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By Young Erhiurhoro, Warri
Nigeria attained sixty years of nationhood on October 1, 2020. This really calls for celebration by all Nigerians, both home and abroad. It was a moment of reflection on the past political events and projection into the future events of Nigeria as an independent country.
In between these two thin lines, many Nigerians reacted on the state of the nation. Our media team, therefore, went round local communities in Ughelli, Delta State to speak with the local populace, especially community leaders, on their reactions to the state of the nation. Below is the outcome of our media chats with some of them in the communities visited.
President-General of Uwheru Kingdom, Chief Cassidy Akpedafe, had this to say: “We are truly happy that Nigeria is sixty years old. Sixty years of journey into nationhood is no joke. There are ups and downs along the journey. However, if all Nigerians are asked to point out the problem of Nigeria as a nation, all of us will say, corruption is the primary problem of Nigeria.
“Yes, I will agree that corruption is really the problem of Nigeria. Now, who are the corrupt people in the country? We will again say, our leaders are the corrupt people. They go into government with personal interest. This to some extent is true. But on the other side of the coin, we are all involved in the failure of this country, not moving forward or to where it is supposed to be by now. Therefore, as a community leader, I want to advise all Nigerians to begin to circumcise our thoughts and clean ourselves of the evil in the past.
“Let’s develop a new thought in our hearts of how to contribute our little quota to the development of this country.
“On the Niger-Delta struggle, the Federal Government has perpetually made us the goose that lays the golden eggs but doesn’t benefit from her labour. The NDDC Act should be reviewed to reflect the true problems and pains of the Niger Delta people. With this in place, people will stop nursing divisive tendencies in their hearts.”
President-General of Evwreni Kingdom, Mr. Bright Adjogbe, however said that, “Nigeria is sixty and it’s a diamond jubilee celebration amongst us. We are happy that despite all the political challenges we faced in this country especially the civil war of 1967 to 1970 that would have torn this country apart we overcame them as one indivisible nation.
“Though we still remain as one Nigeria, but on logical assessment of our present status as a nation, it’s nothing to write home about. If this country will tear apart today, it’s as result of the poor leaders we have. Our leaders are not helping us at all. In a situation where political power is concentrated in only one person or group of people, the adjoining parts won’t be happy in the union. And if the centre can no longer hold, then everybody will go to his/her tent. To avoid this ugly drama to play out in this country, our leaders should do the needful to the citizenry.
“Of a special interest to me as a community leader, the Federal Government should embark on even distribution of projects across the country especially for us in the Niger-Delta region. Like in this our area, from Evwreni here down to Uwheru communities, we have no single Federal Government project in this multitude of communities. Yet, we are oil producing communities, contributing greatly to the growth of our GDP and the national treasury. So the Federal Government through the NDDC should remember us here by giving us a federal university or hospital. This is my reaction so far.”
Mr. Friday Diamond, youth chairman, Unenurhie Community, maintained that “as a youth leader in my community, I’m annoyed over this independence celebration of a thing. That Nigeria is sixty years of unemployment, insecurity, lack of education, poor or no health delivery, no electricity, no petroleum products, poor or no accommodation and every trouble you can think of on earth is in Nigeria and yet, I see people especially youths that are jubilating.
“What is the happy thing to celebrate in this country? I so pitied those that are celebrating this country for sixty years of chattered dreams and wasted energy. I have graduated from Nigeria’s higher institution for close to ten years now, and I have no job doing, and somebody who has perpetually tied himself to government is telling me to rejoice with him, when his children are living comfortably well in foreign countries.
“Why will crime not increase in this country on daily basis? The police should stop arresting those yahoo boys. If not that I have disciplined myself, by now, maybe I would have ventured into crime or other evil things in order to survive the hurdles of being a Nigerian.
“We the youths of this country are not happy about our leaders, including this present administration of President Buhari. We need jobs and other social security programmes to protect and secure our future. If truly we are the leaders of tomorrow as they sing everywhere to just pacify our warring nerves; there should be industrial revolution in this country now to create sustainable employment opportunities for us. The agricultural sector should be revatilized and make it an employer of labour.
“The worst calamity to befall us as youths in this country in the nearest future is that, the way our present leaders are ruling our parents and us now, the same way they have already designed to prepare their own children to be our leaders and those of our children tomorrow. Power in one hand can disintegrate the country in a moment, even though they are fighting us with the security agencies. In fact, there is nothing to celebrate in Nigeria for the wasted sixty years,” he said.
The community leaders our team visited were of the view that the present administration led by President Mohammadu Buhari should focus on burning national issues of insecurity, education, power and agriculture in the remaining part of his government that would terminate in 2023. According to them, Nigeria would be placed in the right position as the giant of Africa if only the Buhari government and incoming governments pursue vigorously the key sectors listed above.
