50 Reasons Nigeria Should Mourn at 50

"Teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts to wisdom" - King David

I'm sorry if this is not the kind of headline you hoped to see in a time like this. I didn't want to be perceived as a negative person, neither do I enjoy messing up the spirit of celebration for fellow countrymen who feel we should jubilate as a country after 50 years of independence. If you read this and still think I was wrong about the topic however, I will appreciate it if you can tell me ONE reason we should celebrate.

I started out wanting to write about 50 reasons Nigeria should celebrate at 50, but couldn't come up with a single one!

Starting from the initial N10billion to N16.4billion and back to N9.5billoin, The Federal Government of Nigeria finally spends N6.6billion for the one-day Nigeria @50 Independence Anniversary celebration event.

For 38 of the 50 years of Nigeria's independence, the country had been ruled by a military dictatorship.

Ibrahim Babangida, a former military dictator who annulled the presidential election that was won by MKO Abiola in 1993, deprived citizens of their fundamental human rights and unleashed untold terror and civil unrest that resulted in the death of over 120 innocent Nigerians now aspires to be the President of the same people. Yet, people trooped out to Eagle Square to support him!

The Swiss foreign ministry says it has done all it can to ensure that funds stolen by the late Nigerian dictator Sani Abacha were used properly in his homeland. The authorities were responding to allegations that $200 million (SFr240 million) of $700 million handed back by the Swiss Banks to Nigeria had been misappropriated.

A former Inspector-General of Police, Mr Tafa Balogun, was arraigned in court in 2005 by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and slammed with a 70-count charge of stealing and money laundering, among other offences. The former IG was accused of stealing about N10bn, most of which he returned in a plea bargain deal with the EFCC.

The pioneer of the contentious Sharia criminal law, the former governor of Zamfara State, Senator Ahmed Sani Yariman, married a 13-year-old Egyptian minor girl. Yariman is well into his 60s.

1 US Dollar is equal to about 150 NGN.

Due to inflation, per capita GDP today remains lower than in 1960 when Nigeria declared independence.

About 57% of the population lives on less than US$1 per day.

Nigeria is the only remaining country of the world with polio cases.

The Daily Trust of November 26, 2008 reported that the government recently acknowledged that about 80% of Nigerian youths are unemployed and 10% underemployed. This is mostly because they lack the skills employers want. A disorganized educational system can only produce half-baked graduates.

"Of the over 40 million unemployed youths in the country, 23 million are unemployable and therefore susceptible to crime" - Mr. Depo Oyedokun (House Committee on Youth and Social Development).

There exists such a body as "National Association of Unemployed Graduates".

There has been no notable invention from Nigeria in the entire 50 years of existence.

In recent years, major companies have relocated their headquarters or production bases from Nigeria to neighboring countries due to ridiculous factors as lack of basic infrastructures like power, good roads and security.

Nigeria currently has under 3000MW capacity to produce electricity and does not even produce up to the installed capacity. In contrast, the UK with a little less than a third of Nigeria population produces 300,000MW electricity (over a 1000 times).

In 2009, Nigeria consumed approximately 280,000 bbl/d of oil. The country has four refineries (Port Harcourt I and II, Warri, and Kaduna) with a combined capacity of around 500,000 bbl/d. But as a result of poor maintenance, theft, and fire, NONE of these refineries have ever been fully operational.

During 2009 FIFA U-17 World Cup Championship held in Nigeria, one of the flood lights at the Sani Abacha Stadium in Kano broke down forcing the match to be stopped twice. The incident that took place during the second match of the day between Spain and USA was a repeat of similar situation that took place ten years ago in Ibadan during the Nigeria 1999 FIFA U-20 World Cup Championship.

The Nigerian Super Eagles could not qualify for the second stage in the last FIFA World Cup held in South Africa.

Over 30% of childhood deaths and 11% of maternaldeaths in Nigeriaare causedby malaria.

Executive Director, National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Dr. Muhammad Ali Pate, was recently quoted as saying, "Nigeria has the worst maternal newborn and child mortality rate in the world with an estimated 52,900 women and 250,000 newborn babies dying yearly from causes that are largely preventable."

The oil boom of the 1970s led Nigeria to neglect its strong agricultural and light manufacturing bases in favor of an unhealthy dependence on crude oil. In 2000, oil and gas exports accounted for more than 98% of export earnings and about 83% of federal government revenue.

Despite being the largest oil producer in Africa and the 12th largest in the world, Nigeria is ranked 158 out of 177 on the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Human Poverty Index. - In 2007/2008 Human Development Reports.

Of the 80,500 kilometers (50,000 mi.) of roads, more than 15,000 kilometers (10,000 mi.) are officially paved, but many remain in poor shape. Thousands of accidents have claimed numerous lives because of bad roads while many are not motorable at all.

In Nigeria, an estimated 3.6% of the population are living with HIV and AIDS - UNGASS (2010)

Approximately 192,000 people died from AIDS in 2009. - UNGASS (2010)

In 1991 the average life expectancy was 54 years for women and 53 years for men. In 2009 these figures had fallen to 48 for women and 46 for men. - CIA World Factbook (2010)

23-year old Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab became the first Nigerian terrorist in December 2009.

