Nigeria at 54, How Independent are we?

I woke up this morning, to be greeted by darkness. ‘But today is the 1st of October, the acclaimed day of Nigeria’s Independence,’ I thought to myself. This silent and rhetorical question popped up in my mind- ‘how independent are we?’

My mind flashed back to the days of growing up as a lad. I recalled counting the number of days of uninterrupted power many years ago. And my memory served me right- it was straight 6 days. And when it was interrupted, it was restored in less than 2 hours for another uninterrupted journey of 5 days- this continued for a while.

Today, that trend has gone into the ‘trashmill’. And I keep wondering if we would ever have 5 straight days of power without interruption again. Obviously, our power supply system falls short of what we can term ‘independent’.

Many years ago while growing up in the outskirts of Surulere, Lagos, I remember a construction company (name withheld) digging every street to lay huge water pipes, in the name of providing us with portable drinking water.

It is difficult today to pass through a street in Lagos without coming across at least two buildings with borehole water, no matter how short the street is. Our water resources still fall short of what can be termed ‘independent’.

Several years ago, graduates from Nigerian universities ranked among the best in the world- they even had jobs waiting for them before completing their youths’ service. At least, I can point to Achebe, Soyinka, Emeagwali, Clark, Obadan, Iyoha, Agbadudu, Okhuonofua, and many more that you know (please add). Unfortunately, that story can no more be found in our archive- most of our graduates today can’t even speak good English, let alone write a formal letter. And those who can, will walk the streets, in black pairs of trousers that have turned brown, in search of jobs that are not available.

Independence, in the context of our educational system seems to mean every government official having their own private educational institution as we see today. And very soon, a three-bedroom apartment will be used as a university campus.

I was taught in school that agriculture used to be the mainstay of the Nigerian economy until the discovery of the black gold (crude oil) in the mid-twentieth century. As a result of that discovery, our groundnut pyramids disappeared; our oil palm plantations was taken away by another country- and oil palm is the mainstay of that country’s economy today. Unfortunately, many young Nigerians have made that country their destination for ‘greener pastures’.

I fall short of words to describe our agricultural sector, knowing that our country is blessed with fertile lands.

A serving governor described one of our political parties as being mainly in pursuit of stomach infrastructure. The leader of that party responded soon after that stomach infrastructure means putting foods on the table of the average Nigerian. Yet, a bag of rice is sold for N10,000.00 ($62.50). How many households can afford this on a minimum wage of N18,000.00 ($3.75/day)? We truly are independent!

Every sector of our economy is flawed- politics, education, communication, business, arts etc. ‘The promise of building good roads’ has become a common campaign slogan on the lips of our political aspirants- things that are supposed to be a normal part of our everyday living.

It is not the Nigerian nation that is independent; it is the poor man, who provides almost everything for himself:

   -We provide our own power- 
    Generators;
   -We provide our own healthcare-
    Quacks;
   -We provide our own education-
    Private Schools;
   -We provide our own water-
    Boreholes;
   -We provide our own security-
    Vigilantes...

If it were possible, we would have provided our own roads.

Nigeria is a cap wide enough, but lacks the head big enough to wear her!

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY NIGERIA!

©Mondayspeaks