EDITORIAL

 NIGERIA @ 61: WHAT ARE WE CELEBRATING? 

They say a fool at forty is a fool forever but what do we make of a country celebrating her 61st years of Independence and yet has nothing to show for it?  The last couple of months are evident as to how the country is going backwards. We’ve had to tolerate killings galore as violent outlaws – herdsmen, terrorists, bandits, kidnappers, whatever – run riot, traumatize terrified citizens and make fools of law enforcement personnel. We’ve watched doctors who were trained in Nigeria gloomily queuing up to export their valuable skills to less depressing countries. And Nigerians have experienced more than 400 per cent increment in electricity tariff with over 200 per cent increase in prices of goods and services and yet minimum income remains #18,000.

From 1966 till now, it has been a gradual descent into a dark tunnel. Having survived coups, violent elections, civil war, and military rule, now, state failure is not only a real possibility but by some accounts, has already occurred. Every sector of national life has suffered, from governance to the economy, security, and national cohesion. Retrogression and deficits in every area of development define the country. Traumatized, abused and oppressed, the youth have lost hope in the land of their birth. Indeed, as it was in 1966, Nigeria is again fast marching to a point of no return.

In 2018, Nigeria captured the odious title of the world’s poverty capital from India. The World Bank forecasts that 11 million more persons will slip into poverty this year to raise the number to over 100 million. On the UNDP’s (United Nations Development Programme) Human Development Index 2020, it dropped further by three spots to 161 out of 189 countries. The country has the world’s highest number of out-of-school children with 10.19 million; it has the 14th highest infant mortality rate. At 33.3 per cent, it has the third-highest unemployment rate. It ranks 10th of countries with the least access to safe drinking water. With 85 million persons or 43 per cent of the population lacking access to the national electricity grid, this makes Nigeria the country with the largest energy deficit in the world, declares the World Bank

Until we wake from our slumbers as government and individuals, identify our parts in the roles of making this country great and work towards attaining the greatest height, our celebration will not go beyond “FROM SAPA TO JAPA”.