To begin with , today is a day for sober reflection, a Golden jubilee for my country , at sixty as a country we are certainly not at “where” we should be in view of both our abundant human and natural resources. Basic needs is still a major problem to most Nigerians. Sixty years after, we are yet to become a Nation-state.
But however, despite our “ups” and”downs”through a long 30 months civil war , various military coups, and now civilian rule. With all the socio-economic challenges through these years , the country still remains one indivisible . Of course, there are some achievements even though we need much more. The infrastructures are not the same even though we should have gotten much more. Nation building must be a continuous struggle.
However, there are various theses as to why our country is not at “where” it should be which include: its leadership, structure and ethno-religion questions.
On the leadership question, certainly yes, there are a lot of rooms for improvement. Although, nation building is not a one day job.There is need for a lot more to be done by our leaders at all levels for us to get to the promise land .
On the issue of its structural problem. Some sections of the country have been advocating for its restructuring. This issue is very contentious among many Nigerians. There is no consensus on its. To some it means resources control, for some it means greater regional autonomy, for others it means scrapping too many agencies that gulp a lot of money and the rest are indifferent about it .
On the issue of ethno-religious question , permit me to disagree with some people who often say that the country is not working because we are multi-ethnic as well as religious. India, for instance, has more diversity in terms of religion and languages than us. India has more than one thousand indigenous spoken languages yet it is progressing.
Furthermore, ethnic homogeneity is not a guarantee that any nation will work as the experiences of Somalia shows. Somalia as a country has people with same ethnic group, religion and even religious sect yet the country has been in a civil war for many years now .
Nigeria is so mixed and fixed to the extent that, there is neither religious nor ethnic boundary with which to divide the country with.
It appears that there is a consensus that Nigeria is still not at where it should be. A lot more need to be done to better the lots of Nigerians. Absence of continuous national planning, Policy inconsistency, dearth of visionary leaders, ill- motivated public service and poor economic management by our successive governments are responsible for our present state of affairs.
In my thought , for us to get to the promise land, we must continue to push for credible election, reliable statistics for strategic national economic master plan, national law for the implementation of the plans by whatever government in place ,national law on policy continuity by whatever government in place with little adjustments, honest /motivated public service and Visionary leadership at all levels .
May God bless Nigeria!