Sixty-six years after independence, Nigeria stands at a familiar crossroads, one foot in genuine progress, the other still mired in the same questions that have trailed the nation since 1960: security, poverty, unemployment, and the shape democracy should ultimately take.
In his address to the nation, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu reflected on Nigeria’s 66-year journey, acknowledging the historical weight of military rule, economic crises, and political upheaval that have shaped the country since 1960. The President framed the nation’s current moment as one of the necessary sacrifice rather than stagnation, defending the difficult economic choices made over the past three and a half years by likening the approach to treating a severe illness rather than merely dulling the pain with morphine.
According to Tinubu, those reforms are beginning to yield measurable results, economic growth exceeding 4 percent this year across both oil and non-oil sectors, a steady decline in inflation, rebuilt foreign reserves, a more stable exchange rate, and record non-oil export revenues surpassing $6 billion in 2025. He said the administration’s focus is now shifting from emergency economic stabilisation to delivering tangible, shared prosperity for everyday Nigerians, with attention to affordable food, better healthcare, a lower cost of living, and job creation, through expanded agriculture and infrastructure, industrial growth powered by gas, and strengthened social safety nets including the Nigeria Education Loan Fund and consumer credit access via CrediCorp. He urged Nigerians not to abandon the progress made or return to unsustainable subsidy regimes, expressing confidence that the sacrifices endured have set the nation firmly on a path toward prosperity.
Yet, for many ordinary Nigerians, that promised prosperity has yet to arrive. Speaking on Nigeria’s journey since independence, a Professor of Political Science at the University of Ibadan, Professor Stephen Lafenwa, says that although the country has made progress, the dreams of the nation’s founding fathers remain unrealised.
According to him, Nigeria continues to grapple with fundamental challenges that, by now, should have long been addressed.
Reflecting on the country’s political journey, from independence through decades of military rule to the return of democratic governance in 1999, Lafenwa notes that the experience of military intervention left lasting consequences for the development of the country’s democratic institutions, with executive dominance remaining a persistent concern even today.His assessment echoes a broader national conversation currently unfolding around the anniversary.
The Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator George Akume, acknowledged this week that Nigerians are still grappling with poverty, insecurity, and infrastructure deficits, even as he pointed to the country’s sustained 27 years of uninterrupted constitutional democracy and its evolution from a colonial, agriculture-dependent economy into one with a growing telecommunications, banking, and manufacturing base.
Recent assessments put the national poverty rate as high as 63 percent, with millions experiencing food insecurity, while unreliable electricity, weak public services, and a worsening kidnapping crisis continue to shape daily life in large parts of the country.
Civil society groups marking the anniversary have been blunt in their assessments, with one coalition describing the nation’s gains as “undermined by poverty, insecurity, unemployment and weak public services,” and another cautioning that progress in one area does little to cancel failure in another.
Still, Professor Lafenwa’s reflection is not one of despair, but of unfinished work. With Nigeria continuing its journey as a nation, he has a direct message for the country’s political leaders: the task of nation-building, 66 years on, is far from complete, and the urgency to complete it has never been greater.
As the country marks another Independence Day, the question that continues to linger is not whether Nigeria has made progress since 1960, few would deny that it has, but whether that progress finally reaches far enough into the everyday lives of the people it was always meant to serve.
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