As it is the tradition in every nation of the world to celebrate her statehood as a sovereign state on the day she was liberated away from the fang of colonialism, Nigeria took to the stage to celebrate her independence which she got 61 years ago on the 1st day of October,1960
It is an unforgettably wonderful day for every patriotic Nigerian, yet it is also a mirror on the wall through which we can view the true and naked image of our country’s grieved reality.
We live in a world without excellent roads, clean water, reliable power, high-quality education, and a plethora of poverty-related ailments.
It is the strategy of colonial masters to cultivate a germ of troubles in the soil of every country over which they reign, in order to profit from indirect imperialism or neocolonialism.
While departing, British rulers had established the aforementioned approach in Nigeria. Underdevelopment and Civilization are the seeds of these issues.
Underdevelopment is a phenomenon that has been used to hobble the African continent’s moving legs.
After working hard and meticulously, Africans are unable to savour the sweetness of their ripe fruits due to underdevelopment policies.
Woeful leadership, lives and properties under constant threat and attack due to the out-of-control insecurity in the country, foreign currency manipulation, and the export and import of unindustrialized and industrialized resources are all examples of the consequences of underdevelopment that plague the African continent today. No country can progress if it has the infrastructure to process and synthesize its resources, and Nigeria, as an agrarian country, currently lacks access to sophisticated farming gear. We are employing outmoded equipment from industrialized countries like China, Japan, and Brazil. Furthermore, due to the insufficiency of the manufacturing process, we are unable to process locally generated agricultural resources.
We have been tricked in terms of civilization, and we have despised our culture, religions, and societal norms as a result of this deception.
It was a revered literature statue with distinct ancestral values throughout the world prior to the coming of colonial masters in Nigeria. Our fashion sense, socializing, faiths, and leadership abilities are all extremely outstanding. Regrettably, in the name of western civilization, they squandered and ruined all of this hard-won heritage.
Adultery, sodomy, drunkenness, and insulting elders are among the criminal cultures we absorb from the Western world. Before colonization, elderly Nigerians were revered and respected for their wisdom; nowadays, no one gives a damn about their age. We are on our way to becoming fully Westernized!
Many people argue that we are politically and socially independent but not economically; nevertheless, I believe we are not politically independent at all because the government and constitution we use are not really ours.
Our independence is only on paper; we are still ruled by our former colonial ruler, who directs our leaders what to do and how to govern; and our economy is totally reliant on aid, foreign loans, and grants to keep it running and on track.
It is a well-known fact that Nigeria is the number one Consumer-Nation in the world. The only country where arguably everything we see all around us and use on a daily basis is imported from something as unreasonable as a pack of toothpicks, to what have you.
The nation of Nigeria is the dumping ground for “rejected” goods/products of other countries of the world ranging from used and outdated electronic gadgets, automobiles, fabrics and clothing, harmful chemicals sealed up in barrels and shipped down to our port for no just reason, used fabrics and clothing, to mention but a few. Ask many low income earning Nigerians and they will tell you that “Tokunbo” products, the local parlance for used products coming from Overseas, is better and stronger than the brand new equivalent of that particular product because “used” product is all they had ever known all their lives, what they could afford and what is flooding the market since the standard of living keeps falling by the day while minimum wage remains the same and /or keeps dropping to the minimal in most cases.
This year’s Independence Day celebration should have been based more on a sober reflection of how we started of in 1960, where we were then, and where we are now in 2021. How did we get here and how did our lives become so painted in hardship and frustration? Asking a vital question is important but seeking a way out is the next line of action we all need to follow and this goes especially to our political leaders across board.
