independence.

Unfortunately, nothing suggests that we are any closer to finding a solution to the nation’s myriad challenges.

Nothing to celebrate
How can we be talking about an independence anniversary celebration when, after sixty-three years, we have an intolerably high number of children of school age outside the four walls of the classroom? At the last count, we had no fewer than 15 million such children, with a regional/geopolitical breakdown as follows: North West (8.33 million); North East (3.72 million); North Central (1.81 million); South-South (700,000); South East (390,000) and South West (1.19 million).

A nation whose leadership has made life undeservedly harsh for the youths, so much so that japa (emigration) has become the norm, with the youths leaving the country in droves because of mounting unemployment and poverty, which have made it impossible for them to realise their full potential, has no business celebrating independence.

We cannot be commemorating the independence anniversary with fanfare when the government has failed woefully, or better still, outrightly refused to combat terrorism. Terrorists kill, attack and displace communities, rape and abduct residents, and insist on being paid ransom with an audacity that leaves one wondering if we are not in a banana republic. As I write this, some students of Federal University Gusau in Zamfara, one of the states that have been bearing the worst brunt of insecurity, are being held by these terror elements.

The challenges are multi-faceted and not limited to the education system, healthcare, infrastructure, and the alarming rise in insecurity. The nation grapples with terrorism, crude oil theft, and economic sabotage in the face of monumental corruption in high places, all of which continue to undermine our economy.

Existential threats?

Times like these remind one of the existential threats staring us as a people and test our faith no matter how incurably optimistic one strives to be

Only time will tell if the present administration will provide the renewed hope the nation desperately needs. But that, in all modesty, is doubtful.

In the face of these daunting challenges, it is hard to justify celebrating independence when millions of school-age children remain outside classrooms, when terrorism ravages communities, and when corruption festers unabated.