Nigeria At 66: Reconstructing A Nation For Enduring Prosperity

BY DR. OLAYIDE OWOLABI ADELAMI, MNI
As Nigeria marks 66 years of independence and enters her 67th year as a sovereign nation, October 1 should be more than another occasion for flags, speeches and celebration. It should be a moment of sober national reflection.
At 66, we should be asking difficult questions: Where did we begin? How far have we travelled? What went wrong along the way? And, most importantly, how do we build a country capable of fulfilling the hopes of its founding generation and the aspirations of those coming after us?
At independence in 1960, Nigeria inherited a regional constitutional system in which the regions carried considerable responsibility for economic dev...