Nigeria at 60: 'Nigeria is a failed country' - Nigerians lament

Some members of the Nigerian community in Ghana have expressed their thoughts on the plethora of issues plaguing the country as it marks its 60th independence anniversary.

The Nigerians who spoke to MyNigeria.com highlighted corruption and the poor management of the economy as the reasons the country remains in such poor state, 60 years on. They also attributed these problems as a factor driving the youth to seek greener pastures in neighbouring countries.

According to Usman, a Nigerian phone repairer living in Ghana, Nigeria’s progress as country has been very slow, mainly because of President Muhammadu Buhari’s poor management of the state's coffers.

“I’m not happy with the situation of the country at 60 or 60 above now. Because the country is not progressing, this thing is leading to our president, Major General Muhammudu Buhari, he should try to amend his administrators because the people who are working with him are not doing anything."

If he has ambition for the country, people under his cabinet do not have any good intention for the country. That is why majority of us the youth are outside the country. We have intelligent people outside the country but they can’t come back home because of the situation of the country. No security, no light,” he said in an interview with MyNigeria.com.

Mustapha, a Nigerian trader at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle, a popular electronics market in Accra also stated that there is no cause for celebration because after 60 years of independence, Nigeria is a failed country.

“As a country, as an entity, Nigeria is a failed state, because after 60 years, we are going to celebrate our independence on the first of October, but I call it ‘dependent’. I have been in Ghana for some years now, I see how things is going on here. No matter how Ghana is bad Ghana is better than Nigeria. They were saying that Nigeria is the giant of Africa then, but if you ask me, I’ll tell you that Ghana is the giant of Africa."

"If you are flying from Ghana to Lagos at night, and you’re landing at Lagos, it will be like you are going to hellfire,” he said.

But to Uti and Sunday, Nigeria’s independence should be celebrated regardless of whether the country is progressing or not.

“Independence Day, its good, it’s something we have to celebrate, talk of what our leader is doing, it's not good, things he is supposed to do as a leader, he is not doing it. But we will not say we won’t celebrate independence; we will celebrate it,” Uti said.

“Oh I am happy that we are celebrating 60 years independence, its not easy, we are lagging behind, at least, we are supposed to go far, where we are now is not where we are supposed to be. Dubai just discovered oil some few years back but look at where they are,” Sunday added.

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