Hearty Cheers to the ‘Giant of Africa’ at 59. Why again are we called the giant of Africa? Is it because of our great achievements such as having the largest economy in Africa with a GDP of about $380billion or because of our enormous population of about 201 million with over 250 ethnic groups or because we are the one of the largest oil- producing nations? I’d leave that for you to decide.
Usually when an individual/organisation’s birthday approaches he/she/they rejoice for a number of reasons, the first being that they are still alive and in business. The Second being that they have achieved some level of growth. When it comes to Nigeria’s Independence, we celebrate because of the major obvious reason being that we’re an independent nation! Oh great! That’s fantastic, some might say but what is independence without progression? Let me paint a scenario in your mind. If you graduated from the University and of course you’re very excited because that is a huge milestone; say every year you celebrate the anniversary of the year you graduated but haven’t exactly made good use of your degree, would that be wise? We know the obvious answer to that. Now let me bring it home. Are we celebrating our independence because we are free from the hands of the British Government and have actually progressed tremendously? or because hey, its just an obligation to do so regardless of whether we have progressed or not?
