|
Is Nigeria Truly Independent? By Kabiru Inuwa
Candidly speaking, the recent low keyed celebrations of independence and the apparent lack of enthusiasms shown by the generality of the citizens across the length and breath of the country, have amply demonstrated the extent to which Nigerians have become disenchanted with the hopeless situations in the polity.
Today, Nigerians no longer celebrates 1st October with the usual pomp and pageantry.The solemn determination and deep reflections about the state of the nation usually associated with the period is no longer tenable. But what is the reason for this? Could the failure of Nigerians to take adequate stocks of their live be attributed to lack of patriotism as some people are wont to?
Like earlier stated, many analysts have attributed the new phenomenon to lack of patriotism and corruptions, which has completely hampered meaningful progress in the last 48 years.The reasons for the new reality however, goes beyond that realm. In my own view, the clues can be glean primarily from the nature of the flag independence we attained in 1960 which simply transferred the baton of leadership from the white British administrators to their local- blacks’ surrogates, with her majesty the queen of England effectively on the driving seat.
Indeed, if it is possible for our nation’s patriotic founding fathers to rise from the dead in order to take a thorough look at the now completely bastardised country they have sacrificed virtually every things important to liberate from the shackles of British colonialism; the first thing that will readily come to their fertile minds is an instant feeling of dejections and lamentations about the lost opportunities to place Nigeria on a higher pedestals among the comity of advanced and prosperous countries.
And contrary to popular perceptions, the exigencies of the pre-independence period were the sole reason that forced the highly exploitative colonial powers to finally free their erstwhile colonies from their hegemonic control. However, in order to safeguard their voracious demands for mineral resources for their industrial complex, there is the need to devices a new exploitative mechanism to guarantee cheaper supply of raw materials without immediate and long term threat to their survival; Hence, the so-called partial independence which has over the years denied us the chance to attain true national self sufficiency in many aspects of our evolutions as a nation.
Retrospectively, any time I have caused to look at the so-called Nigerian national flag; the green-white-green, what came into my subconscious mind was simply a red and white coloured union Jack of the British kingdom flying at full mast in the nation’s public administrative offices. Because, this ‘invisible’ union jack said to have been lowered permanently In October 1960 and replaced by the ‘apparent/visible’ green-white-green that, contemporary Nigerians usually see adoring our administrative offices is as a matter-of-fact just a smokescreen or rather, a camouflage. Because, the texture and substance of the flag has never change since 1903 when the last portion of the famous Sokoto caliphate was forcefully subdued! May the souls of our heroic fore-fathers who gallantly resisted the marauding invaders continue to rest in absolute peaces, Ameen.
By subjecting many factors of our existence in the last 48 years into perspectives, we can clearly perceive a nation still under extreme colonial bondage! Yes, we are not yet independent in the true sense of the word. Our country lacks so many characteristics of a truly independent and sovereign nation. There is no economic independence of the types practice in some truly independent countries like china, North Korea and Russia that have successfully taken control over the exploitations of their natural resources without undue meddling from any extraneous power. The development plans of yester years were jettisoned in favour of foreign ideas such that an average Briton walking on the street of London is better positioned to enjoy the resources of our country than an average Nigerian.
Furthermore, since the attainment of the so-called independence, our beloved country has not been able to develop a home grown political systems of governance as happens in most countries with similar colonial history like Iran and to some extent the republic of Sudan. Every thing from the various constitutions to the civil service rules and procedures and administrative systems (parliamentary and presidential) has been an alien and un-African contraption.
And apart from late Murtala Muhammed, general Buhari, late general Abacha and to a large extent the pioneer leaders of the first republic, our subservient leaders both military and civilians generally lacks self esteem and proud and independent thought and temperament of the type shown by their contemporaries like Mahmood Ahmedinejad of Iran, Chavez and Vladimir Putin of a resurgent Russia among several others. And this often made them to shiver with tails in-between their legs amidst their peers! The shameful behaviour of the last expired dictator of Otta in front of world leaders, which thoroughly bastardized the honour and esteemed position of the exalted chair he once occupied, is a clear example.
In addition, most of the developed countries around the world use their native languages to realise their full potentials in many facet of life like: technology, medicine and arts. if Nigeria had gotten a true independence as some people stubbornly believed, what prevented her from changing her name from the meaningless ‘Niger-Area’ to something more appropriate and reflective of our diverse cultures and history? Why the foreign language which was imposed on us by the colonialist has not yet gives way to a native language or languages as the case may be in order to begin the process of ascending the ladder of true and all encompassing development? And why do we have to continue with our membership of a colonial contraption-the commonwealth despite having outlived its usefulness and the purpose for which it was originally set up? Why our leaders can not assert their independent judgements on many vital issues of national importance?
To buttress my points further about our nagging colonial bondage, the oil explorations in the Niger-delta is totally control by the western powers. We have never known the actual amount of crude oils that is being exploited on a daily basis to-date. In fact, ours has always been a sorry dependence on the mercy of the multi nationals who simply capitalised on our ignorance to exploit as much oil as they so desire leaving our beleaguered country with a mere stipends! Could this be possible if our leaders are not remotely control and have the courage to assert their independence?
And tell me, which independent country on the surface of earth will condone such atrocious negligence and theft of its resources without the least resistance? And which country apart from Nigeria will subjects her citizens to un-warranted sufferings amidst abundant resources and expect them to be patriotic? And can the recent ceding of bakkasi peninsular to our long term enemy-the Cameroon be possible if we are free from colonial subjugations? Think deeply, fellow Nigerians!
In conclusion, the aforementioned factors are some of the reasons that forced Nigerians to have less regards to the all important date in the history of their beloved country which will have otherwise meant so much to them. Nevertheless, we should all give thank to almighty Allah (S.W.T.) for the superficial independence we now enjoy and even taken for granted. For at least we are a little bit better up than the unfortunate Palestinians. And on this note, I wish our compatriots a happy Sallah and 48th independence celebration in tears!!!!
Kabiru Inuwa Tsakuwa Hausawa Bawo Road, Kano. |