In the next two days, Nigerians and their friends will be celebrating the 59th anniversary of their country’s independence from the colonial masters. The country’s attainment of freedom from the apron string of Britain on October 1, 1960 was a defining moment for the citizens not just because of the identity of nationhood, but also because of the prospects of a glorious future it presented.
Though the general feeling is forlorn and nostalgic because of pervasive suffering that defines life and living in the country today arising from squandered opportunities and dashed dreams, Nigerians have seen a period in the history of this country when hope of an Eldorado was in the air.
Notwithstanding the disruption of government and governance by the military shortly after independence, life in the country was still good. Even under the military government that lasted for a long time, life still had meaning in the country with good things of life to enjoy.
“The three-year civil war in the country was a watershed in its history because, besides the many lives that were lost, it set the country several years backwards in terms of growth and development. Many Nigerians as well as businesses were unable to rise from the ashes of that war until they died,” Chimaroke Ajuluchukwu, a political commentator, told BDSUNDAY in Lagos.
“But despite that the war was, essentially, that of attrition with the attendant hate and distrust, the people were able to pick the pieces; the government was able to get back on track, albeit slowly, and life was not as terrible as it is today, even with whole 20 years of uninterrupted democratic governance”, Ajuluchukwu recalled.
For Nigerians who were born in mid and late ‘80s, it would sound like fairy tale when they are told that from the early ‘70s up to 1980, Nigerians of school age enjoyed free education and free health care in Nigeria. The story is all the more enthralling when it is told that the petro-dollar which started flowing into the country from 1973 up to 1982 made the country stupendously wealthy and rich.
The wealth was so much that Yakubu Gowon, the then military head of state, was said to have boasted the world that the country did not know what to do with money. And as if in affirmation to that, Olusegun Obasanjo, who was a beneficiary of a counter-coup that ousted Murtala Mohammed who ousted Gowon, invited and hosted the entire world in Nigeria for the 1977 World Black Festival of Arts and Culture (FESTAC).
The country built a new town, known today as FESTAC Town in Lagos, where all the foreign participants in the festival were quartered. The houses used by these visitors were later sold to Nigerians, especially federal civil servants who had the capacity to buy and enjoy the world class infrastructure that made that town an exclusive residential destination.
“As university students during this period, we paid next to nothing as fees. Going to the refectory for any meal was fun. Government provided food for us and the halls of residence were managed and maintained by government employees who served the students dutifully,” Nelson Nsong, CEO, EPA Media Consult, recalled.
According to him, time was in Nigeria too when both primary and tertiary health centres in the country were functioning very well with Indian doctors, other foreign nationals and nurses together with qualified local health personnel were on hand to attend to any patient with any kind of ailment.
Commodity prices were within the reach of everybody. During this period, prices of food stuff were also within the reach of even common people. Between 1976 and 1983, a tin of pick milk sold for as low as 20 kobo; a tablet of Lux or Joy soap was selling for 20 kobo; a packet of Omo detergent sold for 40 kobo; a tin of medium size Bonvita beverage drink sold for N1.30k while a tin of medium size Nido powdered milk sold for 90 kobo.
Building material prices were also cheap such that people could easily build their houses. Government built houses for civil servants including teachers in secondary schools and universities such that it was common to see teachers living in their quarters and enjoying constant light and pipe-born water.
However, the military coup of 1983 staged by a junta led by Muhammadu Buhari which truncated the democratic government of Shehu Shagari marked a strong turning point in the history of the country. Buhari’s government introduced Austerity Measure one year into office and followed it up with a drastic change in the country’s currency. That marked the beginning of the country’s descent into the abyss.
The suffering that came with these measures could compare favourably with the jitters which the country is passing through at the moment. There was no money anywhere for people to use and hunger was in every home. As it is with the present Buhari civilian government, rich people were hunted, hounded and criminalised as enemies of the state. And that is the Buhari trade mark and contribution to national development till today.
The return of the country to democratic government in 1999 by Abdulsalam Abubakar has been throwing up leaders who care very little about the growth and development of the country post military rule. This period has institutionalised executive arrogance; legislative impunity and predatory disposition, and judicial rascality that define governmental systems in the country today.
CHUKA UROKO
