BY VICTORIA NGOZI IKEANO
victoriangozii@gmail.com 08033077519
Anyone who has clocked 66 years is a fully grown up adult that is heading towards being an elder, indeed, already an elder in many settings. In African societies, not least Nigeria, an elder is accorded much respect because he/she is viewed as someone that is imbued with invaluable wisdom owing to accumulated experiences from his/her long years of existence. Recall the African proverb that says that what an elder can see sitting down, a child atop a tree cannot see. Nigeria is now 66 years old having literally cut the umbilical cord that tied it to its erstwhile colonial master, Britain on October 1, 1960. From thence it began to direct its political affairs largely by itself. However, it is doubtful whether Nigeria at 66 is really independent, free in all ramifications, in the true sense of the word ‘freedom’. Although we have been a self- governing nation, our country is still reliant on foreign nations for a number of things, not least, consumer, industrial, technological goods and services.
Over the years we have experienced a lot of things cum changes. Nevertheless, a sticking point remains which is that at 66, Nigeria is still grappling with the ‘national question’ –issue of national integration, unity, etc. The schisms among Nigerians are more than they were in the 1960s. Our fault lines have amplified. Mistrust, hatred rules many Nigerians’ hearts. Evil now stalks our land. Life is no longer sacred as blood is now shed with reckless abandon all across the country by terrorists, bandits, robbers, unknown gunmen; men/women are killing their lovers/husbands/wives and even children are killing either of their parents out of anger or (hard) drugs- induced delusion. This wanton killing, alien to our culture, may be said to have started in 1966, barely six years after the country’s independence, with the first military coup that toppled Nigeria’s first indigenous government. In that coup, some notable Nigerian politicians and army generals were killed in cold blood. It led to three years of bitter civil war when the eastern part sought to secede from Nigeria. Then Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon was the war hero, declaring at end of the war in 1970 that there was ‘no victor, no vanquished’, although people from the south east zone still feel marginalised till today,.
There have been other military coups since then, including the palace coup wherein General Murtala Muhammed was announced as Head of state to replace Gowon who was attending an OAU meeting in Kenya at the time. General Muhammed was himself killed in a failed coup attempt on February 13, 1975. His second in command, General Olusegun Obasanjo replaced him. Obasanjo organised elections during his time and handed over to the elected civilian president, Alhaji Shehu Shagari in 1979. Shagari was sacked by the military in 1983 with General Muhammadu Buhari installed as Head of state. Buhari gave way to General Ibrahim Babangida in yet another in the series of coups. Babangida was later to ‘step aside’ for General Sani Abacha who died in controversial circumstances and General Abdusalam Abubakar took over. General Abubakar midwifed this republic in 1999. There has been uninterrupted democratic rule since then to-date. First under this dispensation was President Olusegun Obasanjo, followed by President Umaru Yar’Adua whose tenure was short-lived as he passed on during his time in office. President Goodluck Jonathan then took over, first, under the “doctrine of necessity” and completed late President Yar’Adua’s remaining tenure. He subsequently won the next election in 2011 but was defeated in the 2015 polls (after 16 years of PDP rule) by the APC (a merger of some political parties). And APC had been in authority since then, from late Muhammadu Buhari to current President Bola Tinubu…..
Our villages considered as the bastion of our ethical values are crumbling to the rapidly spreading fire of immorality. Consumption of illicit hard drugs by especially youths is now almost as common in the villages as it is in the cities where this dangerous habit first emanated and is rooted. Nigeria’s population has also more than doubled since independence, from about 50 million to over 200 million today! More than half of Nigerians living today were not yet born in 1960. A great proportion of these were born in the 21st century, the internet age. They are called netizens, that is, internet bluffs. Internet-enabled phones are their constant companion. Always, they are tapping their phones, from sunrise to sunset and beyond, until nature forces them to fall asleep at midnight or thereabout. They refer to their parents as analog people and themselves as digital persons. There was no internet at Independence and for many decades thereafter. Today, every adult and many children in Nigeria have a GSM handset. Cyber (interne) frauds have surfaced and ‘yahoo boys’ have emerged.
More children now go to school and Nigeria’s literacy level has increased overall. From going to school barefooted and trekking over long distances, not a few pupils now attend schools in chauffeur-driven limousines, decked in smart uniforms with shoes and socks to match. But the standard of education is falling unlike what obtained at Independence. One who passed out from primary school with a ‘First School Leaving Certificate’ in the 60s is equivalent to a secondary school graduate of today. Our school system has been tinkered in last 66 years; from the eight years primary school tenure where you graduate after Standard Six, five years secondary school, two years post-secondary education and three years in the University. Now we have six years of basic school that terminates in Primary Six; six years of secondary education thereafter (JSS 1to3, SSS 1 to 3). The accompanying certificates have also changed from General Certificate of Education (GCE), Higher School Certificate (HSC) to West African School Certificate (WASC), NECO and Technical education certificates.
In the 1960s public schools were the preferred educational institutions, private schools were virtually non-existent. Today, there are as many privately-owned secondary schools as public ones in Nigeria. Private schools are even more in some cities. University education, a rare commodity in the first decade of our independence is now widespread as universities, both public and private are now practically in every nick and cranny of our country. Increasingly though, many citizens now have to provide certain amenities for themselves. Some social services that were wholly provided by government and taken for granted by the citizenry because of their steady service are becoming hard to come by. For example, many government -run Water Works ( water corporations) that used to supply people water have packed up. The few that are still functional work only occasionally.
Boreholes now abound in many residential houses. In same vein electricity supply from the national grid has become epileptic. This is despite the name change and reforms in the electricity sector since independence, namely, Electricity Company of Nigeria (ECN), National Electric Power Authority (NEPA), now split into three companies. They are Generating Company (GENCO), Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) and Distribution Company (DISCO). Nigerians are slowly embracing a new way of getting electricity which is solar energy. Solar panels now dot our landscape. In the 1970s money was said not to be Nigeria’s problem “but how to spend it”. However, the country has gone a borrowing in last few decades. Nigeria’s three refineries were fully functional since the 1970s but they have become comatose since the 21st century. .Overall, Nigeria at 66 is yet to realise its full potentials as a full fledged adult. Challenges still abound but they are not insurmountable. There is hope.
