The Child called Nigeria at “60” By George Akobor Abiam

Let’s start with the meaning of the number “60”. Emphasis will be more on the number“60” during the course of this discourse. It is said that “the overall meaning of the number “60” is balanced home life and family relationship…..The number 6 symbolizes home, family, balance, idealism, and harmony. ... You long for a family to take care of and harmonious family life”.

Based on the definition of the number “60” above which symbolize maturity and happy home, a longing for a family to take care of, etc. Can we boldly say that Nigeria at “60” is a balanced happy home where Nigerians derive peace and joy for their happiness? Of a truth, I am not here to criticize the nation, but to put in perspective the significance of the number “60” and what it means to us in terms of maturity, understanding, development, and also what it means for us to unite for a prosperous future as a nation. And to marry the number with the Nigerian political attitude.

We have a very long way to go considering the fact that at “60”, the Nigerian citizen still finds himself boxed in a corner with no fundamental human right which is the easiest or simplest gift to have as a native of a country. We hear in the news of a planned protest scheduled to take place all over the country on the 1^st of October, to register our grievances at “60” instead of rejoicing. This is because there is nothing to be happy about. This planned protest was an idea brought about by the #RevolutionNow movement. The idea behind it is to let the Nigerian government be aware of the pain her people are going through. But it seems the country does not yet understand her status at “60”.

At “60”, Nigeria is supposed to be the leading State, taking the lead as a driving force to orchestrate/or coordinate the affairs of other The African States, economically and otherwise as to the African giant that would have positioned herself for the other African States and the West to look towards for answers. But here, there abound police brutality, killings of innocent souls and using force to stop her citizens from expressing their grievances, as in the case of the planned protest at “60”.

Again, “Part of the meaning of the number “60” is derived from the fact that it is considered the threshold of when a person enters the last major phase of their life. The Apostle Paul warned Timothy that the church should not financially support widows less than sixty years old”.This was because those who were younger were considered able to remarry”, and are still young and energetic to fend for themselves.

In the case of Nigeria at “60”. Who bewitched our nation, that at “60” our nation is still handicapped and running from IMF to China begging for loans? Are we not tired of displaying childish attitude and allowing ourselves to be spoon-fed and blinded by corruption in the form of everyday bribery and paying a blind eye to China’s exploit in the area of our gold? 

Why are we still considered a LED country at “60” when that position was supposed to be left for the growing nations like Chad, Niger, and other smaller countries who do not possess one tent of the natural resources at our disposal?

I was taught that success is the ability to go from failure to failure and eventually one learns from his failures, builds on his shortcomings , and converts every pain to springboards and leverage on it. But in the case of Nigeria, are we taking pleasure in the constant failure and persistent lack of vision? To understand the impacts of development fully, they say, one needs to look at how it is affecting people’s lives. Is our government not seeing our predicaments?

Nigeria at “60”the youth is watching…….