"Life doesn't end for the incurable optimist who sees black as a dirty white! Life doesn't happen to the blind pessimist who feels bad when he feels good for the fear that he will feel worse when he feels better!"- 'Tosin Ayo
Today marks the 54th year that the world's most populous black nation, Nigeria became an Independent nation! It was a long and tortuous journey to the flag, administrative and political independence and I will briefly but cogently trace our history from the events prior to independence to refresh our memories, moreso that a people who do not have the privilege of history have no chance in the future! If we do not know where we are coming from, we are deprived of the knowledge of where we are heading!
Consequent on the 'capture' and colonisation of the place now known as Nigeria by the British overlords in the 18th century, in the year 1914, there was a merger of the Northern and Southern protectorates by Lord Frederick Lugard for administrative convenience in what is called 'Amalgamation' in political jurisprudence. From the year 1923, the Nigerian legislative council with jurisdiction over Lagos and the Southern Provinces was formed, Nigerians held several dialogue sessions with the colonial administration run by the British government over the possibility of the devolution of administrative powers to the nationalists. In the year 1954, the Lyttleton constitution established Niger Area as the Nigerian federation comprising three regions namely Northern, Western and Eastern regions with Lagos as the Federal territory under the control of the central Government. In the year 1957, not only did the clamour for independence continue, there was a resumption of the Constitutional Conference at Lancaster House in London and the Western and Eastern regions became formally self-governing units under the Parliamentary system of Government. It is pertinent to note the role of the principal actor in our national independence struggle, Mr. Herbert Macaulay frequently referred to as the father of Nigerian nationalism. He was the leader of the defunct Nigerian National Democratic Party (NNDP) who equally aroused political consciousness through his Lagos Daily News, a vibrant newspaper. Other nationalist of his ilk include Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe who later became the Premier of the Eastern region and Nigeria's pioneer President, Chief Obafemi Jeremiah Awolowo who later became Premier of the Western Region and the President Nigeria never had! Sir Ahmadu Bello of the Northern region and importantly, Chief Anthony Enahoro who is known in Nigerian history for moving the motion for Nigeria's independence in the year 1956.
Nigeria the oil-rich black giant is a largely pluralistic, multi-ethnic nation comprising many people of different ideologies, idiosyncrasies, differing opinions, varying culture, dissimilar religion and diverse languages. The name 'Nigeria' is a nomenclature coined from the phrase- 'Niger area' symptomatic of the prominent River Niger which runs through the country. The name was conferred on the geographical space now called Nigeria by Lord Frederick Lugard's girlfriend who later became his wife, Dame Flora Shaw in the year 1897. Perhaps the most unique nature of the Nigerian nation is her diversity. There is beauty and unity in diversity in her many ethnic, linguistic and religious groups. By accident of historical association, the Nigerian nation inherited the latch of the British government which rubbed off on its rich past and history.
The Emergence of Nigeria as an independent nation is laced with myriads of activities and notable milestones. It became so surreal when on October 1st, year 1960 A.D, the British national flag otherwise known as the 'Union Jack' which epitomised the British government's hitherto sovereign rule over Nigeria was lowered over the Nigerian territory in order to pave way for the Nigerian green-white-green flag to be hoisted in its stead to herald the advent of Nigeria as a sovereign state and an independent country to be ruled henceforth only by Nigerians. We were thus allowed to determine our fate and future by ourselves. The 1960 constitutioin established a Federal Government structure based on the Parliamentary system for the nation. The Federal Parliament made up of the Senate (the upper chambers) and the House of Representatives (the lower chambers) was created whilst the House of Assembly (lower house) and the House of Chiefs (upper house) were created at the regional levels. In the same year 1960, the office of Governor-General was created with the weight of ceremonial powers and it was occupied by Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe until the designation of the office was changed to Presidency when the nation became a Republic on October 1st, 1963 whilst the office of Prime Minister was created as the Head of Government with more administrative powers and it was occupied by Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa.
Admittedly, Nigeria has not had a smooth sail of good governance, much of self-elected government and unbridled peace since its post-colonial era as it has been in the throes of a mindless and avoidable civil war that claimed the lives of many citizens mainly of her igbo nationality, but Nigeria is now on a sure-footed path of political determination, democratic excellence and economic growth. The dramatic, bizarre, shocking and bloodletting overthrow of the first democratic government in January 1966 and the consequent reprisal in the mould of a counter-coup in July of the same year sparked off a life-ending, 'nationism'-questioning and sovereignty-threatening political crisis that culminated in the nihilistic civil war from July 1967 to January 1970. The war was predicated on the touted proclamation by the then Governor of the Eastern Region, Col. later ceremoniously made General Chukwuemeka Odimegwu Ojukwu that the people of Eastern Nigeria would no longer be governed by any government outside the Eastern Nigerian government in what is now known as 'Biafra'. With the consequent defeat of the Biafran Army by the Nigerian troops under the steel rulership of General Yakubu Gowon, the disappearance into exile of Ojukwu and the post civil war policy of reconciliation, reconstruction and rehabilitation embarked upon to re-unite a divided Nigeria which birthed the National Youth Service Corps Scheme in 1973, Nigeria became more resolved to remain one indivisible political entity.
