While successive governments and administrations have battled to steady Nigeria’s economy, not much attention has been paid to the peace and unity of citizens.
All the ethnic nationalities that make up the entity called Nigeria have continued to live like sworn enemies. This lack of cohesion has retarded the growth and overall development of the country.
Ephraim Onoja, a retired banker, is at peace with himself and his family at 66 years old. Born on October 10, 1960, nine days after Nigeria’s independence, the Otukpo, Benue State-born Onoja, who worked at three banks before retiring four years ago, counts himself among ‘Independence Babies’.
With four children, seven grandchildren, a house for himself with rent from two tenants and steady dividends from his investments in stocks years ago, Onoja is very fulfilled at 66 and even hopes to clock 100 years in good health.
But that desirable reality seems to have eluded Nigeria as a country for 66 years. Many argue that if Nigeria is to be a man, he may not be able to proudly beat his chest to say I have done well at 66 years.
‘A man at 66 should, at least, be a grandfather. If Nigeria is, I don’t think it is a proud grandfather because both his children and grandchildren are not interested in its welfare; they squander its wealth, kill one another, love outsiders more than their own family, and allow religion and ethnicity to continue to divide them,’ Onoja said, while decrying that Nigeria is far less from the height it should have attained at 66 years.
For more disgruntled citizens, there is less to be desired from Nigeria at 66 years, considering the projections by world leaders at her independence that the country would take the world by storm in terms of development.
Comparing notes, Phillip Aigbe, a Nigerian lecturer at a Botswana university, decried that in 1960, Nigeria’s peers were countries like Brazil and India, which today have gone ahead to develop beyond global projections.
‘Can you compare the developmental strides in Brazil and India with what we have in Nigeria today? They are worlds apart because those other countries did not allow ethnic sentiments, religion and most importantly, corruption, to overshadow their collective interests,’ he said.
‘Let us be sincere, if Nigeria is where it should have been today, South Africans will not attack and force her citizens out of their country; rather, they would be the ones all over the states in Nigeria to enjoy our wealth and infrastructural feats’.
The fact that the reverse is the case today, according to him, is a reason for Nigerians to be sincere and say things the way they are, especially to the politicians, who keep running the country down and using religion and ethnicity to divide the people.
‘Let us be sincere. We may have achieved something, but Nigeria should not be proud at 66 years because there is little to show over six decades of nationhood,’ Aigbe insisted.
Chijioke Umelahi, an Abuja-based lawyer and a former lawmaker, also thinks along the same line. According to him, multi-racial and multi-religion countries like India, Brazil and even Rwanda enjoy peace, political and economic stability today because they have upheld their constitutions above every citizen, tribe, religion or region.
‘At 66, Nigeria has long abandoned its constitution; no federal character. The appointments in Buhari and Tinubu’s administrations attest to that. Some individuals are above the law today; the judiciary is not independent, and the electoral umpire does the bidding of the government that employs its leadership,’ he said.
The fact that the constitution, which guarantees protection, justice and equal rights for all citizens, is not upheld, Umelahi lamented that peace, unity and development will keep eluding Nigeria even at 100 years.
‘They keep saying one country, but the reality is nepotism. What is good in one part of the country is wrong in another. If the insecurity in the northern part of the country were in the southern part, it would have ended long ago because of unnecessary biases. You cannot beat a child and ask him not to cry, and that is why peace and unity are on holiday in the country even at 66 years.
‘The situation will continue unless we elect selfless, development- and people-oriented leaders, unlike the many bigots, corrupt and selfish ones occupying positions today’.
Speaking from a victim’s perspective, Yakubu Pam, a retired security officer, regretted that at 66 years, peace seems to be on holiday in Nigeria as terrorists, bandits, kidnappers and other bad elements have continued to terrorise, loot, and kill innocent Nigerians.
‘I have lost five family members, both close and extended, to terror attacks in the last three years. As I speak, my sister, who lost her soldier husband to Boko Haram ambush, is staying with me in Abuja. Many have fled our villages to Jos township for safety. I am not talking about last year, I am talking about now and you say we should clap for Nigeria at 66 years. No,’ the disgruntled retired soldier said.
According to him, the Nigeria of today seems to have lost its military influence that was once applauded on the continent, which also guaranteed a bit of peace in the country because bad elements feared deadly reprisals from the Nigerian military then.
For Bem Hembafan, another security expert, peace is truly a scarce commodity in today’s Nigeria as the escalating insecurity has rendered many homeless, poorer and sadly leaving many dead.
