NIGERIA AT 62: DEPENDENCE OR INDEPENDENCE

Name: Adebayo Inioluwa Elizabeth Department: Economics NIGERIA AT 62: DEPENDENCE OR INDEEPENDENCE Nigeria at sixty two (62) years of independence can we are really independent because Nigeria, is still expecting experiencing a tough journey to nationhood. Before I proceed, let’s check out what it means to be dependent or independent. According to Merriam Webster Dictionary, “Dependence” is the quality or of being influenced or determined by or subject to another, one that is relied on. While “Independence”’ is the quality or state of not being subject to control by others, not requiring or relying on something else .In Political Science when we talk about a dependent territory, dependent area, or dependency (sometimes referred as an e external territory) it is a territory that does possess political independence or sovereignty as a state yet remain politically outside the controlling state integral area. A dependent territory, conversely, maintain, a certain degree of autonomy from its controlling state. Historically, most colonies were considered to be dependent territories which Nigeria was once an example which was colonized by the Britain or British government Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite is the status of a dependent territory. The commemoration of the independence day of a country or a nation celebrates when a country from all forms of foreign colonization; free to build a country without any interference from other nations. An individual of sixty two (62) years of age is no longer a child; such a person should have achieved a number of reasonable things (in the world at large).Nigeria at sixty two (62), several years after independence, appears to be retrogressing in virtually every sector, lagging in basic services of a government to the people, and losing control or sharing some of its territories with non-state sectors, who almost succeeded in bringing government to its knees,` using banditry, kidnapping and insurgency. Meanwhile, unemployment, political uncertainty as well as the insecurity of live and property have been identified as some of the compelling factors for a mass exodus of educated and skillful youth of the country. Nigeria’s kind of politics is described as “buccaneering” by Tietie which only believes in grabbing power for selfish reasons. Let us capture the power and use it to get profit anyhow we can to serve personal interest, so nation building has been completely lost since the Second Republic. That is the reason why the country keep going down. As years go by, we have record of going downward in service and national interest. We just keep falling in national cohesion, the people are pulled apart. Example is the issue of the faction (Biafra, Oduduwa, and Arewa) going on presently in Nigeria. Nigeria was supposed to be an extra-ordinarily rich country considering its human and capital resources. Yet, one finds the unprecedented number of Nigeria who wants to leave the country, not because they are in search but because they are in search of better environment that promise resource and certainty as they develop as a people. So where is the peace, stability and order that government is supposed to provide? The government is falling and that consequently describes Nigeria as a failed state. Consequently, Nigeria’s educational sectors is nothing to write home about where student have to stay put at home, forever eight months due, to the prolonged ASUU (Academic Staff Union Of Universities) strike. The Nigeria education system keeps frustrating ambitions and aspirations with the frequent culture of disruption to the processing of acquiring knowledge. The number of time ASUU as gone on strike in the last 23 years is enough to earn a student a bachelor’s degree, in an uninterrupted academic setting which makes it the 16th time recently. In the Nigeria context, a strike is seen as the the last resort when all other efforts have proved abortive. It is common knowledge that the only language that e Nigeria government understand strike. However this action comes with some unpleasant effect on the affected sector. Asuu strike has done more harm than good 0n the education sector sector with student bearing most of the accruing costs from the occurrences. As a result of the regular strikes, most student resort to venturing into tons of opportunity to earn stipends which make education less interesting. Aside from the increasing rate of school dropouts, not in a few citizens have lost hope in the Nigeria educational system. Parents who can afford to send their children abroad for education are now doing so and those who cannot afford the bills register their children in privately owned universities in the country. Embarking on strike causes student to spend more time than the statutory duration in school. This has an effect on the employment pattern where the age is an important consideration for entry level jobs. An increase in youthful crime and immorality is not unrelated to the incessant ASUU strikes. The Nigeria youth deserves better! Similarly, the Nigeria’s health system is in a poor state, and this is traceable to several factor especially the grass underfunding of the health sector and shortage of skilled medical personnel at the primary health care level. Nigeria is one of the several major health staff-exploiting countries in Africa. As a result of inadequate infrastructure, and poor compensation package, a sizeable number of physician, nurses, and other medical professionals are lured away to developed countries in search of fulfilling and lucrative positions. Related to brain drain is the problem of geographical distributions of health care professionals. There is a disproportionate, concentrate of medical professionals in urban areas. Health worker is under sieved area usually have motivational problem at work which maybe reflected in a lot of circumstance, but common manifestation includes: lack of courtesy to patience, failure to turn at work and high level of absenteeism, poor process quality such as failure to conduct proper patient examinations and, failure to treat patient In a timely manner. With a disability adjusted life expectancy (DALE) of 38.3 years and the rank of 187 on the World Health Report 2000, the performance of the Nigeria health system is worse than many sub-saharan countries. Nigeria is an import-dependent country, indeed a dumping ground for all manner of industrial consumables from different countries is well known. The country produce merely a fraction of what is uses, while the rest are imported. The industrial sector is a comatose, thereby forcing the country to virtually depend on importation. Director-General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control. (NAFDAC), Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye’s recent disclosure, that to prevent of medicine used in Nigeria, are imported while, only 30 percent are produced locally is another disclosure, that tells a gory tale about our system failure that keeps failing. All manner of foreign products are being pushed into the country without hindrance. Vehicles, tyres textiles and clothing, footwear, machine and electrical materials, furniture, household wares, auto-spares, used and unused, just name it. There is practically nothing that is not imported to Nigeria. Nigeria’s once bustling industrial productive, sector took a dramatic plunge after the environment became harsh and unconducive for productivity, which forced many industrial concerns to close shop and and move to neighboring countries. In conclusion, the most critical factor is the collapse of the power sector, which most sector, which most inventors need most. There is indeed collapse of critical infrastructure, including roads and ports, which have forced some multinational industrial concerns in the continent. As a matter of fact, the situation is worsening. There is no improvement in power supply while the road infrastructure remains appalling. The issue is about Nigeria’s lack of capacity of self reliance. The challenge before, the government is how turn the situation around. The trouble is how to revamp the comatose industrial sector and boost the economy. It is only then then that the country would be less dependent on the importation of everything we need. In the main fixing the power sector alone would be a major incentire to industrial rejuvenation. But sadly, the power sector revival remains a bridge, still to far. Where then we go from her as we celebrate just the number, Nigeria at 62: When do we celebrate achievement in concrete terms? Nigeria, though an independent country. I can say totally we are dependent.