By Omoluabi Olalekan Ogunade
Nigeria is 66 today. Sixty-six years ago, the Union Jack was lowered and Nigeria assumed responsibility for determining her own destiny. Our founding fathers dreamed of a nation where independence would mean dignity, prosperity, security and opportunity. Six decades later, Nigeria remains richly endowed with human and natural resources, yet millions of Nigerians are still asking a painful question: why does a country with so much continue to make life so difficult for the people who call it home?
Independence should mean more than the departure of colonial rulers. It should mean freedom from hunger, fear, extreme poverty, insecurity and hopelessness. It should mean the ability to work, earn a decent living, feed one’s family, educate one’s children, access healthcare and travel safely. That is why this 66th Independence Anniversary must be more than speeches, flags and patriotic songs. It must also be a moment of truth, reflection and accountability.
Nigeria’s problems did not begin with the All Progressives Congress, but the APC has controlled the Federal Government since 2015. After more than eleven years at the centre, Nigerians are entitled to examine its record without sentiment. The APC cannot indefinitely invoke inherited problems while asking citizens to overlook the consequences of policies implemented under its own watch. After more than a decade in federal power, responsibility must accompany power, and power must be measured by what Nigerians can actually see, feel and experience.
The questions are therefore unavoidable. What measurable transformation has reached the Nigerian household? What has happened to workers’ purchasing power? Why are families struggling with food, transport, rent, education and healthcare? What has happened to the millions of young Nigerians entering the labour market? What has happened to small businesses battling rising operating costs? These are not merely political talking points. They are questions rooted in the everyday experiences of citizens.
The National Bureau of Statistics reports headline inflation at 15.39 percent, with food inflation at 19.57 percent. Although the pace of price increases has slowed, the accumulated rise in the prices of essential goods has not disappeared. Nigerians do not buy inflation rates; they buy food, fuel, medicines, transport and other necessities. A slower increase in prices is not the same as cheaper living, and declining inflation does not automatically restore purchasing power already lost by households.
The World Bank estimates that more than 60 percent of Nigerians lived below the national poverty line in 2025 and identifies the challenge of absorbing about 3.5 million people entering the labour force every year. Economic growth that does not generate sufficient productive employment cannot adequately address widespread poverty. For a country with such a large and youthful population, the challenge is not simply to create jobs on paper, but to create productive, sustainable and adequately remunerated opportunities that allow Nigerians to build dignified lives.
The pressure extends to businesses and productive sectors. Manufacturers, farmers, traders, transport operators and small-business owners continue to confront high operating costs, while households eventually bear much of those costs through higher prices. When businesses reduce operations, employment suffers. When production becomes more expensive, prices rise. When prices rise faster than incomes, purchasing power falls further. Nigeria cannot build broad-based prosperity by continually transferring the burden of economic adjustment to ordinary citizens.
Then comes insecurity, perhaps the most frightening dimension of the national crisis. Terrorism, banditry, kidnapping and violent criminality continue to threaten communities across the country. Reuters, citing SBM Intelligence, reported that 7,825 people were abducted between July 2025 and June 2026, while at least 1,142 people were killed during that period. The report also highlighted the large-scale abduction of civilians in Niger State. Behind every statistic is a human being, a family and a community whose life has been disrupted.
A country cannot achieve sustainable prosperity when farmers are afraid to reach their farms, parents are afraid to send their children to school and citizens are afraid to travel on major roads. Security is not a luxury to be postponed until economic prosperity arrives; it is one of the foundations upon which prosperity must be built. Nigerians deserve measurable improvements in security, not merely repeated assurances. After eleven years of APC federal rule, the question is not whether challenges exist, but whether government action is producing results commensurate with their scale.
This is why the consequences of government policy matter so deeply. Reform cannot become a permanent explanation for suffering. If Nigerians are being asked to make sacrifices today in the name of tomorrow, government must demonstrate how those sacrifices are being converted into jobs, security, infrastructure, affordable services and improved living standards. After eleven years in federal power, Nigerians are entitled to demand implementation, accountability and measurable outcomes. Government should not merely ask citizens to endure; it should show them a credible pathway from sacrifice to improvement.
And this is where democracy places power back in the hands of the people. The approaching 2027 general election is not merely another political ritual; it is another constitutional opportunity for Nigerians to assess the direction of the country. INEC’s current election calendar schedules the Presidential and House of Assembly election for 16 January 2027. The power does not permanently belong to the APC, the PDP or any other political party. The power belongs to the Nigerian people. The hardship Nigerians experience today makes that constitutional responsibility all the more significant.
That responsibility should be exercised with seriousness and informed judgment. Nigerians should examine the records, programmes, candidates and practical proposals of every political party. They should demand clear answers on how the cost of living will be reduced, purchasing power strengthened, productive employment created, insecurity confronted, agriculture and manufacturing expanded, education and healthcare improved, and public resources protected. The coming election should therefore be about records, ideas, accountability and workable solutions rather than empty slogans, ethnicity, religion, money or personality worship.
Yet Nigeria remains a country worth believing in. Our farmers continue to produce, entrepreneurs continue to create, teachers continue to teach, young people continue to innovate and Nigerian professionals continue to excel at home and abroad. The problem is not that Nigeria lacks potential; the challenge is converting that potential into broad-based prosperity. At 66, we must celebrate Nigeria without pretending that all is well, love the country enough to tell the truth about its challenges, demand accountability without abandoning hope, and understand that patriotism is not silence in the face of suffering. Sometimes, patriotism means speaking truth to power and insisting that a nation blessed with so much must never settle for so little.
May God Almighty continue to bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria. May He protect our soldiers, police officers and all security personnel, our farmers, workers, teachers, traders, students, entrepreneurs and every Nigerian contributing to the progress of our nation. May He comfort families who have lost loved ones to insecurity, violence, poverty and other hardships; bring peace to communities living under fear; and restore hope to those struggling to survive. May He grant our leaders wisdom, humility and courage, and guide Nigerians as we approach another defining electoral season. May Nigeria’s next chapter bring us closer to the country we have always hoped to become: a nation where independence is not merely a date in our history, but a reality felt in the security of our homes, the dignity of our work, the strength of our incomes and the hope we hold for tomorrow.
Happy 66th Independence Anniversary, Nigeria.
May Nigeria live.
May Nigerians prosper.
May the Nigerian dream never die.
God bless the 0 Republic of Nigeria. Amen.
~ Omoluabi
