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Nigeria A Toddler At 60

By Haruna Aliyu Usman

What defines maturity is the ability to decipher between what is wrong and right and to practically manifest in one’s behaviour what he learnt while growing up, the long road to maturity begins with learning how to crawl, sit, stand and finally run, at that stage its assumed maturity has crept in, therefore one is expected to exhibit some fine character traits.

The pre-colonial era may have thought the geographical entity now called Nigeria a lesson after it has claimed independence from the colonial master, we have agreed to co-exist as a nation but after the whites left and as well left behind huge infrastructure for the benefits of participating members since then I must confess the post-independence era led by our heroes past did lay a very solid foundation for the upcoming generation what happened afterwards was as a result of immaturity from the so-called advance leadership circle who returned the country back to swim in murky waters.

They dashed the hopes of a technological advancement that will take Nigeria on driving seat, unfortunately at sixty we yet to rise above food because of our inability to provide the basics of life that many nations gone past, at 60 our education is close to the grave, hospitals are mere visiting places as healthcare remain a myth, at 60 our security is a goner lives lost in multitudes the economy at its lowest ebb.

Where then is our maturity or did we left behind the learning process or we allow greed and endemic corruption to drive us back to a toddler stage that is now threatening to consume us as a nation, failed leadership sprang up agitations shaking the very foundation we were meant to build upon, IPOB, AFENIFERE, ODUDUA and a host of other agitators clearly put the country on the defensive when we were supposed to be celebrating a robust economy and an agile system that will be the pride of citizenry but despair and disunity have taken the center stage.

Let us nurture our so-called maturity by leading to give hope to the led in the country until then Nigeria remain a toddler at 60, we have as a matter of fact nothing to celebrate, my heart goes to those who were killed extra judiciously those who fought to get independence for the country remain our heroes, to our gallant slain soldiers at the battlefield in Borno my heart bleeds for them I console their families for the loss, the toddler must mature as we clock 60.

Post-independence tales of Nigeria has largely been of honey and bitter, talking about agricultural revolution when the north grow and harvest cotton and groundnut while the south supplies cocoa and many other cash crops to fund the nation, s budget and the economy, sadly oil boom foolishly forced the leaders then threw overboard our natural endowments what was meant to propel the young country to technological breakthrough but move the nation further backward since the leaders refused to build upon the foundation of prosperity.

Sordid tales of post-independence continues to pull down every stratum of our national life as the immature country watches with scorn as it crumbles like a pack of cards.

Decades of shopping for sound leaders yet to give the desired results as the situation of the citizenry worsens by every transition of government up till today our supposed messiahs are yet to grasp the idea on how best to consolidate the gains of independence hence our reason to be seen by the international communities as a nation that intentionally failed to grow perhaps we need some sort of soul search to really find leaders who mean well to the citizens, those that will nurture the country to full maturity, our independence celebration should have been to mourn victims of failed security architecture and economic suffocation.

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