Now that Nigeria is 55!

Nigeria is 25; the odds we did survive; Arise salute the nation;
Come join the celebration; A people united will never fall; The
sun will rise and the rain will fall; On our land vast and mighty,
richly blessed by the Almighty, like bees in a hive … Nigeria is
25!” (Bongos Ikwue, 1985).
Thirty years ago, this theme song reverberated on our airwaves
in celebration of 25 years of the existence of our great country,
Nigeria. Indeed, “we have survived many odds”. From the Civil
War between 1967 and 1970; the Boko Haram insurgency since
2002 to the prediction by the United States of America
Intelligence arm in 2005 that Nigeria would cease to be a nation
state in 2015, and so on … And now, Nigeria is 55!
Nigeria, a country located in West Africa, with more than 500
ethnic tribes, is a religiously diverse society, with Islam and
Christianity being the most widely professed religions. Nigerians
are nearly equally divided into Christians who live mostly in the
southern and central parts of the country, and Muslims in the
northern and southwestern regions. A minority of the population
practise religions indigenous to them, such as those native to
the Igbo and the Yoruba. “A people united will never fall”.
Since the 1990s, the Nigerian movie industry, also known as
“Nollywood”, has emerged as a fast-growing cultural force all
over the continent and is now the second largest producer of
movies in the world. Also, in sports, football is extremely
popular throughout the country and especially among the youths
and has been a strong unifying force. The national football team,
the “Super Eagles”, have made it into the World Cup on five
occasions; 1994, 1998, 2002, 2010 and 2014 and was ranked
fifth in the Federation Internationale de Football Association
world rankings, the highest ranking achieved by an African
football team in 1994.
Nigerian cuisines, like West African cuisines in general, are
known for their richness and variety. Nigeria has also had a
huge role in the development of various genres of African
music. Notable and late 20th century and 21st century
musicians have famously fused cultural elements of various
indigenous music such as West African highlife and Afrobeat
with American jazz and soul that have greatly influenced music
worldwide.
Last year, Nigeria was the first country to effectively contain and
eliminate the Ebola Virus Disease that ravaged three other
countries in the West African sub-region, as its unique method
of contact-tracing became an effective method later used by
other countries, such as the United States of America, when
Ebola threats were also discovered. As of this year, Nigeria is
the world’s 20th largest economy, worth more than $500bn and
$1tn in terms of nominal Gross Domestic Product and
purchasing-power-parity respectively. Also, the debt-to-GDP
ratio is only 11 per cent, which is eight per cent below the 2012
ratio. Nigeria is considered to be an emerging market by the
World Bank and has been identified as a regional power on the
African continent, a middle power in international affairs and an
emerging global power. It is also listed among the “Next Eleven”
economies set to become one of the biggest economies in the
world. “We work so hard to let the honey flow.” But it is
certainly not Eureka!
Nigeria at 55 is bedevilled by a plethora of challenges. Despite
the abundance of human, material and natural resources, basic
infrastructure and social services are pitiably bad; economic
facilities are weak; the educational system apart from being a
poor social service, lacks quality, proper orientation and
quantity; health care delivery system at the primary, secondary
and tertiary levels destroys rather than saves lives; agriculture,
the highest contributor to GDP at 40 per cent and the highest
employer of labour at 60 per cent is underdeveloped due to
neglect and poor policy administration.
The extraction, production and sale of oil and gas have been
mismanaged, negatively politicised and corrupted; there is
phenomenal corruption at the level of politics and governance;
solid minerals which exist in abundance have been neglected or
abandoned; ethics and values which are the moral guides and
glue of a society have crashed to a level of negative
transcendentalism, normlessness and criminality; peace, social
and protective security are perennially threatened at the societal
and individual levels; there is religious fanaticism and
intolerance.
Due to the above, many Nigerians had immigrated to other
countries such as the US, the United Kingdom, Australia, South
Africa, amongst others. The most noticeable exodus occurred
among professional and middle-class Nigerians who, along with
their children, took advantage of education and employment
opportunities in the developed countries and this may have
contributed to a “brain-drain” on Nigeria’s intellectual resources
to the detriment of its future. Through my academic sojourn,
from the culturally rich “Land of Kings” Rajasthan, India with its
forts and intricately carved temples through the rapidly,
developing city Doha, Qatar with its natural oil and gas wealth;
multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and multi-lingual rainbow nation,
South Africa, located at the southernmost region of Africa with
the second largest economy in Africa; the world’s largest
economy, the US, benefiting from an abundance of natural
resources and high worker productivity, the world’s foremost
economic and military power, a prominent political and cultural
force, and a leader in scientific research and technological
innovations; Britain with its constitutional monarchy and a
parliamentary system of governance, I have thus seen that
these countries were “made” of the people, for the people and by
the people.
As we celebrate, we must also have sober reflections on the
way forward. Nigeria’s prospects are enhanced by its strategic
location, which will enable it to take advantage of booming
demand across Africa and other parts of the developing world.
Add to that a large and growing population and an
entrepreneurial spirit, and the future looks bright. In order to
unleash this potential and ensure that the next decade of growth
brings sharp reductions in poverty, Nigeria’s leaders must
pursue reforms aimed at increasing productivity, raising
incomes, and delivering essential services like electricity, good
road network, health care and education more efficiently. The
government could pursue land title reforms aimed at opening
more farmland without deforestation; expand the use of fertiliser
and mechanised equipment; and support a market-driven shift to
more profitable crops.
In urban areas, productivity suffers from a high degree of
informal employment, sometimes, even by major corporations.
This keeps too many Nigerians in low-skill, low-paying jobs and
deprives the economy of the dynamism that competitive small
and medium size enterprises create. The spate of internet start-
ups that have emerged in Nigeria demonstrates that the skills
are there, and tapping Nigeria’s Diaspora can augment that
talent pool. To make it easier to do business in Nigeria, the
government also will need to streamline processes for
registering and running a legal business and, together with aid
agencies and the private sector, increase investment in
infrastructure. It will also need to intensify its fight against
endemic corruption, which represents a tax on all businesses.
Finally, to promote inclusive growth – essential to relieving
human suffering and mitigating social and political tensions –
Nigeria must improve public service delivery dramatically.
In this new dispensation in Nigeria, when weighed against
existing realities, our President and any other human for that
matter stand little or no chance of giving Nigerians the country
of our dreams, in just four years. Nigeria is ours and only
Nigerians can build and celebrate the country, if we all play our
parts and do things right. Arise; salute our nation, Nigeria at 55!
Dr. Adenubi wrote in from the Department of Paraclinical Sciences,
Faculty of Veterinary Sciences, University of Pretoria, South Africa
Copyright PUNCH. All rights reserved. This material, and other
digital content on this website, may not be reproduced, published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in whole or in part without prior
express written permission from PUNCH.
Contact: editor@punchng.com