There Is Hope

ORDINARILY, many Nigerians will not see any need to celebrate today. The reason is obvious. At 48, Nigeria is yet to find her feet and take her rightful place in the comity of nations.

NIGERIA has remained at the bottom rung of the development ladder due to several years of military and civil misrule and dictatorship.

DEMOCRATIC rule which majority of Nigerians clamoured and fought for with their blood has not translated into anything economically and infrastructurally meaningful, particularly during the past nine years of the present democratic experiment.

ALTHOUGH the military slowed down our democratization process and set it back many years, the military alone cannot take all the blame for the politically and economically comatose state of the nation.

THE political leaders equally share a large part of the blame. Due to selfish interests, our political leaders have exploited those things that divide rather than unite the nation.

FOR them, such a strategy is necessary to provide cover for their wanton attack on the nation’s resources. Thus, the nation is an exercise in corruption and embezzlement of public funds, a development which has placed the nation on the top rung as one of the most corrupt nations on earth.

AT the home front, this has translated into poverty, misery and marginalisation of the downtrodden masses. In effect, the ruling class has been the beneficiary of the disunity and lack of co-ordinated economic and political development of the country.

THUS, after several decades as an oil producing nation, Nigerian has remained a net importer of fuel and kerosene. Indeed, it is a shame that kerosene and fuel queues have remained the order of the day, 48 years after flag independence. The perceived marginalisation is also responsible for the crisis in the Niger-Delta, where the people are fighting for a fairer share of oil wealth.

TO watchers outside the shores of this country, that Nigeria has remained a single entity in spite of the several years of military and political misrule.

THAT, however, is an indication that God himself is interested in the Nigerian project.

THE coming of the present civilian government in 1999, in particular gave Nigerians so much expectations even though many critical Nigerians were cautious in their expectations.

THE many crises that have greeted the present civilian administration have, no doubt, created the impression that Nigerians have not shown any readiness to embrace democracy.

BUT such crises are to be expected. Having been caged by several years of dictatorship, it was a natural reaction for Nigerians to express their freedom in such a way that resulted in the many crises.

NO doubt, President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua is not perfect and must have disappointed certain persons and certain sections of the country through his slow pace of administration. But we hold the view that he, and many of the political actors, can still wake up from their slumber and give Nigeria purposeful leadership.

AT any rate, the reactions of concerned Nigerians to burning national issues are clear indications that they want this present democratic experiment to succeed.

THE NIGERIAN OBSERVER is therefore not discouraged by the goings-on in Nigeria. As far as we are concerned, there is hope.

WE therefore wish Nigeria a happy 48th independence anniversary and call on all to reflect on our past mistakes so that we can, together, put the country back on the path of progress.

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