Fellow Nigerians,
It’s that point of the yr the place we mark yet one more Independence Day. It’s each a blessing and a burden to be alive and to reside by way of one other chapter in our nationwide story. We collect in ceremony and celebration, with flags, parades and speeches throughout states and, in fact, in Abuja. However past the festivity, it’s really a day we have to ask ourselves, what sort of independence have we really gained?
Please, don’t misconstrue this to be an try to diminish our sovereignty, however a needed query for a individuals who should look actually at their journey. At independence, our aspirations had been easy and noble: that Nigerians would govern themselves, handle their very own assets, and construct establishments that served the folks. Self-rule was imagined to imply greater than flag-waving; it was meant to ship training, well being, safety, meals, justice and alternative. But when we decide our progress by these requirements, can we actually say that independence has translated into significant freedom for the common Nigerian?
Certainly, we declared ourselves free from British colonial rule in 1960, and ever since, we’ve ruled ourselves. But freedom in title is hole if it isn’t matched by freedom in substance, freedom from poverty, from illness, from insecurity, from ignorance. Self-governance with out progress is a merciless joke.
Take the Nigerian economic system, for example; one of many clearest measures of progress is per capita earnings, which divides nationwide output by inhabitants. During the last decade, Nigeria has witnessed a stunning reversal. In keeping with a current media report, between 2014 and now, common per capita earnings has fallen from about US$3,223 to roughly US$877, a decline of almost 73 p.c. This collapse signifies that whilst nominal GDP could develop, the common Nigerian is getting poorer. The World Financial institution locations Nigeria at 146th out of 191 international locations in GDP per capita, whereas the IMF has ranked us among the many 12 poorest nations on this planet by the identical measure.
Behind these numbers is human struggling. Greater than 40 p.c of Nigerians reside under the nationwide poverty line, representing over 82 million folks, whereas multidimensional poverty, which mixes deprivation in training, well being, and dwelling requirements, impacts over 63 p.c of the inhabitants. Oxfam estimates that greater than 112 million Nigerians reside in poverty. That is staggering for a rustic that’s Africa’s largest oil producer and one of many continent’s largest economies. Independence, on this sense, has not translated into liberation from need.
Inequality additional distorts the image. The richest Nigerians have grown obscenely rich whereas hundreds of thousands stay trapped in destitution. The Gini coefficient stands at about 0.35, however beneath that statistic lies a brutal actuality: the highest 10 p.c of Nigerians earn 42 p.c of nationwide earnings, whereas the highest one p.c alone earn thirty-seven occasions greater than the underside half mixed. Research counsel that inequality, greater than unemployment or inflation, has pushed the rise of poverty in Nigeria. Independence was meant to finish exploitation, but our personal buildings have entrenched it.
Training and well being are equally grim indicators. Nigeria as we speak has the best variety of out-of-school youngsters on this planet, with greater than 10 million youngsters of school-going age excluded. Those that are at school typically face poor studying outcomes, with many unable to learn or do primary arithmetic on the finish of major training. The World Financial institution estimates {that a} baby born in Nigeria as we speak can be solely 36 p.c as productive as they may very well be with entry to high quality training and well being, the seventh lowest determine globally.
In healthcare, the statistics are simply as damning. Public well being spending stays solely about 4 p.c of GDP. Life expectancy is among the many lowest on this planet, and preventable ailments proceed to assert 1000’s of lives. Outbreaks like diphtheria, which not too long ago triggered greater than 1,200 deaths, expose systemic vulnerabilities. Thousands and thousands of Nigerians are pushed into deeper poverty every year as a result of they have to pay catastrophic medical payments out-of-pocket. These usually are not markers of a nation that has really freed itself.
Meals safety is one other take a look at of sovereignty, and right here once more we fail. Regardless of huge arable land and a beneficial local weather, almost 31 million Nigerians are experiencing acute meals insecurity this yr, in accordance with the United Nations. Agriculture contributes about 23 p.c of our GDP, however productiveness per hectare is low, post-harvest losses are monumental, and insecurity continues to drive farmers off their land. Inflation, foreign money instability, and poor infrastructure compound the disaster. In a land the place the soil might feed the continent, starvation has develop into widespread.
After which there’s insecurity. No measure of freedom is significant if residents reside in concern of violence. From insurgency within the northeast to banditry within the northwest, herder-farmer clashes within the center belt, kidnappings within the south, and robberies in every single place in between, insecurity is a nationwide plague. Thousands and thousands have been displaced, livelihoods destroyed, and communities left on the mercy of armed teams. This isn’t the liberty our founding fathers envisioned.
Governance and corruption stay the best betrayals of independence. At independence, the promise was management with integrity. However for many years, our leaders have squandered assets and mortgaged the longer term. Oil revenues that ought to have remodeled our infrastructure, faculties, and hospitals have too typically been stolen or mismanaged. Establishments meant to safeguard accountability are weak, and political workplace has too typically develop into a automobile for personal enrichment quite than public service. We declare the privilege of constructing our personal selections, however too typically these selections profit the few on the expense of the various.
Taken collectively, these failures reveal a sobering reality: we’re unbiased in title, however in substance we stay shackled. No colonial governor guidelines us as we speak, however poverty, ailing well being, starvation, violence, and corruption bind hundreds of thousands in chains as actual as these of the previous. The tragedy of our independence is that whereas the Union Jack not flies over our soil, too many Nigerians reside lives as restricted and precarious as they did beneath overseas rule.
But this needn’t be the ultimate phrase. If independence is to imply something, we should act to redeem it. Which means reorienting the economic system to ship inclusive development, investing in value-added industries quite than exporting uncooked supplies, supporting small and medium enterprises, and stabilising our macroeconomic surroundings. It means deep reforms in training and well being: making studying outcomes, not simply enrollment, the precedence; increasing common well being protection; and investing in early childhood diet and care. It means strengthening social security nets and redistributive mechanisms in order that inequality doesn’t hole out society. Above all, it means confronting corruption and insecurity with seriousness, rebuilding belief in public establishments, and imposing the rule of legislation.
Independence just isn’t merely for leaders. Residents, too, should demand accountability, resist the lure of ethnic and spiritual politics, and interact actively in civic life. Independence with out accountability is a betrayal of our personal future. Our media, civil society, and establishments should act not as cheerleaders for energy however as watchdogs for the folks.
As we elevate our flags and sing our anthems, allow us to not deceive ourselves. We can not maintain celebrating rituals whereas the substance of independence stays elusive. At the present time ought to be a name to conscience, not a consolation for complacency. If we wish the following 65 years to be completely different from the final, we should construct a Nigeria the place independence is felt within the classroom, the hospital, the farm, the market, and the house. We should construct a rustic the place freedom is not only the absence of colonial rulers, however the presence of justice, dignity, alternative, and prosperity for all.
So, fellow Nigerians, I ask once more: what sort of independence did we really acquire? If the reply is barely symbolic, then our process is to make it substantive. The flag will imply little till each Nigerian baby can dream and each Nigerian grownup can reside with dignity. Could God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and will our independence in the future be as actual as we proclaim. Joyful sixty fifth Independence Anniversary.
Chukwuemeka Ezike is a public affairs commentator and analyst. A passionate Nigerian, he’s dedicated to utilizing his voice to problem nationwide complacency and encourage conversations that result in accountability and progress
