In Nigeria as we mark the 64th anniversary of our independence as a sovereign nation on Tuesday October 1, 2024, there are pertinent questions we must pose to ourselves, individually and collectively. Have we fared better? Have we been more patriotic? Have we been more secure? Have we pulled more people out of hunger and poverty? The list of questions is endless and it is our sincere desire to address them that will determine how this country will move forward in good governance and development beyond tomorrow.
Prior to our independence in 1960, agriculture was the mainstay of the Nigerian economy, which generated external reserves for the country. There was regional governance and the three regions at the time exhibited healthy competition in development; as the North thrived on its groundnut pyramids, the West on coccoa and the East on palm produce. There were regional development corporations which were established to monitor revenue inflows and they assisted their respective governments in mapping out broad development plans.
Education as the bedrock for development was given priority attention particularly in the West and the East, as the North paid more attention to agrarian revolution. The curricula for primary and secondary education were tailored to produce manpower to support the public sector, just as tertiary institutions sprang up in various parts of the country to produce higher level manpower. Most admissions into these institutions were based on merit and this encouraged scholarship and healthy competition for the available job functions and positions.
Healthcare efforts addressed the needs of the urban and rural communities as there were equipped hospitals, healthcare centres, dispensaries, maternities and domestic home visits by government officials to ensure safe housekeeping practices and healthy lifestyles.
Infrastructure development received government attention as the limited number of roads, railway systems and waterways attracted regular maintenance, as evidenced by the ubiquitous presence of the PWD [Public works department] personnel as they religiously mended roadside potholes and tracks. Yes, the population was fewer, traffic density was also less, but all the same, there was concerted effort to maintain existing infrastructure and provision of an enabling environment for growth and development.
Let us now attempt a comprehensive comparative analysis between then and today. Petroleum resources, discovered and produced just before independence, ended up displacing agriculture as the mainstay of the Nigerian economy, bringing forth an enormous generation of petrodollars, which turned around to becloud our attention to agriculture and solid minerals resources. Petroleum resources are finite and pose negative impacts on our delicate natural environment during their exploration and exploitation. Today we are thus licking our wounds and ruing the dependence on a volatile mono-economy with our rising population density, as we now face unprecedented multi-dimensional poverty in the country.
These consequences have today left damaging impacts on education, healthcare, infrastructure development and insecurity on the land. Resources when not properly developed and utilised will remain a mirage towards economic growth and national development. Is it not inexplicable that a country richly endowed with petroleum resources, that built four refineries which had started in the 60s and 70s, abandoned them over two decades ago, preferring to import petroleum products; at the same time mortgaging its crude oil reserves to service increasing external debts, and thus running the national economy aground. Having abandoned the solid minerals sector all these years, and having failed to frontally confront insecurity challenges in the Nigerian food belt, the farmers were thus forced to abandon their farms, resulting in the current unprecedented food insecurity. This is exactly where we are today. Have we added value to economic development and national growth in the past 64 years? This is the critical question the Nigerian Leadership and Followership must address after the euphoria of Tuesday October 1, 2024 celebrations.
•Sir Jonas writes from Abuja
