At sixty-three today, Nigeria is hardly the independent country that she is supposed to be, after being granted political freedom to govern herself in 1960. That is tragic, considering that at the time of independence, the country was indeed thriving among the comity of nations, Now, she is hardly independent in the truest meaning of it, having been stripped of the emblems of economic sovereignty she was endowed with in 1960.

The solid growth prospects, respect in the international community, stable leadership and good governance at the time have all but evaporated. Why and how did this happen? It is easy to point to inept leadership over the years; but corruption of the governing system, through a lingering unitary context inherited from military rule, and sustained by selfish politicians, has equally played a major role. Return to federalism, or rather the practice of true federalism, may be the answer after all.

It is just as well that the federal government has advocated a low key celebration for this year’s Independence anniversary. The truth is that this is a most inauspicious time for any celebration. What with the country’s horde of economic and political problems Nigerians are going through, most of which piled up over the years due to successive inept governments and leadership. Most tragic is that, with the human, natural and material resources God has bestowed on the country, Nigerians ought to be among the world’s developed countries.

It is no consolation that Nigerians are pulling weight all over the world, in politics, medicine, science and sports. The country has not been able to harness these talents to pull Nigeria out of the woods. Rather, the rest of the world is tapping and enjoying our God-given resources.

Notably, Nigeria was in her best element when she had regional governments, and each region engaged in healthy economic competition with the others. Although some steps have been taken towards true federalism with some recent amendments of the Constitution, it is important for the Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration to take stronger measures to further decentralise governance, and let the states take greater charge of their destinies.

When Nigeria addressed the 15th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), for the first time on October 7, 1960, the day she was admitted to the world body as the 99th member, the late Prime Minister Tafawa Balewa exuded freedom and candour. His voice was imposingly deep and full as he laid the principles that would shape the nation’s priorities in engagements with the global community – non-alignment and friendship with all. Nigeria gained respect. The economy at independence was largely agrarian with agriculture accounting for 75% of foreign exchange and 68% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). With an arable land of 36872000ha (40.9 million ha according to World Bank 2021) and good climatic conditions, there was hardly another country with better prospects.

With great foresight, three regional universities were established in addition to that of Ibadan, which was established by the colonial authorities as a University College in 1948. Thus, there was the University of Nigeria (1960); University of Ife (1962) and the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria (1962). Everything seemed set to catapult the country to wherever she desired to be.

The bloody coups of 1966 caused the nation to lose significant focus. The national government that the nationalists painstakingly forged on the basis of equity and mutual respect among the different nationalities was disrupted, leading to three years of civil war. The bloody and devastating nature of that war has left behind a political trauma the nation is struggling to exit from after more than 50 years.

More than that, the carefully laid down regional governance structure was replaced with a unitary system that did not take into account the different developmental pace and attitudes of the regions. While what was negotiated at independence was a federal system, the military foisted a command structure that stole critical thinking process and productivity from the regions. It took over resources and talents that were nurtured in the regions without any sustainable plan to develop them. Thus, agriculture was abandoned while the oil boom years beginning with the oil crisis of 1973 gave Nigeria a false sense of prosperity. But crass mismanagement soon ensured that the backward integration that was envisaged got lost.

Today, Nigeria is a major producer of oil, but she imports every refined product. That is beside the fact that she loses $400 million daily to stolen crude and is unable to meet her quota license given by the producers’ cartel, OPEC. She spends more than 90% of earnings to service debts and borrows more to nourish an over-bloated bureaucracy. The economy is in shambles, and about half of the country is ravaged by acute insecurity masterminded by terrorists, kidnappers, cultists, unknown gunmen with political motivation, and armed robbers. Whereas Nigeria’s naira exchanged with the dollar at 0.958 in 1973, it is inching towards the N1000 mark today. For a nation that is not producing, this is disaster.

On security, Nigeria does not deserve a better toga than that of a failing state. Any state that is unable to protect life and property of citizens is not fit to exist. Security of life and property is the number one constitutional responsibility of a state, and Nigeria has failed in this respect.

The unitary system that was imposed by the military has never worked. Let the government revisit previous discourses on the state of the nation with a view to finding a most efficient system that approximates the country’s differences and commonalities. Nigeria cannot continue to pretend to be what she is not.

What have the succeeding generations of Nigerians made of the dreams of the founding fathers? They have only barstadised the dreams by jettisoning true federalism, as contained in lofty recommendations made in the 2014 National Conference Report; or even that of the Nasir el Rufai restructuring committee set up by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). Yet, without restructuring, Nigerians will just be wasting their time. Each people or nationality should move at their own pace and according to their own light and the regions will learn from one another. The acrimony in the land will not abate until the country is reset.

Fortunately President Bola Tinubu was involved in the struggle for the restoration of democratic order. This is the time to walk the talk. A strong family is one in which every arm of it can fend for itself rather than living on the benevolence of one arm! There is the mistaken conviction that Father Christmas will always be there.

The issue of security and imperative of state police are very important, coming under the devolution of power. The country cannot shy away from state police on the excuse that some governors will abuse it. Rather, opportunities abound to put checks and balances in its implementation The fact that some governors will abuse the outfit ought not stop the responsible ones from taking charge of their states. The journey towards a new Nigeria should start afresh to enable the country return to winning ways.