Nigeria at independence on October 1, 1960, was considered by many as potential giant. This was because, virtually all attributes that could make a nation great was readily available and sufficiently adequate. These attribute which include large geographical size, large population, natural resources as well as the needed socio-political and cultural mobilisation, gave this predisposition and created the undisputed impression that a new super power has arrived in the international horizon.
The predisposition was further enhanced when Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Nigeria’s new Prime Minister, at the forum of the 15th regular session of the UN General Assembly, eloquently articulated the country’s primary but future responsibilities in African and world affairs before the world community on the occasion of her admission as the 99th member of the United Nations Organisation (UNO) on October 7, 1960.
However, not sooner than the ovation that welcome Nigeria’s arrival settled across the world, that internal eruptions like the 1966 coup and counter coups as well as the three year civil war that ended in 1970 completely altered certain initiatives, directions and the entire manifest destiny, thereby weakening the foundation of our unity, valuable national diversity and several attempts at positive developments.
Suffice to emphasise that at 56, Nigeria as a nation ought to have been able to attain and also manifest those potentials, capabilities, persistent assurances and hopes which every subsequent governments in the country have readily identified as the beginning of our national development.
Although certain genuine efforts were made in the past to remobilise our consciousness as one unique nation capable of becoming world power; such evil concepts as corruption, mistrust, institutional inadequacies, lack of congruence between institutional forms, the zero-some contest for political power, irreconcilable ethnic and regional differences, mutual fears and suspicion and the nature of our political culture have continued to negative and interject the need for national cohesion and development, thereby meriting significant reference in the Nigeria’s desire and quest for political and economic Eldorado.
The NIGERIAN OBSERVER therefore, believe that fifty-six (56) years, that is half a century, is more than enough for any nation like Nigeria to substantially realise its potentials, irrespective of the initial challenges that faced the country at independence in 1960.
It is also our belief that the present federal government led by President Muhammadu Buhari and the determined desire to fight corruption remains very commendable. This is because, of all the challenges militating against the overall development of the country, the greatest is the bane of corruption, in addition to insecurity and the cyclical economy problems.
The NIGERIAN OBSERVER perfectly agrees with Mr. President that corruption is a cancer which must be fought with all the weapons at our disposal. This must be done within the context of our legal framework. This is because; corruption in conjunction with recklessness and impunity is capable of corroding the very fabric of every government and can destroy any society.
There is the urgent need to collectively harness every potential, particularly in the spectacle of the country’s huge, intelligent and vibrant population, natural and physical wealth to enable us build a resilient democratic culture and institute a national integration and cohesion, which would help the country to articulate enduring philosophy that can help surmount its recurrent debt overhang and the ever pressing economic crisis it has faced for the past fifty-six (56) years.
We earnestly believe that it is still possible to get out of the woods as fast as we possibly can, only if salient and fundamental key issues such as national question, the leadership question, governance question and economic cum political culture question are adequately engaged in our quest for development.
