Nigeria @ 63: An overview of a matured nation’s consolidated problems

By Wisdom Deji-Folutile

On this day 63 years ago, Nigeria relinquished colonial subsistence for Independence. Following that decision was a spirit of inextinguishable joy, celebration and hopefulness. Nigerians dropped out in their thousands to celebrate the historic event that had now given them autonomy to their corporate existence after over 100 years of British occupation.

Like many other African nations gaining independence in the 20th century, Nigeria was keen on national unity and shunning ethnic division, looking on to the future with bright, gleaming eyes.

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However, six decades later, the indelible hope that saw the birth of the nation’s independence starkly juxtaposes its present realities. After suffering the setback of a civil war just seven years after independence, Nigeria continued a slow but steady decline into the twilight years of the 20th century. The decline was further accelerated since the turn of the century and now, a relic of its former self, the proud name of Nigeria has been sullied by reprising episodes of misgovernance, ethnic divisions, insecurity, and mismanagement of funds. A nation divided, clamours for referendums for secession, and consistent ethnic and religious clashes have at times threatened the continued existence of the largest black country in human civilisation’s history.

This has all culminated in infrastructural decay, reputation suicide and corporate disunity among Nigerians. Stunted growth or outright regression also seems to be the consistent theme across several sectors of Nigeria’s existence.

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Leadership

Sixty-three years after assuming autonomy, starting from the time of Prime Minister Tafawa Balewa (1960-1966), Nigeria has maintained a democratically elected government. However, this has not been without interruptions by military rulers. To date, there have been five military coup d’états in Nigeria—a situation where the military forces of a state unlawfully seize control of its organs of government. Between 1966 and 1999, Nigeria was ruled by a military government without interruption, apart from a short-lived return to democracy under the Second Nigerian Republic of 1979 to 1983. In 1999, General Abdulsalami Abubakar handed over power to democratically elected President, Olusegun Obasanjo. Nigeria has ever since, experienced uninterrupted democratic leadership.

However, although the country has without fail maintained a consistent tenure limitation and election cycle, Nigeria’s democracy has underwhelmed in its ability to put forward good leadership for the country. Elections marred by disruptive elements, vote-buying and rigging have been the tune since 1999, and perceived injustices against fairness were again evidently brought to the fore in the previously concluded Presidential elections in 2023, which saw former Lagos State Governor Bola Tinubu emerge as the successor to President Muhammadu Buhari (1983-1985, 2015-2023).

The democratic process has not been the only feature of Nigerian leadership with kinks. Fraud, embezzlement and misappropriation of funds have been defining factors for Nigerian leaders across all strata of leadership, earning the country a reputation as being one of the most corrupt places on earth. According to Transparency International, Nigeria in 2022 ranked 150th out of 180 countries in terms of corruption, with the country earning a Corruption Perception Index (CPI) of 24 out of 100 (with corruption at a descending order of magnitude from zero to 100). Cases of looting running into billions of dollars were popularised following the famous plunders of General Sani Abacha, who ruled the republic from 1993 till his death in 1998.

Infrastructure

Historically, the corporate advancement of a country is reliant on its ability to provide a high quality of life, a developed economy and advanced infrastructure to its citizens. The ability of a nation to improve its socio-economic landscape is contingent upon numerous factors, chief of which is the provision of an environment suitable for attracting investment and large-scale economic activity. This involves the provision of security, social amenities and relevant infrastructure like power and transportation, among other things. In this department, Nigeria at 63 has failed to deliver a consistently suitable environment for foreign and domestic trade.

The continued existence of substandard infrastructure like roads is extensively documented.

The country has also failed to solve pertinent issues like epileptic power supply, despite revisions to policies and operations regarding power generation. Nigerians still, by their millions, sleep in darkness on a daily basis, and companies operating even in the largest, most developed cities in the country still require expensive self-generation of power via fossil fuel-powered generators. In 2022, a report by the African Development Bank estimated that 40% of Nigerian households rely on generators, and Nigerians spend about $14bn annually to fuel them.

Aside from power and transportation failure, Nigeria has failed to improve the quality of life for the average Nigerian. For a population growing at 2.5% annually, affordable housing remains mythical. In December 2022, it was reported that 113 million Nigerians still lack access to toilet facilities, with about 48 million having to defecate in the open. Flooding has also continued to plague the country’s coastal states consistently due to the inadequacy of existing drainage facilities, poor town planning and haphazard maintenance of dams and canals. The state of healthcare in the country also remains underserving. As of 2023, about 80 per cent of Nigerians still cannot access health insurance, according to a 2023 poll by NOIPolls. This is despite the existence of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), now the National Health Insurance Authority, Nigerians still pay out of pocket for consultations and treatments due to the dispirited drive of the insurance scheme.

In 2022, the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency (NPHCDA) revealed that about six out of ten Nigerians lack access to quality primary healthcare services, a situation that is worsening disease outbreaks and out-of-pocket expenditure.

