NIGERIA: The Journey So Far. By Babs Adeola

Nigeria has been in search of progress and development since October 1st, 1960 when Nigeria got her Independence from Britain.

The journey ought to be a transition from bad people and eventually lead to the desires of good people, and that was the desire of our founding fathers.


Independence broke the bonds of Colonialism, freeing Nigeria to be a sovereign state, to practice free will and to determine her own fate. 57 years after independence and 16 years of uninterrupted democratic government, What has independence produce?

Nigeria seem to be in extended infancy when you consider Official corruption, rigging, Assassination, Unemployment, Militancy, Terrorism and lot of evils in our society.

October 1st 1960 was a dawn of new hope in Nigeria. All was set to engender a new beginning for Nigeria with the demise of the colonial masters. Hope was high that all will be well within a short period.

When we got our independence, everyone believed things would work out.

Independent Nigeria had its problem, prominent was the civil war that ravaged Nigeria, otherwise known as "Biafran war". Eventually, Nigeria survived and the war ended.

The 70th's was the era of oil, the country was so rich that the president declared that "the problem of the country was not how to get money but how to spend the
money". As insane as the comment was, truly there was so much money except that it was eventually squandered.

Some years ago, our currency was so strong that it was more valuable than the U.S dollar, but what do we have today? Our economy has plummeted and our Naira is useless.

Nigeria of yesterday excelled in all field, our universities were all equipped and students received the best education. We heard of the exploit of the first generation universities like Obafemi Awolowo University, University of Ibadan among others. Today, the glories of these schools are in decline, with archaic libraries with antiquated books and laboratories. One can only hope for a better tomorrow.

We heard of huge amounts budgeted every year for road construction and maintenance for the Health sector, Agriculture, Education, Security etc... But there is nothing to show for all these.

Our health facilities are not improving, our roads are death traps and our education sector is collapsing, senior government officials and politicians travel out for minor headache but helpless Nigerians are left at the mercy of our ill-equipped hospitals, Children of the rich school outside the country, while children of the poor attend schools without facilities, Politicians travel in bullet proof cars and well protected mansions, while millions are at the mercy of armed robber.

Some of us grew up without being able to differentiate between Christians and Muslims because of religious harmony. I remember that celebration of Christmas, New year, Edi- FItril and Edi-Kabir were everybody's affair. Christians celebrate with Muslim and vice versa, but today the story is different.

Sectional regional and ethnic groups were then an abomination, but today we see Odua People's Congress (OPC), Arewa Youth Forum, Niger Delta Avengers (NDA), IPOB, Boko Haram, etc have all come together to redefine our corporate existence.
Everybody is obviously dissatisfied with the state of things in the country.

Our Independence and democracy only increased the number of people to
steal our money. Yes, we all decried military dictatorship but it was not as corrupt as today's democracy. There are few imposed thieves during military era, our elected and selected thieves steal more because they are more than the military thieves, worse still they, represent nobody but themselves.

Nigeria celebrate her 57 years of Freedom from Britain today. But the question is "are ordinary Nigerians truly Free?" A retrospection of what Nigeria was and what Nigeria Is and what tomorrow portend leaves much to be desired.

What is the reason for independence where few benefit and masses suffer? we hope to see a truly independent Nigeria and a new Nigeria. Let say there is hope for a better Nigeria but I don't think we have a new and Independent Nigeria yet.

Happy Independence Anniversary to
all Nigerians.
God Bless Nigeria.

By: Comr. Babatunde G. Adeola (Babs)
Www.babshub..com

Nice write up

For those asking what Baba has achieved in Two years and cares to read:

The last two years have been filled with ups and downs. OLUKOREDE YISHAU chronicles the things that have not remained the same since President Muhammadu Buhari took the saddle.

Dynamites were thrown. Grenades caused chaos. Gunshots rented the air. The scenes were Niger Delta. The victims were not human-beings but oil facilities – strategic ones for that matter. And the effects on oil production and export were not only huge and scary, but was costly. The economy bled and needed oxygen to be on the path of recovery.

Settling down to business, President Muhammadu Buhari and his team put up their thinking cap. The grievances of those blowing up the pipelines must be addressed. His deputy, Yemi Osinbajo, a professor of Law and now acting President, went from one creek to the other, preaching peace.

He visited oil-producing communities, listened to the people and spelt out the Federal Government’s commitment as captured in the ‘New Vision for the Niger Delta’. The vision has answers to the 16-point Demand Agenda submitted to President Buhari by the Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) in November, last year.

Thanks to the New Vision, the Nigerian Maritime University in Delta State is set to commence operation, additional N35 billion was approved for the Presidential Amnesty Programme, approval has been granted for the establishment of Modular Refineries across the nine Niger Delta states and work has resumed on abandoned projects in the oil-rich region, including the East-West Road.

The engagements with the Niger Delta and the Organisation of Oil Exporting Countries (OPEC) have helped to raise oil revenues to the extent that external reserves have grown by about $7 billion in the last six months. Some $87 million have also been added to the Excess Crude Account and $250 million to the Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF).

The engagement with OPEC involved rallying the organisation and Non-OPEC members to discuss stabilisation of the global oil market in Doha and in Algiers. This led to an exemption from the OPEC production freeze and rise in oil prices to $55/pb, for the first time in 16 months.



Unlocking the potentials

The Buhari administration has leveraged on its goodwill to attract multi-billion investments and loans from China and Morocco. Buhari’s April 2016 visit to China unlocked billions of dollars in infrastructure funding and construction has started on the 150km/hour rail line between Lagos and Ibadan, the first major product of the collaboration.

One other potential-unlocking strategy the administration has come up with is the National Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (NERGP). Launched in April, it charts a course for the economy over the next four years.

The NERGP, according to the Federal Government, is to restore economic growth, invest in Nigerians, and to build a globally competitive economy. It plans to achieve these objectives by giving priority to agriculture, power, macro-economy, energy efficiency, transportation infrastructure and driving industrialisation through Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs).

As part of efforts to unlock the country’s potentials, power reform is being done. This has led to the launch of the N701 billion Payment Assurance Programme to guarantee payments to generating companies and gas suppliers.

The Power Sector Recovery Programme, which was launched in March, has been endorsed by the World Bank.

Another potential of the country, which was held down for years, is the capacity of the refineries. It has received serious attention in the last two years. Now, the total amount of crude being refined by the three refineries in Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna is now 10 million barrels. It was eight million barrels in 2015.

Agriculture and solid minerals have gotten their groves back. The sector grew by 4.11 per cent last year. Solid minerals recorded a seven per cent increase. The contribution of the Ministry of Solid Minerals to the Federation Account tripled to about N2 billion in 2016 up from N700 million in 2015.



Other positives

Despite the low oil prices at the international market, the country’s external reserves have grown by $7 billion since October last year; the Excess Crude Account has seen an inflow of $87 million and $500 million has been added to the Sovereign Wealth Fund, which represents the first inflows since the original $1 billion with which the Fund started in 2012.

The Anchor Borrowers Programme (ABP) of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and a soil map designed to aid fertilizer application has raised local production of grains. It has produced a model agricultural collaboration between Lagos and Kebbi states. The country’s rice imports fell from 580,000 MT in 2015 to 58,000MT last year.

A partnership between Nigeria and Morocco – Presidential Fertiliser Initiative – has resulted in the revitalisation of 11 blending plants. Through the initiative.