The Nigerian people also groaned continually under the despicable yoke of military stranglehold under successive military dictators as their incursion into national governance was a misnomer in the first place due to their deserting their primary role of securing the territorial integrity of the Nigerian nation against internal and external aggression for national administrative rulership!
Nigeria as the Giant of Africa occupies a vantage big-brother position to many African nations. She has restored peace and tranquility to the shores of many African nations. Nigeria has led Africa to end military dictatorships and illegitimate and unconstitutional reigns of ruin in many parts of Africa. Nigeria was a crucial factor in the stabilisation of crisis in Congo now Zaire in the 1960's. Nigeria had the most personnel and made the highest financial contribution to the operation deployed during the Chadian conflict in the year 1979. Nigeria did not only encourage the Economic Community of West African States' ECOWAS monitoring group during the Liberian civil war of 1989 but also provided 80% of the funding and 70% of the troops required for the military operation. Our dear country, Nigeria was at the forefront of restoring peace and quietude to Sierra Leone in 1991. It achieved similar feats in Cote d'ivoire and Mali. In the year 2003, Nigeria through its vibrant Army led the peace-keeping force in Liberia as part of the ECOWAS mission in Liberia and led the African Union mission in Darfur, Sudan providing over 2,000 out of the total 22,000 peace-keeping troops deployed and being the single largest national contingent deployed to quell the crisis in the war-torn nation the same year.
Furthermore, the peculiar position of Nigeria as an independent nation of tremendous influence cogently enabled her to perform keyroles in the gradual decolonisation of Africa and the struggle to put paid to settler colonialism, local displacement, misrule, national racism and Apartheid in South Africa. Nigeria in conjunction with other newly independent nations pulled themselves together as an impregnable fortress to form the Organisation of African Unity, (OAU) in the year 1963. This body later changed name and became the African Union with the objective of fostering political freedom, genuine independence and economic development of African nations. Not only was Nigeria the most important nation in the struggle for the independence of Angola and Mozambique, it contributed to the abolition of Apartheid in South Africa and settler colonialism in Zimbabwe. It is then not surprising that based on all these unquantifiable contributions to continental and indeed global peace, Nigeria was elected a Non-permanent Representative in the UN Security Council for the 5th time running!
With Nigeria occupying the position of the nation with Africa's largest economy, the future is very bright! We have the unique combination of the human resources and the natural wealth, the massive population and market for investment, economic growth and capacity for development! Prior to Nigeria's independence, the economy was driven primarily by the duo of Agriculture and mining. Crude oil was discovered in Nigeria in the year 1956. But with the advent of the oil boom in the 1970's, attention was shifted from Agriculture and Nigeria has since become a nation with an oil-dependent economy! Our regrettable loss of productivity premised on abandonment of our farmlands led to a gross reduction in our foreign exchange earnings as we now import almost everything including petroleum products whilst we export nothing but crude oil. This naturally had implication on our balance of trade, balance of payment, Gross Domestic Product, GDP and our per capita income. Be that as it may, Nigeria's oil insdustry remains a dominant dictator in the African sub region and highest revenue earning resource of about 70% for the Nigerian state. Nigeria being the nation with the largest oil reserves in Sub-saharan Africa with over 36billion barrels onshore and offshore, it remains Africa's biggest oil producer and 6th largest oil producer in the world with a staggering output of close to 2.5million barrels per day! Despite the touted skirmishes and pockets of insecurity in North Eastern Nigeria, she remains a hot investment destination attracting Foreign Direct Investments, FDIs from Foreign Investors with a whooping 7% increment in annual economic growth over the past three years. There is serious growth in Agriculture, rail infrastructure, Building and construction, considerable manufacturing and the financial sectors through several policies of government and moves have begun on exploring the commercial viability of the solid mineral deposits in large quantities of Coal, Tin, Iron Ore, Copper, Lead, Zinc, Titanium, et al found in various parts of the country.