Meanwhile, medical doctors in the country continuously decry the dilapidated healthcare facilities available for use. An April 2023 Business Day article reported that a World Health Organisation survey revealed Nigeria’s healthcare system to be among the poorest in the world.

Education

Despite an eternally demonstrable relationship between education and development, Nigeria has failed to create a culture of literacy among its citizens. According to the latest records by the World Bank, Nigeria’s literacy rate stands at 62%. There are 18-20 million out-of-school children in the country, and according to an official of the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), 60% of those children are girls.

As of 2022, less than 8 per cent of the country’s annual budget was allocated to education. University staff in Nigeria have a storied history of strikes and clashes with the country’s central government concerning remuneration, among other pertinent issues.

Since the turn of the century, the Academic Staff Union of Universities has gone on strike at least 15 times, halting the academic calendar and in turn hampering the education of Nigerian students seeking degrees in public higher institutions across the country. So far, there are 264 universities in the country, according to The National Universities Commission. However, the Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) for higher education in Nigeria, which is calculated by comparing the number of students enrolled in a given level of education in comparison to the corresponding eligible age group in a country, stands at a paltry 12 per cent. This means that only 12 per cent of Nigerians who are eligible to obtain a degree can do so, as the supply of education in Nigeria is unable to meet the demand.

Economy

Economically speaking, Nigeria at 63 seems essentially poorer as a corporate institution than Nigeria in 1960. This is despite the abundance of in-demand natural resources and the existence of substantial deposits of oil, the lifeblood of humanity’s industrial revolution.

Gross Domestic Product (GDP)-wise, the country has grown over the last 63 years. However, over the last 13 years, Nigeria’s GDP has only grown at an average of 0.44 per cent. According to statistics aggregating firm Statista, in 2022, an estimated population of 88.4 million people in Nigeria lived in extreme poverty.

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) had, in its 2022 Multidimensional Poverty Index survey stated that 63 per cent of persons living in Nigeria (133 million people) are multi-dimensionally poor.

The value of the country’s currency has also plunged, every passing year falling further to previously unimaginable depths.

In 1972, to purchase $1, a Nigerian would have had to spend N0.66. By 1980, the value of the currency strengthened, exchanging against the dollar at N0.55. By 1990, the cost of a dollar had gone up to N7.39. The cost of $1 had nearly tripled by 1999, with the Naira exchanging at N21.89. The year 2000 saw the most exponential devaluation of the Naira to that date, as $1 traded for N86. By 2010, the Naira was trading at N148/$. By 2016, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had to step in to defend the Naira from market forces due to its accelerated decline. The year 2020 saw the currency’s value further decline exponentially, trading for N440 officially and as high as N600 on parallel markets. When the country’s apex bank decided to let market forces determine the value of the currency in January, the cost of a dollar skyrocketed to N800-N900 officially, now trading as high as N1000 in parallel markets.

Meanwhile, the country’s inflation rate has been in turn, disastrous. According to World Data, an item that cost N100 in 1960 now costs N673,887 63 years later.

The price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) the staple, fossil-based fuel used in the country, has risen from N0.5 per litre in 1978 to N595 in 2023.

Nigeria’s external debt (including short-term debts) remained low until the middle of the 1970s – US$ 1.5 billion in 1970, more than half of which was short term; and US$ 2.5 billion in 1975, of which US$ 1.35 billion represented short-term debts. Years of mismanagement exacerbated Nigeria’s debt to its 2021 figure of $76.2bn. When the country owed $8.9 billion in 1980, $3.55 billion of which represented short-term debts, it had $10 billion secured as external reserves. Today, Nigeria’s Foreign Exchange Reserves stand at $33.2bn.

In all, Nigeria, a country that seemingly flourished as a toddler, continues to struggle to find its footing as a 63-year-old entity.

President Tinubu asks Nigerians to “Endure trying periods”

President Bola Tinubu, in his 63rd Independence Day Anniversary Speech, urged Nigerians to endure the present difficult times as it is needed for a better future. The President’s comments come against the backdrop of economic hardship that followed his inauguration as Nigeria’s President in May. Following fuel subsidy removal, the Naira devaluation, and the resultant hyperinflation due to new economic realities, all without palliative measures, Nigerians have endured an embittered spate under the sitting President.

However, Tinubu, acknowledging the hardships presently faced by the citizens, said the present sacrifice is “what greatness and the future required for a Nigeria where hunger, poverty, and hardship are pushed into the shadows of an ever-fading past.”

“There is no joy in seeing the people of this nation shoulder burdens that should have been shed years ago. I wish today’s difficulties did not exist. But we must endure if we are to reach the good side of our future,” he said.

To ease the burden on families, the President announced a provisional wage increment for workers.

“Based on our talks with labour, business and other stakeholders, we are introducing a provisional wage increment to enhance the federal minimum wage without causing undue inflation. For the next six months, the average low-grade worker shall receive an additional Twenty-Five Thousand naira per month,” he said.

Other announcements made were the Infrastructure Support Fund for states to invest in relief for their constituents, and other transportation plans still in the works.