AT 65, NIGERIA STILL WAITING FOR BIRTH PAINS TO END

By Kumshin, Joel ASHINNAN
01-10-2025

Today marks the 65th anniversary of Nigeria’s independence from British Colonial rule. Nigeria like many other African countries was a colony of Britain, until it gained its independence as a sovereign state on October 1st, 1960. This day is Set aside yearly to celebrate the independence of Nigeria and to look back reflecting on how much has been achieved.

Looking critically at the present situation of things in the country, one has to wonder is there really any cause for celebration? Things don’t seem to be getting better, in fact, they maybe getting worse, hence I see no need for celebration. I say this not because I hate the celebration of such a milestone in the life of our dear country Nigeria.  I opted for zero celebration because there is indeed nothing to celebrate at all .
Why should Nigerians celebrate when we are fighting insurgency in Northeast, Northwest and middle belt region?
Why should Nigerians celebrate when the abducted Chibok girls are not yet found?
Why should Nigerians celebrate when Bandits are terrorising every part of the country?
Why should Nigerians celebrate when we have many Separatist agitations groups in our midst?
Why should Nigerians celebrate when Kidnappers and arm rubbers are holding the citizenry to Ransom?
Why should we celebrate when we still recycling Leaders?
Why should Nigerians celebrate when our leaders don’t have faith in our Health and Education sectors?
When they are sick, they go abroad or send their Children schooling abroad because they refused to invest in our indigenous Health and learning institutions.
Why should Nigerians celebrate when political appointment is given base on friendship, religion and ethnicity?
Why should we celebrate when we cannot define who is a Nigerian citizen?

There are so many reasons to why I think this year anniversary should be postponed indefinitely until we get our act right.
This is a matter of deep regret that Nigeria has
squandered it’s God-given potentials to be great among comity of Nations.

The recent report by the overseas development institute (ODI)  reported that the proposition of Nigeria’s  population living on less that $1.25  a day rose from 49% to 77% between 1990 and 2008. Action Aid also reported that, 26% of Nigerian children are malnourished and that Nigeria would need until at least 2025 to meet the MDG target to halves child hunger for a country endowed with such and fertile soils and Africa’s largest oil reserves, it should be doing much better. Today, we are in 2025 and the MDG target could not be met, things are getting worse all hope is in the sky, looking up to God for  miracle. It was on this that enraged  Noble laureate Wole Soyinka who once spoke in Porthercourt demanding the Nigerian Leadership give it’s citizens better reasons to celebrate.

The right of staying together as a  country is worth celebrating, but I find this embarrassing. We have wasted our oil wealth through greed and avarice. Some Nigerians believe that oil wealth is a curse and not a blessing. Apart from making us fight a bitter Civil war, it has also made us Lazy that we go to Abúja at month end to share oil money. When the oil money is not forth coming, the government could not pay salaries and the federal government doles them Bail- out funds

Let us use our 65th anniversary to take stock of our existence so far and see what we have done wrongly and make amends for a glorious future. We cannot keep making the same mistakes and think that we shall get it right someday.

At 65th, we are still concerned with which tribe to give appointments and which tribe should be denied appointments based on how they cast their votes at election, a personal and voluntary duty.
At 65th, we plan with unreliable estimates. At 65th we cannot boast of portable water to every part of Nigeria, our electricity supply is epileptic and erratic as ever.

Our education system is in dire need of revamping to match with global standards.
The same can be said of our health – care system. Our roads remain among the worst in the world in terms of quality and size couple with famed poor maintenance culture. A lot more to be said, but I pray we will one day get it right.

Assalamualaikum 🙏