Nigeria at 53
In an individuals life, 53 years is growth from a toddler through adolescence into adulthood and then maturity. This is the so-called jubilee’ at which success or progress is measured and celebrated. But for Nigeria as a country, it is not clear what we are celebrating; is it success, progress or maturity? Be that as it may I feel very strongly about the progress (or lack of it) so far recoded by the Country in the last 98 years, and I would rely mainly on my personal experiences in the last 50 years and what I learn from professionals like Sam Nda Isiah who try to analyze events and issues concerning the country.
We were barely two years old as a new-born country when we convulsed violently in 1962. All those lofty hopes and expectations that we the “giant of Africa” was born in 1960 to blaze a trail of ascendancy of black and African peoples began to fade so early. We had hardly been weaned in 1962 when this country began to miscarry dangerously. The world and Africa was in shock.
This was caused by our immature handling of the Action Group crisis in 1962, which led to another convulsion in 1964. The leader of the Action Group, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, one of the founding fathers of Nigeria was thrown into prison and the then Western Region boiled over.
Our democracy suffered a terrible reversal that resulted into a major disruption in 1966 when civilian rule collapsed under the jackboots of the military. This was followed by a senseless orgy of killings that left the nation in tatters.
Civil war broke out in 1967, and millions of Nigerians lost their lives in a fratricide that was avoidable.
Somehow, though, we managed to pull back from the brink in 1970 when the civil war ended; but at that point, the total effect of these convulsions had left us significantly paralysed. Nigeria has been on crutches since then, and all attempts by both the military and civilian politicians to restore life into our paralysed limbs have not succeeded. Our growth into
We were barely two years old as a new-born country when we convulsed violently in 1962. All those lofty hopes and expectations that we the “giant of Africa” was born in 1960 to blaze a trail of ascendancy of black and African peoples began to fade so early. We had hardly been weaned in 1962 when this country began to miscarry dangerously. The world and Africa was in shock.
This was caused by our immature handling of the Action Group crisis in 1962, which led to another convulsion in 1964. The leader of the Action Group, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, one of the founding fathers of Nigeria was thrown into prison and the then Western Region boiled over.
Our democracy suffered a terrible reversal that resulted into a major disruption in 1966 when civilian rule collapsed under the jackboots of the military. This was followed by a senseless orgy of killings that left the nation in tatters.
Civil war broke out in 1967, and millions of Nigerians lost their lives in a fratricide that was avoidable.
Somehow, though, we managed to pull back from the brink in 1970 when the civil war ended; but at that point, the total effect of these convulsions had left us significantly paralysed. Nigeria has been on crutches since then, and all attempts by both the military and civilian politicians to restore life into our paralysed limbs have not succeeded. Our growth into