NIGERIA AT 62: DEPENDENCE OR INDEPENDENCE

NIGERIA AT 62: DEPENDENCE OR INDEPENDENCE All countries at some point used to be dependent. Some have come out of it but some others remain stuck in the race. Why? The apellation, 'Giant of Africa' did not just fall on Nigeria. It could have been credited to Ghana, South Africa or even Mauritius. However, Nigeria earned it because of huge abundance in human and natural resources, economic size and its rich diversity in tribes and culture. Anyone would expect that with these uniqueness, Nigeria would be sitting among the powerful countries directing the global affairs of the world. However, sixty-two years after gaining political independence, we are still economically dependent. Nigeria is dependent today because of poor leadership. Our leadership style is where the citizens serve the leaders. Welcome to Nigeria where the ruling class derive joy in the suffering of the masses. No wonder Chinua Achebe in his book, 'The trouble with Nigeria' blamed the root cause of Nigeria's backwardness on visionless, clueless and mediocre leaders. Nigeria is dependent because our leaders rely heavily on the western world, predominantly the United states of America (USA) and United Kingdom (UK) for economic and development policies. Nigeria also solicit for foreign aids at any given opportunity. A good instance is during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. Today, Nigeria cannot produce enough goods and services to sustain its citizens and must depend on import. Basically everything we use including broom and packer is from abroad. Mind you, if they were produced in Nigeria, they would receive low patronage as Nigerians consider such goods 'fake or substandard.' Should I talk about our complete dependence on the educational and medical systems abroad? Yes, anytime, any day, a foreign degree will open doors while Nigerian degrees will not. Many companies and even government establishment prefer mediocre foreign “technical experts” to competent Nigerians. And if they must employ Nigerians, they prefer to bring them in from “abroad” and pay them in dollars because they speak and act like a white man. As I write this article, the urge to 'japa' out of the country is the latest Nigerian dream. Our professors, doctors, technocrats, engineers, etc are migrating to other parts of the world in search of better living and work conditions. Those without the financial capacity risk their lives to cross the Mediterranean Sea into Europe. Years after independence, we copy and paste everything the western world does without understanding why they act in those ways. We imitate their style of government,fashion style, arts, and now we are imitating their LGBTQ rights. The worst of it all is that the Nigerian accent is now like a taboo on our radio and TV stations. Moving forward, Nigeria has the potentials to move from a dependent nation to an independent nation. It rises and fall on our leaders to get it right. Someday, we will get there. I, Barnabas Eirekholo, a 200L undergraduate of economics department with matriculation number, PHA/2017/064 wote from Awo cafe.