Today, Tuesday, October 1, 2024, is the 64th anniversary of Nigeria’s flag independence. Unlike in the past when this day was marked with pomp and pageantry in government circles, schools and the various local communities throughout this beautiful federation, we are likely to witness low key activities.
There is very little to celebrate except, perhaps, the fact that Nigeria has remained standing in the same form and shape that it was when the British colonial masters lowered their Union Jack national flag and gave way to our own sublime Green-White-Green.
Despite a 30-month Civil War, several military takeovers of power, countless aborted coups, armed struggles for internal self-determination, terrorism, banditry, multiple insurgencies and invasions of indigenous communities by land-grabbing armed herdsmen from all parts of Africa, Nigeria remains on her feet.
Questions have been asked as to why a beautiful idea like Nigeria, with some of the greatest quanta of human and natural potentials at our fingertips, is unable to “ignite”? A country with the greatest quota of resources in Africa and the Black World is unable to select the best from among them to lead. Why do the most questionable and discredited among the citizens find it so easy to emerge as leaders while the best only thrive in foreign lands whenever given the opportunity?
Because of this factor, Nigeria’s march to greatness was halted shortly after our independence and the horse-kick of oil boom of the middle 1970s. Since 1982, the country has been experiencing a free-fall to this point when the fabric of our nation is infested with armed criminals levying insecurity and hunger on our hapless populations, with our armed forces seemingly unable to do much. A country that, at independence, was ranked in terms of prospects along with China, Brazil, South Africa, Singapore, Korea and others, is now dubbed “the poverty capital of the world”!
Why has Nigeria continued to survive through all these buffetings by the whirlwind of disunity? Some say it is because the country is held together by force through the impulsive deployment of state agencies of coercion to prevent disintegration. While that may be a factor, we believe that Nigeria’s resilience lies more in the love of the country by its various peoples, even by its most disillusioned sections. Nigerians have come a long way, and they find it difficult to contemplate anything else better than what we already have.
All we need is a good leader, but are we ready to pay the price? Are we willing to overcome our ethnic, religious, regional and cultural differences to forge a united nation? That is all it takes. We must never give up. Our time to sing for joy shall come. Nigeria can still spring a surprise!
However, time is running out.
END
Be the first to comment