Celebrating Independence of Indifference and Negligence -By Ajiboye Amos Olakunle

Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over it’s territory. Not just freedom but difference and development in a new dispensation.
Nigeria attained her independence in the year 1960 from the colony of Britain and became a nation ruled by her own people.

Although, this independence didn’t come on a platter of gold but with the dedications and struggles of some elites and nationalists.
Before the Nigeria Pre-independence and during the early Post-independence, Nigeria enjoyed some economic prosperity due to self reliance in agriculture and livelihood. Ironically, Nigeria lost her economic entitlement after independence due to reliance on other nation’s goods and products.

Nigeria was allegedly exploited of her natural resources during the colonial era which insinuates that Nigeria was economically resilient. Unfortunately, Nigeria is presently economically absent.
Few opinions state that Nigeria is still in her early stage of independence which means there’s hope that the country would flourish and stabilize in the expected areas eventually. However, there are younger countries in the world doing very better than Nigeria in terms of economy, security and stability i.e, Serbia, South Sudan, Czech and others.

The case of Nigeria is likened to a child who was born by struggle and sacrifice, he came into existence, so naive and tender, grew older, despite how old, he couldn’t walk, talk or eat, his parents toiled and strived to help him but all efforts proved abortive. This means, sooner or later, the child(Nigeria) might die and would be forever forgotten. This is exactly why many Nigerians have termed celebrating independence day a hocus pocus since there’s nothing to show forth.

The status of Nigeria as at 2021 independence anniversary was a bit of comfort than this year’s. The tragedy is that the situation keeps moving anticlockwise. Nigeria has maintained the infamous title of ‘World Poverty Capital’ according to the World Bank since 2016. The World Bank data had shown that four in every ten Nigerians live below the poverty line of $1.9 per day.

Since 2012, the United States, United Kingdom and other advanced nations have kept warning their citizens against some certain parts of Nigeria due to insecurity.

Well, Nigerians are presently formatting to avert the narrative from the customs. Almost everyone is on the lookout for the 2023 general elections. The contingency of a revolution through the 2023 elections can’t be totally dispelled.

With the position and contingency of the country, are Nigerians Happy, are they Independent?