How independent is Nigeria?

Although, no country can be an island on its own, yet Nigeria, since independence, seems to be wallowing in underdevelopment. The Nigerian Tribune conducted an opinion poll, asking Nigerians if truly the country is independent.Doyin Adeoye brings the responses.

Isa Busari: Nigeria is truly independent, but unfortunately, we are backward in terms of infrastructure. Nigeria is so corrupted that the development of our great nation has been forgotten.

Amadi Justice: Nigeria is truly independent as it obviously makes laws that govern the people in its territory without external control.

Adeoye Folasade: Nigeria is independent, yet still in chains. Being dependent is not all about being governed by others or being colonised, it goes beyond that. Independence is when someone, a nation, a country or a continent is able to rule her cause justly, to the satisfaction of herself and her subjects.

Wande Smith: Nigeria is only independent by name, but in reality, we are still colonised.

Daramola Ayodeji: Nigeria is truly independent, but our problem has been our leaders since 1967.

Gyang John: The truth is Nigeria is not yet independent, or rather, Nigeria is free from the rule of the colonial masters but yet to be free from blacks’ indirect slavery.

Emeka Egbuna: Unfortunately Nigerians are not independent, only politicians are independent in this country.

Dele Falona: Nigeria is an independent nation, but as far as good economic policy, poverty reduction, administration and so on is concerned, Nigeria is not independent.

Owolabi Kolawole: Nigeria is independent, but we are yet to be free from the hands of so called politicians. Their rule is more or less like taking the masses through a modern slave market.

Okpole Brown: The country is still very much dependent.

Moussa Youssouf: Nigeria is independent, but most of our leaders are just like puppets on a string. We are mentally enslaved and all our thoughts are done by the west and given to our leaders as assignments.

Ananuba Chibuzor Cyril: Yes, Nigeria is independent colonial-wise, but in many ways I would say we are still in chains, especially in the hands of our fraudulent political leaders.

Amos Olabisi: Yes, Nigeria is independent from the white men, but we are now trapped in the hands of corrupt and selfish politicians.

Mustapha Tajudeen: Nigeria is a dependent country.

Mohammed Idris: Nigeria is not independent because there is not much difference between now and how it was before independence.

There is insecurity, human slavery, lack of development, monarch system of government and poverty, and all these were part of the pre-independence experiences and they still exist.



Alabi Theophilus Idowu: Nigeria is not truly independent. We need freedom from the internal forces of corruption and ethno-religious sentiments.



Kros Olusanya: What is independence when only 15 per cent of the youths are employed, while the other 85 per cent are roaming the streets? What is independence when in our country, the power sector is unstable? What is independence when ASUU go on strike for months and nothing happens? What is independence when the Boko Haram and Niger Delta militants would not allow citizens to move freely in our own fatherland? I think Nigeria is mature for revolution.

Kingsley Ofoke: Verbally, the country could be said to be independent, but practically, the answer is no.

Awodirepo Sam Akinloye: I may grudgingly say yes because we are still under the so called whites and still strictly under their tutelage. To compound the issue, our leaders are not sincere to us. The commoners are living in servitude. I pray God bless and liberate Nigeria and Nigerians.

Vivian Robert: We are slaves to our very own country.

Mashood Shittu: Unfortunately, our politicians continued where the British ended their slave trade.

Taofik Aderemi Ayankunle: Nigeria is not truly independent because there is nothing to show for it.

Adeagbo Michael Adegboye: Nigeria’s independence is a mirage. It seems it was just an ordinary paper work.

Enobong Isaiah: No independent country would allow its educational sector to remain in shambles.

John James Nimlang: No, the country is not truly independent. We keep running for help for what we can take care of ourselves and also foreign countries dictate to us how to run our economy.

Favour Ojedoye: Nigeria is an independent country but we lack the dividends of democracy.

Prince Hadebolar Smith Mide: There is nothing like independence in this country, especially for the poor. It is only the rich people that have independence, because the masses are suffering from lack of care from the government. Taking South Africa as an example, despite the differences in the social classes, the citizens are treated the same and their law knows no rich or poor.

Bernard Nnadi: No matter what the ugly situation is, Nigeria is independent.

Adeosun Oluwaseyifunmi: Yes, Nigeria is truly independent. Rome was not built in a day; it took America many years to be where they are today, after their independence. So, I’d say that we are coming up gradually.

Kenikopa Oghenevweta Sunday: To an extent, I would say yes, because despite the fact that our leaders lack the will power to drive our policies to attain sustainable development, we cannot say that we directly depend on any nation for policy formulation. We do what we do in our own little way.

Philip Ngharne Barnabas: Nigeria is suffering from high level of colonialism, which is neo-colonialism. Most of our policies are driven by international organisations like IMF, UN, Commonwealth, ECOWAS and so on. The developed countries make us feel that they know better and can perform more than we do, so they always influence our policies while they are busy stealing our resources. So Nigeria is not independent.

Joseph Barry: We are being colonised by wicked and desperate people who were privileged to seize power and they have turned all of us to their slaves.

Emeka Nwosu: No country is wholly independent, even America as it is.

Isaac Coco Thomson: Nigeria is independent, but we don’t have an independent and democratic government.

Basheer Bala: Actually Nigeria is an independent nation, the only problem is with the people in it. We’ve been independent since 1960, but obviously yesterday was better than today.

Adekoya Folashade: If Nigeria is independent, we won’t have to depend on other countries for nearly everything, such as health, fuel importation, food and so on.

via 247naijagossip