‘I am from Benue State and we all know what the security situation is there. Despite the visits by Muhammadu Buhari, our late president, Bola Tinubu, the incumbent president, international organisations, civil society organisations, Amnesty and others, our people are still being killed daily in Benue,’ Hembafan lamented.
‘At 66, Nigeria leaves less to be desired for an average Benue citizen because we all have lost family members in the last 10 years and our leaders keep politicizing the situation, even those that call God’s name’.
According to Hembafan, whose company runs private security for luxury estates in Abuja, Kaduna and Nasarawa, if you call for the usual march pass for the Independence Day, parents will not release their children to march because it would be in mockery of the sad reality in the state.
‘Let the big men in Abuja release their children from their safe hideouts in UK schools and American universities and cities to come and march in Makurdi, Otukpo, Jos, Lantang, Kaduna and even Abuja. They will not because they know the reality, but are reluctant to deal with the situation head-on,’ Hembafan said further.
From a diaspora’s perspective, Samuel Onikoyi thinks that with the exodus of Nigerians, especially professionals from the country, even in the present administration, all is not well for the country at 66 years.
‘In the late 80s, many Nigerians were checking out of their country. That exodus has even worsened now, pointing to the harsh situations back home today, which have been driving many out to seek greener pastures,’ Onikoyi said.
‘I think, in an honest assessment, Nigeria has not done better at 66 because there are lots of lost grounds that could have been recovered by now. Rwanda has long recovered after her 20 years genocide.
‘Why is Nigeria still battling with corruption, ethnicity and religion when her peers are developing jets for space missions to hoist their flags, and inventing things through advanced technology.
‘If you consider how much the country has made since discovering crude oil and compare that with the development on ground today, you will simply ask the country to wake up from her long slumber. It has been too long a slumber, and our political class seems to care less that we lag among our peers globally’.
Going forward, he urged the leaders to, at least, ensure peace in the country, if infrastructural development is difficult in this high-technology age where people simply copy models like UAE, Qatar and Bahrain have done, copying European and American developmental models that are luring the world to their countries today.
‘At 66 years, the least the government can do for the citizens is to guarantee their peace and protection in their own country. The government should match their promises with action to ensure that criminal elements are flushed out for people to go about their businesses, especially farming in the hinterlands, peacefully. At 66, there should be no more killing of innocent citizens, no more ransom paid and those connected to all these arrested, prosecuted and no amnesty for them,’ he concluded.
However, the handlers of the government and politicians think otherwise. According to them, Nigeria has a lot to celebrate after 66 years of independence.
‘This is the only government that dared to release Nigeria from the strong grip of cabals. Petrol subsidy is gone; other reforms of this administration are working. The new tax law has guaranteed more funds for the government, and the states and local governments have more money to develop their areas,’ Olumide Ade-Sikiru, an Alimosho-based politician, said.
According to the former local council chairman, the present administration has pools of infrastructural development that should excite Nigeria at her 66th independence anniversary.
For Mahmud Udahe, a Kogi State politician, detractors only see the negative about the country, while leaving out the many positive things. ‘We have some constitutional victories to celebrate at 66, new infrastructure, some international partnerships that have started yielding fruits and no fuel scarcity,’ he said.
For Bob Otega, an economist, the fact that Nigeria is still united at 66 is something to celebrate.
‘I am not a supporter of this government, but the fact remains that Nigeria is still our only country. If we are still here as a country today, it means the nation is moving on despite its many challenges. I think that unity at 66 is worth celebrating,’ he said.
But Pam countered, arguing that the country is more divided now than in 1960 and even last week.
‘We are in campaigns for the 2027 elections. Have you heard what the politicians are saying, the sentiments out there that our man must continue, even if the country is sinking, that those being killed deserve to die because they are not our people or our religious sect, that some regions do not deserve attention for expressing their civil rights.
‘Bigots are at work again, telling their adherents who to vote for and why others are less Nigerians. Where is the unity when the president fears to bring closer other people outside his tribe? I don’t think Nigeria is united; it is just a makeshift arrangement until something permanent happens,’ he said.
Hembafan also sees no peace at 66, as the thousands of innocent people who have died since the insecurity challenge, which, according to him, the government is paying lip service to, bore witness to the strife and aggression in the country today.
‘The only period we enjoyed peace in the country was during the first republic between 1960 and 1965. Our trouble started with the 1966 coup, and since then, it has been from one coup to the other, from religious riots to social unrest, and today, from kidnappers to bandits and to terrorist attacks. The scars are visible in our lag in socio-economic development today,’ he noted.