Nigerian lawmakers are the highest paid politicians in the world.

Since January 2009, over 111 foreign nationals have been kidnapped in Nigeria, including 18 in 2010. - U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE

The U.S. Department of State warns U.S. citizens of the risks of travel to Nigeria and continues to recommend U.S. citizens to avoid all but essential travel to the Niger Delta states of Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Delta, and Rivers; the Southeastern states of Abia, Edo, and Imo; and the city of Jos in Plateau State, because of the risks of kidnapping, robbery, and other armed attacks in these areas.

In the north, Islamic groups such as the Izala and most recently the Boko Haram (also known as the Nigerian Taliban) have championed eradicating Western civilization and establishing an Islamic theocracy in Nigeria. The result: conflicts in northern cities and constant clashes between government forces and youth militias in the Niger Delta and southeast. The persistence of these ills - which have killed, injured, displaced, and dislocated thousands and destroyed their livelihoods - has greatly disillusioned many Nigerians, thousands of whom have sought asylum abroad.

Following an upsurge of renewed unrests and conflicts, Nigerians registered asylum applications in 17 countries in 2008. According to UNHCR, no fewer than 12,573 Nigerians applied for asylum in Europe (mainly Italy) and other developed nations- a 71% increase over the 2007 figures.

Indiscriminate murder of innocent citizens by members of Nigerian Police Force who are supposedly meant to protect the same masses is on alarming increase. Recently, a kid was even reported shot by a police officer who alleged that the boy was making jest of him.

University of Sussex's Global Migrant Origin Database reveals that nearly a quarter of Nigerians were in Sudan, with 14% in the United States, 9% in the United Kingdom, 8% in Cameroon, and 5% in Ghana. Much smaller populations were scattered across Africa, Europe, and Asia.

The massive brain drain from Nigeria has been attributed to poor wages, lack of job security, lack of access to good facilities and technologies, lack of professional advancement and trainings, political and civil unrests etc. The World Bank Development Prospects Group reported in 2007 an estimated emigration rate of 36% for Nigerians with tertiary education. For physicians and nurses, the rates were about 13.6% and 11.7%, respectively.

According to UNDP Human Development Report, Nigeria's Emigration Population has risen from 94,100 in 1960 to 1,127,700 in 2010.

It has been 50 years of countless cases of rape, sexual harassment and even cold-blooded murders by so-called men of God, who indulge in various heinous evils in the name of church pastors like the infamous Rev. King.

In the early 1960s, Nigeria's palm oil production accounted for 43% of the world production; today it has dwindled to 7% of total global output. Malaysia, the country which took the oil palm seeds away from Nigeria several years ago, and currently accounts for 39% of world palm oil production is planning to flood the Nigeria market from its silos in Ghana.

Toothpicks are imported to Nigeria.

NigeriaSat-1 mysteriously disappeared from orbit in 2008 after its launch in 2003.

According to uni-dir.net, NO Nigerian University surfaces in the list of the 1000 best Universities in the world and the first one came up on 61 in the list of 100 best Universities in Africa.

A survey by the National Bureau of Statistics in 2006 found that 46.7% of Nigerians are purely illiterate while 53.3% are literate in the use of the English language. A breakdown of the study, which used 15 years as "adult age," shows that 61.3% of the literate population is male and 45.3% female. That implies that one out of every two Nigerian is an illiterate.

A United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) study that came out on January 15, 2008 found that over 10 million Nigerian children of school age are not in school and that most of them are either hawking goods on the streets or doing some form of menial labor to make ends meet.

An average monthly supply output from water schemes in the urban centers are less than 30 liters per person per day. This was due to the fact that all aspects of urban water supply schemes are fraught with serious problems ranging from the source, distribution systems, transmission systems, treatment processes and management of schemes. Less than 15% of all water schemes in the country operates above 50% installed capacity. While the rural dwellers are left with no source of portable water, hence thousands die of water-borne diseases year in year out.

Most of the facts and figures in this essay were gotten from non-indigenous sources because of unavailability and lack of credibility from Nigerian sources.

Most Nigerians will never get to read this because they don't have access to the internet, or there is no power, or can't even read at all.

Nigerians who gets to read this will typically shake their heads, say "na wa o" and forget about it all.

Nigerians are celebrating at 50 years of decline instead of reflecting and forging the way forward for the next 50 years.

Nigeria is my country and I feel responsible for her. My heart bleeds as I write this and I wish someone will read this and not just feel my pains, but also resolve to do his/her best to help save our dear country. I hope my grandchild will be able to write about 100 reasons Nigeria should celebrate at 100. God bless Nigeria!

Gideon Banks is the founder/CEO of Unstopabbles International. He is an artist, entrepreneur, business consultant and writer who believes life is an art and every waking moment must be lived in style without losing touch on individuality, creativity and humanity. "Some people find me crazy, others, amazing; but I'm categorically unconventional. I figured I can only be the best by being myself."

Read more articles by Gideon Banks on his personal website, http://gideonbanks.com