On October 1, 2024, Nigeria will mark its 64th Independence Anniversary. Over six decades after gaining independence from the British, Nigeria is still a nation of possibilities.
Though touted as the Giant of Africa, it is at best only one in terms of its overwhelming population of over 223 million people.
It is lagging behind on many development indices not just on the continent but across the global.
Nothing bears witness to the stark reality than the United Nations Development Programme 2023–2024 Human Development Report (HDR).
The report notes that, “For Nigeria, the HDI has shown a 22% increase in 19 years but remains low at 0.548, categorizing the country as having low human development.
“The report emphasizes Nigeria’s significant loss in HDI due to inequality, estimated at 32.7%. Gender disparities persist, with a notable gap between male and female HDI values and a Gender Inequality Index (GII) ranking placing Nigeria poorly.
“Furthermore, Nigeria’s Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) indicates that 33% were multi-dimensionally poor in 2021.”
That number has since tripled as a recent highlights of the 2022 Multidimensional Poverty Index survey for Nigeria reveal that: 63% of persons living in Nigeria (133 million people) are multidimensionally poor.
The trouble with the country has not been for lack of resources, rather its leadership and the inability of the citizenry to hold them to account.
Despite earning several trillions from oil and gas, there is but little to show for it as corruption and a bloated political class continue to hold the country by the jugular with no signs of any ease on their stranglehold.
With over two decades of civil rule, the country lacks the credentials of a truly democratic state as there is gross abuse of citizens’ rights, poor human rights record and abuse of the rule of law.
The courts are largely corrupt with justice for the highest bidder. To appreciate the level of decay, a
report titled ‘The State of Freedom in Nigeria Report’, released by Anvarie Tech and ResearcherNG and Bincika Insights and funded by the Washington DC-based National Endowment for Democracy, showed the 71 perecnt of Nigerians have lost confidence in the courts.
Presenting the report then, Farida Adamu, Senior Programme Manager, Anvarie Tech, said it assessed citizens’ views on Freedom of Expression, Political Participation, Rule of Law and Corruption between November 15 and December 10, 2021.
She said it was based on a study of 1,861 people across the six geopolitical regions in the country through simple random sampling standardized globally.
According to the report, 71% of Nigerians lack trust in the judiciary, 65.2% lack trust in the government institutions established to tackle corruption, and 40% do not believe elections are free and fair.
On Freedom of Expression, “50.4% of respondents agree that citizens are free to criticize the government without fear, while 49.6% disagree with this statement.
“Majority of respondents, 69.3%, agree that Nigerian citizens are free to organize political groups, while about 30.7% of respondents disagree.”
According to the report, citizens’ perception of the ability of the media to report critically about government institutions and officials without fear indicates that 51.4 percent of respondents agree that the media can report critically about government institutions and officials without fear, while 48.6 percent of respondents disagree.
It is just not about the courts but all facet of national institutions. The electoral system favours the ruling party at the centre with massive electoral irregularities that the courts endorse by judgments that defy logic and common sense.
The end result is the do or die approach to elections.
At 64, Nigerians deserve better and it will do well for a process of accountability, free, fair and credible elections to guarantee the peoples’ right to choose those who should govern them.
