At 64, Nigeria is failing; it’s the troubled ‘giant’ of Africa

Like other nations that secured independence from their colonial rulers, Nigeria celebrates its freedom annually, as it did recently on its 64th Independence anniversary. However, such events should transcend the symbolism. The real worth of any independence anniversary lies in whether a nation is better off today than it was at independence. On that score, several former colonies have advanced in leaps and bounds. For instance, India of today is a world apart from India of 1947. Singapore of today is not the backwater entity of 1965. By contra