Nigeria: The Good, the Better, and the Best

Nigeria has for its fifty-seven years in existence, been known as a country of superlatives. Some have gone as far as calling it the most corrupt country in the world. Others often quote negative statistics involving human development, poor healthcare and substandard education.

Comparisons involving our dear country are usually one-sided and unbalanced, as fifty-seven-year old Nigeria is often compared to countries which are at least two hundred years old. Add to that, the scars that colonialism left on our economic, political and social prospects and it becomes rather expected that Nigeria would encounter a few failures.

But our great country, as we all know, has risen from adversity with remarkable tenacity. Nigeria is a country that has faced several radical changes in the seat of government with only one civil war as a result. Nigeria has also single-handedly conquered and eradicated the Ebola crisis, in fact teaching Western medicine a few lessons in resilience.

In light of our independence, let us focus on the positive by calling attention to some of Nigeria’s greatest achievements since October first, 1960. First of all, let us look at our human resources. Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa, with Lagos being the fourth most populous city in the world.

Nigerians have also taken over several academic fields. In 1986, Wole Soyinka became the first black African to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. Two decades before that, Chinua Achebe wrote the novel Things Fall Apart, which would go on to become the most widely read work in modern African literature.

Another lesser well-known feat is the fact that Nigeria is one of the oldest locations of human existence. Archaeological evidence indicates that humans existed in the lower Niger region as far back as Nine thousand BC. Furthermore, Nigeria had magnificent artefacts: the walls of Benin were the largest man-made structure in the world until the British army destroyed it in 1897.

Last but not the least; the Nigerian people have a remarkable spirit. According to the World Values Survey, we were the self-ranked happiest people on Earth in 2003. Nigeria far surpassed the other sixty-five countries in the study by coming out with the highest percentage of happy people overall.

Our country has undoubtedly achieved remarkable feats in the past fifty-seven years. And with economic predictions foreseeing more progress and development in the future, the possibilities for our great nation are endless. May God Bless our beloved Country, Nigeria.

Today’s commentary was written by Funmilayo Adetokunbo A-A, a political and International Affairs Analyst, based in Somerset, England, United Kingdom.

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