Nigeria @66: Beyond flags and speeches - Punch Newspapers

Tomorrow, Thursday, is October 1, and the nation is already in a celebratory mood again. It has been 66 years since the country gained independence from its colonial masters. Children born on the day the Union Jack was lowered are already senior citizens in their own right. Attaining 66 years is, no doubt, no mean achievement. On Monday afternoon, when I walked into a supermarket I frequent in a part of Ogun State, I met people already decorating the space with green-and-white balloons. It is that time of the year when those who sell small green-and-white flags in traffic make brisk business. Boutique owners also deliberately stock their stores with green-and-white, green or white outfits for those who would like to appear in national colours on Thursday. Government officials will not take the back seat. They will issue goodwill messages. Politicians, especially candidates in the forthcoming general elections, will congratulate Nigerians. President Bola Tinubu will address the nation. State governors will speak about their achievements. Religious leaders will pray for Nigeria. Social media will overflow with flags and patriotic messages.  But beyond the ceremonies, whether low-key or elaborate, what exactly do 66 years of independence mean in the life of an ordinary Nigerian? A country’s independence anniversary should be about more than counting the number of years since colonial rule ended.  At independence on October 1, 1960, there was optimism that Nigeria, blessed with agricultural resources, minerals, oil and gas and enormous human capital, would become one of the continent’s great success stories.  Sixty-six years later, Nigeria remains enormously endowed. The uncomfortable question is whether the lives of its citizens sufficiently reflect those endowments.  In answering this question, security should probably come first because every other aspiration depends on it. Shouldn’t a Nigerian farmer be able to go to his farm without fear of kidnappers? Shouldn’t travellers, worshippers and students feel safe wherever they are? At 66, the ability to move around one’s country without fear should not be considered a luxury.  The second question should be whether Nigerians can afford to live amid rising bills. How much does a bag of rice cost, and how much is the minimum wage? How much does a family spend getting children to school? What does a worker spend travelling to and from work? How much remains from a salary after paying for food, transportation, rent, electricity and school fees?See more Punch stories on Google.Add Punch on Google  There is no doubt that the macroeconomic picture has improved in some respects. The World Bank says real Gross Domestic Product grew by 4.2 per cent in the first half of 2026, compared with 3.9 per cent a year earlier, while inflation has moderated from previous levels. But it also says growth is not yet sufficient to generate enough productive jobs or materially reduce poverty, with food inflation still at 20.3 per cent in July. When the government says the economy is improving, but families still struggle to eat, when should improving statistics translate into improving lives?  Third, at 66, electricity shouldn’t still be a privilege. Unfortunately, Nigeria is still discussing 5,000MW. There has been genuine recent improvement. The government says average available capacity in August was 4,758MW, with about 4,102MW utilised on average. More recently, available generation reached about 5,403MW on September 22, while 4,379MW was allocated to the distribution companies. While we acknowledge this progress, should sustaining approximately 5,000MW still be celebrated as a major achievement by a 66-year-old country with more than 200 million people?  On education, a Nigerian child’s quality of education increasingly depends on how much their parents can afford. Those who can pay choose expensive private schools. At the university level, strikes and funding disputes continue. Even as Nigeria approaches another Independence anniversary, lecturers at Lagos State-owned universities have been on strike. Nigeria cannot repeatedly describe its youthful population as an advantage while failing to equip millions of those young people with the education and skills necessary to become productive.  On health, it is a dangerous time for anyone to fall seriously ill. For many families, serious illness quickly becomes a financial emergency. Should access to decent healthcare in a 66-year-old country depend so heavily on the depth of one’s pocket? Delta NDC gov candidate calls for freedom from poverty, bad governance  Independence: FG declares Thursday public holiday 2027: NRM’s Okereke targets hunger, insecurity  Despite all this and more, however, I will be the first to admit that Nigeria at 66 is not a story of total failure. Nigeria has survived a civil war, military coups, decades of military rule, political crises and economic recessions, among other challenges.  Nigeria has sustained democratic government since 1999. Infrastructure has expanded in many areas. Telecommunications and financial technology have transformed everyday life. Nigerians have built internationally competitive businesses and excelled in music, film, literature, sports, medicine, technology and academia.  The economy is presently showing some signs of macroeconomic stability. The World Bank points to stronger growth, revenues and reserves while simultaneously stressing that those gains need to translate into jobs and improved living standards. It is therefore not my intention to suggest that Nigeria has achieved nothing in 66 years. But it is clear that the country has achieved far less than its enormous potential should have produced.  Successive governments should also stop comparing Nigeria only with its past. They usually compare current figures with what they inherited. They boast of constructing more roads than their predecessors. They talk about increased revenue, higher electricity generation and more infrastructure, among other achievements. Those comparisons have value, but at 66, perhaps we should also be asking how countries with which Nigeria once shared similar development prospects are performing.  I will also not blame only our leaders for the nation’s state at 66. Citizens are also critical to national development. Politicians will continue to find it easier to manipulate elections if citizens are willing to collect money to compromise the process. People vandalise public infrastructure. A case in point is the reported vandalism along the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway. Citizens dump refuse into drains and later blame the government when their communities are flooded. Some businesses evade taxes and still blame the government for failing to provide infrastructure.  The government bears special responsibility because it controls public institutions and resources. But rebuilding Nigeria cannot be exclusively the government’s responsibility. At 66, Nigerians also need to reconsider what they owe their country. Nigeria is four years away from 70. Instead of consistently looking backwards, we should by now be asking what Nigeria should guarantee its citizens by the time it turns 70. On security, Nigerians should be able to move around with substantially less fear. Electricity generation and actual supply to homes and businesses should rise significantly. Every Nigerian child should have access to functional basic education. Primary healthcare and health insurance should ensure that illness does not automatically become a financial catastrophe for families. Economic growth should also translate into jobs and rising real incomes. Four years is enough time to know whether Nigeria is moving decisively towards these objectives. As the green-white-green flag flies on Thursday, the true meaning of independence should increasingly be measured by what Nigeria guarantees its citizens. Nigeria has survived for 66 years, but survival cannot remain our greatest national achievement. At 66, the question is no longer whether Nigeria can endure. It has proved repeatedly that it can. The question is whether this country can finally make life safer, fairer and more hopeful for the millions who call it home. Perhaps that is the conversation we should be having as another flag goes up on October 1. Olalekan Adetayo

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