I am still in Independence Day mood. It is the first week into the start of the next chapter in the story of a country called Nigeria. Let us project and call it ‘Nigeria in 2080’, a peep into the future. What do I see?
I am looking again at my sector – the sports sector. An item confronts me. Permit me to wade gently towards it. Probably, at the end, I will make some sense of my niggling thought.
Experience is a great teacher. It cannot be bought in the market place. I realise I have plenty of it in Nigerian sports. It is only after gaining an experience that one can say with conviction that ‘I know’, and be taken seriously.
Last week, Nigerians from all walks of life, in all media, reviewed the performance of the country since she became Independent. It was meet and proper to take stock and to conduct an audit of how the country has fared in 60 years.
Unfortunately, the unofficial consensus is that the country has not done as well as she should and could have. Another consensus is that the country is presently drifting and listing in the turbulence of different internal crisis. What is clear is that there is poverty, hunger, insecurity, a weak economy, serious infrastructural underdevelopment and political hara-kiri across the land, and with no end in sight. No sector is immune from the gloomy atmosphere that pervades every nook and cranny. Considering the initial giant steps the country took at ‘birth’ to advance far ahead of some of its peers in virtually all fields, the scorecard after 60 years is not complimentary. Nigeria has failed!
