Nigeria At 65 & Matters Arising

By
Nnamdi Nwigwe

On October 1, this year, 2025 we marked the 65th anniversary of the flag Independence of Nigeria from Britain.
During that period, many commentators rightly pointed out that a Nigerian Civili Service employee who resumed work by October 1960 would have retired by now.
In other words, Nigeria is gone beyond being an adult. She’s now a senior citizen and progressively moving to the threshold reverently referred to as ‘Second Childhood.”
So, at 65, we should begin to reexamine and reevaluate some policy decisions that might have been well intentioned when they were made but have now outlived their usefulness.
Among such policies are the affirmative acts of “Quota,” the multi-layered allocation of marks for entry to secondary schools and tertiary institutions in which some states are perpetually pegged as “educationally disadvantaged” and given lower marks from year to year.
One finds it difficult to understand why the states so designated don’t seem to have levelled up after more than 50 years of the implementation of the policy. Pupils and students from such favoured states now have a feeling of entitlement.
Let’s tell ourselves the hard truth that the policy is now useless and is creating a generation of Nigerians who feel intellectually inferior to their fellow compatriots but at the same time “privileged” to avoid the rigour of hard work.
We have downplayed merit in the country so much that even the qualification to rule or make laws for the country is constitutionally put at “Proof of having attended a secondary school.”
The truth is that those at the helm of affairs when these policies were made meant well for “their” compatriots to level up with the rest of the country that are purportedly more advanced.
At Nigeria’s age of 65, such retrogressive decisions have to be scrapped if they have not achieved their purpose.To begin with, no cogent reasons are advanced as to why some sections of the country should be permanently labelled “disadvantaged” and the standards lowered for them to access entry to educational institutions where they share classrooms with the so-called advantaged ones.
Another area we should vigorously interrogate is this habit of appointing the nation’s election umpires exclusively from the male gender.
Is there any justification for not appointing women to head the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC at both national and state levels in a country where the Chief Justice is a woman?
Let’s give it a trial by letting a woman replace Prof Yakubu Mahmoud as INEC Chairman.
Again our national predilection to “State of origin” in distributing certain largesse and benefits should be reviewed drastically.
We have to make up our minds and settle if we are talking about “States of origin” or “Ethnicity of origin.”
If it’s “state” of origin, we must explain the rationalisation. What is the state of origin of a child whose parents have lived in another state for over 10 years before their birth? At the moment the policy is applied to the place of origin of the child’s parents.
If we intend to grow up as a nation, we should either adopt the “state of birth” or the “state of residence.”
Let’s return our dear country to MERITOCRACY and immediately perish the evidently discriminatory and retrogressive policies of quota system that is a disincentive to the growth of the nation.
Another crucial aspect of our national retrogression is the self deceit that any class of civil or public servants should be “neutral and non-partisan” to be able to function in certain offices such as the election management.
A clear line must however be drawn in considering such other public services like the military and the judiciary which are career occupations.
Why should the INEC members, including the Chairman, not belong to political parties or be known supporters of political parties?
If it is assumed that no Nigerian of palpable personal integrity can honestly conduct a transparent poll if he supports or is a card-carrying member of a political party, the only solution is to let the political parties nominate Commissioners to INEC.
It is better and NEATER to appreciate that known party sympathisers are incharge of organising the elections rather than having a pretender non-partisan who will still end up skewing the election to favour his party.
Indeed, in some climes, it is considered dangerous and suspicious for any citizen NOT to have a visible political affiliation – especially public servants!
They are regarded as potential traitors to democracy if they cannot identify with any democratic organisation.
If political parties represented in parliament nominate candidates to constitute INEC, rigging becomes difficult, if not impossible.
And considering periodic elections and the problems of “second term” in the country, isn’t it about time we opted for a one-tenure system for both the President and the Governors?
The term could be increased to FIVE YEARS. Wonders can be achieved in four years by a leader who comes to office with a clear vision. A typical example is Chief Samuel Onunaka MBAKWE who was Governor of Old Imo State from 1979 to 1983. He made an impact in the state that included the whole of the present Abia state and part of the current Ebonyi state. In a space of four years Mbakwe set up farm settlements, industries, higher institutions and even initiated the first state-built airport in Nigeria.
Let’s think outside the box and give it a trial, beginning NOW with President Tinubu.
Elections should be conducted in one day! It’s no Rocket Science.
This will eliminate bandwagon trooping to the winning party at the centre especially when the presidential poll is mischievously held before the rest.
One day for ALL elections will solve most of the problems we face in Nigeria at election periods.
People’s votes, and not any more the courts, should determine election results and the winner should promptly assume office immediately results are announced. The present three months of transition has proved a good cherry-picking time for an incumbent. Some departing state Chief executives have been known to create problems for the incoming ones through massive employment of teachers and civil servants when they were aware that the funds weren’t there to pay them.
Phantom projects had been conjured up and contracts awarded with a clear intention to siphon public funds and leave booby traps for the incoming administration.
If some of the innovations hereby proposed are altruistically considered by a truly patriotic National Assembly, the necessary constitutional amendments can be activated to achieve the desired goals.
But are the lawmakers nationalistic enough to think more of Nigeria than their wallets?