Marking of Nigeria’s Independence today from Britain after 59 years offers a time of reflection. To some people, Nigeria has no reason to celebrate as despair and despondency stack on the faces of Nigerians after several leaders have taken Nigeria where it is today. But some other analysts believe that there are still reasons to celebrate.
The civil war of 1967-1970 was principally fought, among other reasons, to keep Nigeria as one. This is because Nigeria will be significant globally if the country maintains the combination of resources and population.
Today, Nigeria, though experiencing various socio-economic and political challenges is a big market in Africa which ia hard to ignore by investors. Nigeria has been recording increase in FDIs principally because of its large market. “For instance, in 2018, the total capital inflows to the country stood at $19.07bn out of which FDI accounted for $7.78bn. Furthermore, total capital flows to Nigeria, from January to May 2019 stood at $14.2bn of which FDI accounted for $2.87bn, representing a 20.18 per cent of the total amount” according to CBN.
Akonte Ekine, CEO of Absolute PR said things may not look rosy today but Nigerians have to look deeper to appreciate the potentials, unity and togetherness in the country. Though there are socio-economic and political difficulties, these could have been worse if Nigeria is not together as a nation, he said
John Ehiguese, CEO of MediaCraft says Nigeria’s potentials cannot be overlooked globally. “When you look at Nigeria’s potentials both human and materials there are reasons to celebrate the country”. He however said that these potentials must be turned into reality.
In spite of challenges of insecurity and poor infrastructure , Nigerians must celebrate existence of life, says Tunde Oyeyode, a social commentator. He also commended majority of Nigerian youth for taking to entrepreneurship and farming instead of tilting to white collar jobs. He asked the government to provide the right environment to encourage this development towards stimulating the economy.
As Nigeria celebrates 59 years of Independence, those who spoke to BusinessDay maintained that the central government has a big responsibility to ensure the realisation of the country’s potentials and total peace.
“To ensure peace and unity in the country, it is important that appointments and construction of projects are made without parochial interest, favouring any ethnic group”, an analyst said.
Speaking recently at a lecture in Minna, former Head of State, Abdulsalami Abubakar also challenged Nigerians across all ethnic and political divides “to raise the bar of peace and always walk the long road to peace in the interest of national unity and development.”
The price of greatness of Nigeria is the responsibility of the government but more importantly of all Nigerians.
Daniel Obi
