Nigeria at 60: Together we can

Lawal Ogienagbon

 

TODAY, Nigeria is 60, an age which means the world to an individual. As a milestone, it is the age which marks a turning point in a person’s life. As a worker, a man retires from public service at that age, and on the other spectrum, he joins the Senior Citizens’ Club. At 60, a man is 10 years older than he was at 50, that golden age which he enthuses about but churns inwardly that he is getting old.

For a nation, just like an individual, 60 is not just a number to celebrate, it is an ideal time for retrospection to see how far one has come. For Nigeria, the journey has been rough, but it has remained a united entity. Little wonder that the theme for the yearlong celebration of the landmark is: Together shall we be. The nation’s unity was bought at the expense of the 1967-70 civil war.  As I type this on the night of September 25, the drums of disunity are being beating. The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) is still dreaming of a Biafra Republic over which the civil war was fought; while the Yoruba One Voice (YOV) has slated a Oduduwa Republic rally for today to coincide with the independence anniversary celebrations.

By now, the nation should have passed that stage. What should engage us as a people is how to make the nation great. Nigeria has a lot of potential. But its growth is not proportional to its potential. When in 1960, Nigeria gained independence from Britain, its people looked to the future with high hopes. The good things of life were expected to come with the freedom. The manner of independence does not matter. A nation does not need to go to war for its independence to cherish its liberty.

A nation is only respected if it can stand on its own. To do that, it should be able to husband its resources to make life meaningful for the citizenry. In its immediate area of influence in West Africa, Nigeria is seen as a giant. With its economic power, it deserves that honour, but unfortunately that does not rub off on its people. All over the country,  people live in abject poverty. They cannot fend for themselves nor send their children to good schools. Hospitals too are a write off. What about roads? Many are in a sorry state. These are issues the nation has lived with for years. They did not rear their ugly heads  yesterday. They predate the COVID-19 pandemic era in which the world now finds itself and which the government is using as an excuse for not discharging its obligations.

As far back as 1983 when the Buhari junta took over power, the coup announcer then, the late Sani Abacha, described teaching hospitals as “mere consulting clinics”. If anything has changed under the same Buhari now, 37 years after, the people are not feeling the impact. Those in government will deny this. Their denial notwithstanding, things are harder under the present administration than they were under previous administrations. The government may say it is not responsible for the rot and as it is wont to do, pass the buck to its immediate precursor, but it cannot run away from the fact that on its shoulder presently lies the arduous task of building the nation.

Yes, it cannot reinvent the wheel, and nobody expects it to do that, but what the people are saying is that it should not compound their woes, especially in this time of COVID-19. The nation  is turning 60 in an era when the world is topsyturvy because of Coronavirus, which has disrupted the largest of economies. In a time like this, countries should be more concerned about the wellbeing of their citizens and refrain from acts that will add to the people’s burden. Countries which place high premium on their people are doing just that. They have come up with stimulus packages for the people to ease their COVID-19 pains.

In Nigeria, the palliative the people are getting is an increase in electricity tariff and fuel price. What a palliative in the midst of people trying to survive the pangs of COVID-19! It is unbelievable that  the government took these measures at this time knowing the consequences of its action. On another front, some PayTV operators too are ripping off customers. DsTv and StarTimes have raised their subscription fees without consideration for what customers are going through under the prevailing economic circumstances.

Labour is spoiling for a showdown with government over the electricity and power rates’ hike. A planned nationwide strike over the issues was aborted in the early hours of Monday. Surely, the last has not been heard about the matter. Where will Nigeria be in the next 60 years? Will it still be a nation of potential or will it have realised its potential? Eventhough Rome was not built in a day, it did not take it donkey years to do so. Nigeria too does not need to attain the age of Methuselah before it becomes great. Happy anniversary, Nigeria.