Nigerians has an idea of what is wrong with Nigeria, depending, of course, on his or her experiences, perspective, learning,
training and also the calling. To the respected literary icon, Professor Albert Chinua Achebe in his book The problem with Nigeria, "The Trouble with Nigeria is simply and squarely a failure of leadership." To the renowned Nobel laureate, Professor Akinwande Wole Soyinka, the problem is that Nigeria is “like a quilt-work of allegiances, alliances.” We need to improve on our resource management to be able to achieve eradication or even reduce poverty level.”
History of the Nigeria Problem:
The amalgamation of Lord Lugard lead to the disparate ethnic nationalities which now make up Nigeria into one
political entity in 1914, it was in the interest of British colonial, the British did not think of forming a country out of this union, neither did the prospect sound plausible. The North made it clear that it did not intend to surrender its identity into a political union with a people who did not conquer them in war or had any trade resemblance with them. The West and the East had misgivings about the union and virtually none of the component units welcomed the idea of amalgamation.
British Government signified interest in granting independence to Nigeria in 1951. On April 1, 1952, the inimitable Chief Anthony Enahoro moved the motion for independence in the Legislative Council. The Northern caucus refused the idea, while the North claimed that it was not ready as then.
Independence would have to wait till October 1, 1960. During the independence, Alhaji Tafawa Balewa of the Northern Peoples Congress (NPC) became Prime Minister and Minister of External Affairs, and Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe of the
national Congress of Nigeria and Cameroun (later National Council for Nigerian Citizens) became Governor General and later in 1963 ceremonial president. The Guardian Newspaper (October 10, 2004) wrote in an article The Problem with Nigeria and stated that “because of the manner in which they took political control, members of the government could not lead. It was reported that they served as a drainpipe for Britain to continue to suck the country economically; second, at home they were in charge of the central power only to grab as much of the national wealth as possible for the tribes they represented and to build private estates for themselves.”
It was also gathered that the election was rigged by the British to protect its interest. Harold Smith, the British Colonial Officer in Lagos in the 1950s, confessed to a BBC journalist, Mike Thompson, about a year ago. He claimed that he was ordered to rig the election in favour of the NPC and NCNC and to ensure that both struck a partnership to form a government. Smith described Sir James Robertson, the governor-general then, as a thug (who) had a terrible reputation
The Colonial Service is like the army, you know what happens if you disobey orders on active service and that is what is going to happen to you. He also claimed that Robertson was so furious that he flirted with the idea that he might gun him down with his pistol.
The Challenges of Nigeria
The challenges facing Nigeria are enormous. Some are internal and some are external, some are within our control and some are outside our control. It was gathered that there is nothing wrong with Nigeria that what is right in Nigeria cannot correct.
The Lesson to be learnt
The world is discovering a lot of new ways of powering system, which hitherto were gasoline-powered. Electric cars and solar cars are seen as the next generation of cars. One day oil may lose its attraction and we should be ready for that economic day of reckoning . In line with the third point in President Umaru Yar’Adua’s seven-point agenda which is wealth creation, we should restrain our dependence on oil and focus on industrial development and wealth creation through diversified production especially in the agricultural and solid mineral sector which are very vital for solving the Nigeria problem.