admin 
Once again, we find ourselves on Independence Day, listening to yet another speech brimming with grand promises. Sixty-four years ago, our founding leaders dreamed of a prosperous Nigeria—one that would be a beacon of hope for the African continent. Yet, decades later, we still find ourselves waiting for that vision to materialize. We’re repeatedly met with stale rhetoric, as if words alone can address the profound challenges we face.
“The government hears you,” the President assures us. But does it truly? For countless Nigerians struggling with skyrocketing food costs, inflation, unemployment, and insecurity, it feels like the government is either oblivious or indifferent. While citizens are urged to make sacrifices, those in power continue their extravagant spending.
We are constantly told to be patient—for reforms that were promised yesterday, today, and will likely be promised again tomorrow, yet never seem to see the light of day. The very leaders asking for our patience are the same ones lavishly spending as if the nation’s resources are infinite. High-ranking officials embark on “diplomatic missions,” spending more on a single trip than many Nigerians will earn throughout their lifetimes. All the while, the divide between the rich and the poor widens daily.
Let’s not overlook their tendency to borrow indiscriminately. It seems that plunging millions of Nigerians into debt has become their favored pastime. Our national debt continues to balloon, and we’re expected to celebrate figures that hold little meaning for us. The government claims to have improved the debt service ratio, but for the market seller in Abeokuta or the teacher in Kaduna, how does that make a difference when prices keep rising? Their struggle is one of survival, not advancement.
Security is another pressing issue. Boko Haram, banditry, and kidnappings remain rampant across the nation. The President may use polished language, but the reality is that insecurity today is no different from what we’ve experienced in previous administrations. Families continue to be torn apart, businesses decimated, and hopes crushed. Yet, we are supposed to believe in “progress.” Progress for whom? For the politicians living safely behind secure walls, blind to the daily dangers faced by ordinary Nigerians?
Let’s be honest: these aren’t just “challenging times,” as the President casually describes them. These are times of deep hardship. People are starving, businesses are closing, and communities are disintegrating. Yet we are asked to have faith in a brighter future that has been promised for decades, a future that never seems to arrive.
We’ve heard it all before. Each administration swears it will be different. Every leader claims that this time they hold the answers. And each time, Nigerians end up increasingly disillusioned. After witnessing our nation’s wealth being siphoned off into private hands while the rest of us struggle to make ends meet, it’s no wonder that many have lost faith in these hollow statements.
Yet, as Independence Day arrives, we are encouraged to celebrate and rejoice in our so-called freedom. But free from what? Are we free from poverty? From insecurity? From corruption? Are we even free to hope for a better future, or is that privilege reserved for the elite?
So, Happy Independence Day, Nigeria. Here’s to another year of unfulfilled promises and renewed prayers for a brighter future, while those in power remain in their own world, far removed from the realities of everyday Nigerians. Perhaps one day we will experience true freedom—not only from colonial rule, but from the relentless cycle of unkept promises and ineffective systems. Until that day comes, we will continue to do what we do best—survive. Because that’s what Nigerians are resilient at. We endure, but for how long until we can hope for more than mere survival?
Hon. Olatunde Abolade
tundeabolade@yahoo.com
1st October 2024
