Nigeria At 61: A Ship Without A Captain -By Mubarak Ibrahim

Today Nigeria is 61 years old as an independent nation. Nigeria transformed from a centralized and regionally structured country to a thirty six federal Nation. The journey has been tough.

Nigeria’s current population is estimated at about 214 million that is diverse, plural and heterogeneous.
1st October,1960 goes down in the history as the day Nigeria was liberated. We claimed to be free but what exactly are we free from? It is possible that we are free from the York of colonialism yet imprisoned by something else. What is that something else? Is it the lack of development or poor leadership, corruption of the mind, religious intolerance, or greed? Who knows!

We only hope that this occasion is not another annual jamboree but an avenue to reflect on the state of the Nation and to have a rethink towards the direction the country is treading.

Ideally, this supposed to be an occasion to re-energize ourselves if at all, we are to give meaning to this important day in the history of Nigeria. We must interrogate the progress of this country right from independence. It is time the common men begin to appreciate their true position in the scheme of things.

Unfortunately, right from independence till date campaign promises have always revolved around pipe borne water, electricity, roads and hospitals. 61 years on, one would have thought that the country has overcome the basic problem of infrastructural growth and development; we should now be bothering with sustaining efficiency, debating quality and scaling up for global competition.

We must ask ourselves about the the measures been taken to curb the incessant killings and kidnapping across the Nation. We must ask ourselves what are we doing to create employment to our young men and women that they may not run to America or Europe. We must ask ourselves about the quality of infrastructure we are giving our people and the promises we made to them in the days of electioneering campaigns.
Nigeria must wake up and we are the ones to wake her up even though she has slept for so long. We must recognized that the Country has no shortage of individuals who are in the business of injecting it with Aesthetic drug so that she may continue simmering in a constant state of slumber.

We cannot continue pretending that all is well. Insecurity is on the rise, standard of education is falling, hunger is spreading like wild fire, inflation is staring us on the face. There is almost nothing in the market today that is not at least double the price it was been sold at the beginning of the year. To compound the problem further, most of the states in Nigeria have not been able to start paying the 30,000 Naira minimum wage as agreed long ago; some state are not even paying worker as at when due and no body is talking about it.
The problem of Nigeria is of both leadership and followership whether we like it or not and until the day we understand that the quality of the a leader come first before his region or religion we would continue suffering and the monster called hunger does not consumes its victims on the basis of region, religion or political party, it devours its victim like fire does to cotton and fights whoever stand on its way so fearlessly.

Therefore, any politician willing to occupy an important position in Nigeria, must demonstrate to the Masses that he or she has contributed immensely in different capacity to the growth and development of this country else should be rejected. Nigeria needs her sons and daughters that mean well to her.

Of course! We yearn for a new Nigeria. This country must work just like its counterparts in other African countries and  this would only be possible if we are willing and ready to allow it work. We must also remind ourselves that we must apply effort in the things that require effort. We shouldn’t allow our country to be hijack by a few individuals who feel that this country is their birth right.

Time has come that we must sit at the dinner table of civilization as dinners not as waiters and waitresses.

Mubarak Ibrahim
Faculty of communication,
Department of mass communication,
Bayero university, kano.