Yesterday, October 1, 2007, Nigerians celebrated the 47th anniversary of their country’s independence from Britain. At 47, Nigeria has come a long way; time enough for any serious-minded and determined people to get their act together and make something of the opportunities which independence usually offers a people hitherto under colonial bondage.

Though there are some Nigerians who believe that Nigeria has done well in many respects, it still goes without saying that the promise which many saw at independence has not materialized almost five decades after. Nigeria has all it takes to be a great nation. It has great minds, men and women who continue to make the difference in all spheres of life all over the world. The country has the population – 140 million people – and tremendous natural resources. The country is not landlocked and so far, we have been free from debilitating natural disaster that is the painful lot of many nations. Human capital, big market, which population ensures, and abundant mineral resources are levers of development. Properly harnessed, they collectively serve as the engine-room of growth.

So, why is Nigeria developmentally stagnant? Why are we not making much progress (if any at all) despite these abundant resources? Some people have argued that Nigeria is a complex country, insisting that the difficulties of nation building which we have experienced in the past 47 years is ensconced in the womb of this complexity.

That may be true. A country of 140 million people with over 250 ethnic groups and multiplicity of languages is bound to be complex. But Nigeria is neither the most populous country in the world nor the only country that has diverse ethnic and religious groups. A country like India is as diverse – religiously and culturally – as Nigeria and was colonized by Britain. Yet it is recording tremendous progress on all spheres of human development.

Our country is stagnating because the idea of Nigeria to most Nigerians is a misnomer. Many have no faith in the country. Here is a country where everybody claims to be patriotic and striving to move the country forward, yet most people show by their actions that they don’t believe in Nigeria. This lack of faith explains why anybody who has access to the national till embarks on an unconscionable looting spree that leaves majority of Nigerians in abject poverty. It is this lack of belief in the idea of Nigeria that is responsible for the bankruptcy of the system, which in turn has made Nigeria almost a failed state. It explains why our leaders kill and maim fellow Nigerians in their desperation for power. It explains why people cheat and commit unimaginable atrocities in order to be in pole positions where they can make the authoritative allocation of our collective values.

They commit these atrocities because their quest for leadership is neither informed by any deep conviction that the idea of Nigeria is worth guarding jealously nor the ennobling idea of service. Because only very few believe in Nigeria, the majority who don’t behave like an army of occupation whenever they are in leadership positions.

Nigeria at 47 remains a nightmare because though we routine describe it as a great country, most people are not interested in its greatness. Because of our selfishness and greed, we would rather be great, individually, at the expense of Nigeria. It does not matter if the country plumbs the depths of ignominy as long as we manage to stash away billions of naira, stolen from the national till, in foreign banks. Because the idea of a Nigeria that will serve the good of all Nigerians remains a misnomer, we would rather steal enough money that can buy us good medical services abroad rather than use the money in building world class hospitals that will serve the generality of the people.

We would rather destroy the public schools; steal the money that would have been used to turn around our decadent education system so that we can send our children abroad to acquire the best of education. It does not matter to our leaders that turning around the education system will ultimately be in the country’s best interest because they don’t believe in the country.

It is this lack of faith in the country called Nigeria that explains why at 47, the country is still crawling. It explains the increasing crime waves that have spiraled out of control, decaying infrastructure that has become our collective shame, the ever-declining human development index, the degrading level of poverty and very short life-span of the citizenry. Poverty has become the biggest disease that is killing Nigerians everyday. In the rural communities, you would think there is an epidemic. People die everyday from diseases that have since been totally eradicated in other parts of the world and which could be effectively cured with as little as N1000 here. Yet, our leaders would spend millions of naira to undergo medical check-up abroad or on such vain acquisitions like massage machines.

It is this lack of belief in the country called Nigeria that fans the embers of do-or-die politics. The all-or-nothing philosophy which is the bane of party politics in Nigeria is a product of this anomalous orientation. Unfortunately, unscrupulous politicians hide under its cover to inflame ethnic passions and further divide the people. If Nigeria were to be for all Nigerians, why should it matter where the president comes from? Why should it matter where the Senate president or the Speaker of the House of Representatives come from? Why should we waste time debating where the Inspector General of Police comes from rather than who the man is – the content of his character, vision and track record of service? What does it matter if one state produces three ministers and another produces only one? If there is uninterrupted power supply, why should I bother where the Minister of Energy comes from? After all, to what extent did the eight-year presidency of Obasanjo make life easier for the common man in his Ibogun village? How will Mrs. Patricia Ette’s position as the Speaker of the House of Representatives benefit the ordinary man in her village? Did she use the proceeds from the inflated N628 contract scam to build schools in her constituency for the education of the children of the poor? Wasn’t the money used in lining the pockets of the privileged few? When it comes to looting Nigeria, the leaders don’t remember their tribal marks. What matters is their greed and selfish interests. We only hear of it when they fail to agree on the sharing formula or when one group outsmarts the other.

Forty-seven years after independence, it is high time we decided what to do with Nigeria. It is sheer foolery to continue arguing as we are wont to do that the country is too young to make progress. We also play the ostrich when we claim in the name of patriotism that we are on the road to greatness.

We are not. At least not after the April 2007 elections. It is difficult to imagine any country that can make progress with the kind of leadership that emerged through the elections. Nigeria will not be an exception and we will be deluding ourselves to think otherwise. It does not matter if Yar’Adua is a good man as his public relations machinery tries to project him. As I have always argued, he may well be, but the problem is systemic and he is the product of a decadent system that has fed on the blood of the citizenry for 47 years.

It will be fool-hardy to expect a man who is the primary beneficiary of a fraudulent election to change the system. It is in his own interest; for the sake of his own political survival to perpetuate the decadent political system that threw him up rather than dismantle it. And what the president and the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) have done in the past four months is to perpetuate that system. That explains the problems that are tearing apart the opposition parties. By deciding to conduct do-or-die elections, we deliberately chose to sow the wind. We will reap the whirl-wind in spite of Yar’Adua’s "goodness."

In any case, even if Yar’Adua is good, can we also vouch for the leadership and members of the National Assembly, state governors and members of the state houses of assembly, many of whom did not win elections and therefore came to power through fraudulent means?