Nigeria got its independence from Britain on the 1st of October 1960. That is precisely 54 years ago today. Nigeria was on the right track but......! As we all well know and this isn't a secret, it's not something hidden from the understanding of anyone who has eyes to see.
In fact it is like in the words of my brother, Mr. Patrick Obahiagbon "visible to the deaf and audible to the blind" that there is no country that was colonized by Britain, pardon me let me re-frame that properly; there is no African country that was colonized by Britain that has done well for itself following the path that the British drew out for such a country.
Any African country colonized by Britain that has found its footing and certainly its bearing could only do so by re-inventing itself. Take a country like Ghana for instance, initially named the Gold coast by the colonial masters. The country having men of insight in the likes of Kwame Nkurumah re-invented itself changed the colonial name (slave name) from Gold coast to Ghana and put aside the "white man's" ideas that are certainly not African and definitely could not thrive in Africa in engendering peace in nations that were built without the consent of the inhabitants and owners of the lands.
The continent of Africa was partitioned using pencil, rulers and protractors without taking into cognizance the fact that there were several different groups or nations of people living on and off the the land and worse still without the consent of the Africans themselves. The British and their cohorts divided tribes and nations into majority and minority groups in order to make use of the divide and rule tactic, which of course we all know today is responsible for the wars in Congo and Rwanda and has resulted in the deaths of many innocents because not only did the British divide up the lands and tribes, they then put power in the hands of the minority who were to carry on with protecting the interests of the British.
Take a look at countries that dared to re invent themselves for instance you would notice that they had to go through severe conditions that were forced upon them and of course against their self determination to be their own people. A lot of them lost visionary leaders, went astray into the land of poverty and while some remained their in that strange land one country has been able to find its way back to the promised land flowing with "milk and honey". Ghana suffered after they lost a visionary leader in the person of Kwame Nkrumah.
Poverty was the order of the day but over the years and it was long in coming, that country has rediscovered itself, thanks to leaders like Jerry Rawlings who despite the hardship that his people face refused to sell his country for a morsel of bread to the IMF and World Bank. Today, Ghana is a country to be envied by a great number of African nations. Ghana boasts of good roads, security, steady economy, pipe borne water and of course steady electricity. In fact Ghana celebrated 1 year of "No Power failure". This is a thing that the supposed "Giant of Africa" Nigeria has failed woefully to do despite the large gas and oil reserves. So what is Nigeria celebrating at 54 when the populace are scared of travelling north, scared of large gatherings, scared to go out at night and cannot boast of even 4 hours of steady uninterrupted power supply?
Lets not deceive ourselves into believing that we are better than Zimbabwe! We are not. Zimbabwe is the way it is not because it has a "Bad leader or Government" but because Zimbabwe refused to continue being exploited by the United Kingdom (or is it Great Britain). Zimbabwe being a land locked country would rather break than bend to the "white man's" economic policies and demands of sub-servitude. Be that as it may, be rest assured that in time Zimbabwe will overcome and Mugabe would or might be justified. Let the truth prevail.
The Congo has not know peace for many years simply because the government of the people was always toiled with by outsiders. Now there is chaos. Rwanda is a country always on the brink because of the way it was partitioned and because of the way power was allocated to the minority group.
Captain Thomas Sankara (of blessed memory) came up with the idea of re-branding his country and he started by changing the name of the country. He went further to indoctrinate them with the principle and possibility of self sufficiency and he did achieve results to the amazement of the World Bank and the IMF. But despite the fact that his ideas and ideals were good for the development of his country and country men, his ideas and ideals were counter-positive to the French who saw him as a threat to their strong hold on some of the illegally acquired colonies and of-course we know what happened to Thomas Sankara !
Look every leader or better still every African leader with a conscience and with love and vision for his country and country men, who tried to do anything for the improvement and development of his country has been replaced by the powers that be in favour or their man (a puppet who would sell his country, inhabitants and resources for a morsel of bread). Nigeria has many of such puppets and you can see them rotating through the corridors of power and now some of them are again vying for the highest office in the land.
Does this then mean that Nigeria should not reform itself? Nigeria needs to sit down, think and map out a way forward. There is no glory is saying we are the largest collection of black people on the surface of the earth or the most populated black nation, if you prefer to put it that way when we remain one of the poorest nations on earth. China does not boast of its population and even if it does, there are so many positive things to show for it. Thanks to China the world has access to many cheap things, anything you can think of is made in China.
Nigeria ! What are you celebrating anyway? Though they may not say it, ALL other African nations are ASHAMED of you. Happy independence day celebration !!!!