We blow our problems out of proportion in this part of the world! The western world is not without its issues! America has been in existence as a self-determining confluence of nation for close to two hundred and sixty (260) years! Rome was not built in a day! We are only 54years old for crying out loud! Where were great countries like UK, France, U.S.A, Germany and Russia at 54years? Nigeria must be left to grow into greatness! We should celebrate our strength and identify our weakness, work on them and be a great nation indeed! We must not just forget our differences, we must understand them! Europe as beautiful as it looks and sounds has slums! Beggars beg for alms at the city mall and glover boulevard in London and Scotland! Armed robbers rob, maim and kill in America and Asia! 'Stealing' and 'Corruption' are English words which are known to their jurisdiction. It is presumably their invention! I have given alms to social destitutes in Aberdeen, Paris, Amsterdam, Frankfurt and Shanghai! We are not the worst hit in the assembly of nations! That some nations have the media advantage and the wide sentimental coverage of Cable News Network that only showcases our flaws, corruption, battered image, slums and destitutes whilst turning a blind camera to our strength, sense of purpose, isolated cases of extreme honesty, individual achievements of inspiring stories, the serenity of Abuja, the commercial viability of and massive population in Lagos, the tourism potentials of our warm spring, imposing mountains, unbelievably awe-inspiring caves, wonderful game reserves, African literature, highrise buildings, stupendous wealth and principled ideologues have altogether made matters worse! When our negative side is showcased to the world, our deep cultural heritage and beautiful work of Arts like the Nok terracotta, the Igbo Ukwu bronze casting, the Opele Ifa, the Agbamurere insignia, the Ife terracotta and Archeological bronze, the Sango's thunder figurine, the Hausa's ancestral Papa and the Benin Art and unique regalia should equally be showcased to the world! Nigeria is indeed facing terrorism and insurgency but we are still safer than the middle east and the extremely dangerous America where one quarter of the world's arms and ammunition are in the hands of their private citizens! Tsunami, land mines, September 11, Boston explosion and Earthquakes didn't occur in Nigeria. In America, we've seen psycopaths who go unprovoked to cinema houses to protest the people's happiness by releasing hot shots of bullets on all the guests. At less than 20,000 recorded deaths in the cold and gruesome hands of Boko Haram insurgents, it is a sad child's play compared to the millions of jews, human beings of several nationalities killed in their millions by a European like Adolf Hitler!
Nigeria is blessed with several talents. In the year 1986 in faraway Oslo, Norway, one of our very own, Professor Wole Soyinka stood tall to receive the Nobel prize for literature as the first Black African to be so honoured. Professor Chinua Achebe, a Nigerian wrote 'Things fall Apart' which is arguably Africa's most popular Novel of African extraction, a classic literature told with an engaging frankness and translated into well over 80 languages all over the world since it was first published in 1958. Nigeria is the source of Veteran Hollywood Actors like Chiwetel Ejiofor. Nigeria has produced veteran authors, poets and Novelists known all over the world like D.O Fagunwa, J.P Clark, Niyi Osundare, Femi Osofisan, Ken Saro-Wiwa, Mabel Segun, Cyprian Ekwensi, Ben Okri, our own Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Sefi Atta, Helon Habila, Sehinde Arogbofa and Ola Rotimi. The first black provost/Vice-Chancellor of the University of Illinois, USA, Professor Adesida from Ondo state is a Nigerian. With the success recorded in the film industry which is the 2nd largest in the world, the music industry arguably Africa's best, the media and the unprecedented growth of religion (The single largest church auditorium and the single largest congregation for Christ are both in Nigeria), one is not in doubt about the spirit of excellence upon Nigeria and Nigerians. We should therefore celebrate the undoubtedly rich cultural, literary and artistic heritage of the Nigerian nation.
We should celebrate because of the personal determination to succeed at all cost, the relentless spirit of hardwork and industry, the unshaking belief in the glowing future of our dear country, the 'unbreakability' of the strong Nigerian spirit despite all odds, the limitless hope expressed in the emergence of a great country by Nigerians and the numerous accomplishments of the dreams of you and I. We should celebrate not because we are where we ought to be yet but because we are no longer where we used to be! We should celebrate because we have life as Nigerians and he who has life has hope! We must renew our resolve to give birth to a Nigeria we can all be proud of. We must continually believe in Nigeria, pray for Nigeria and most importantly, contribute our best towards making Nigeria a better place for every Nigerian. The task of changing Nigeria for the better is not for our political leaders alone! Every hand must be on deck! We have a cause to celebrate because with Independence, we are now opportune to fall and rise, to learn, unlearn and relearn, grow, develop and expand, to recognise the marked distinction betwixt freedom and independence! Captors declare captives free from captivity- that is freedom and it is given! Independence is a mental state-no one can give it, it must be attained! We must celebrate because we have so much to be thankful for as a nation. We have a cause to celebrate because we are Nigerians.
God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Happy Independence Anniversary!
By Tosin Ayo
Tosin Ayo is a columnist of 'The Unknown Nigeria'
Tosin Ayo is a columnist of 'The Unknown Nigeria'
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