Nigeria @66: Achievements

As Nigeria marked its 66th birthday as an independent nation there were all kinds of views on what the country has achieved or failed to achieve since independence. Some analysts in a display of extremity tend to see the country as a sleeping giant or a giant with the feet of clay. The extremists among them believe that Nigeria is a big-for-nothing entity. I am going to examine this topic in three parts. This first one will deal with Nigeria’s achievements; the second part will treat its failures and the third article will suggest ways to make Nigeria great.

For starters let me make two declarations (a) there is no perfect country in the world (b) there is no country in the world that has not made any achievement. From the above, I can declare that Nigeria is not perfect but Nigeria has made some significant achievements in the last 66 years. Here are some of them.

Nigeria has maintained a stable democratic system since 1999, achieving seamless civilian-to-civilian transitions without interruption for 27 years. Its elections have been disputed by some losers but the system has remained reasonably stable at the Centre and in the States.

Our economy has gained admission into the club of the 20 biggest economies in the world. At number 19, Nigeria’s economy is only overtaken by one country in Africa: Egypt. This rise has been assisted by the telecommunications revolution and the massive improvements in crude oil and gas production and renewal energy such as solar. These have also aided the growth of our mobile and digital technology which have in turn expanded our start-up and technological development.

In the literature and arts sector, we have had our Professor Wole Soyinka who made history in 1986 as the first African writer to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. He put Nigeria on the global map. Other great writers such as Mr Chinua Achebe and Ms Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie have also been a force in delivering, through their novels, the African narratives.

In medicine, Dr Olufunmilayo Olopade pioneered major genetic breakthroughs in understanding and treating inherited breast cancer at the University of Chicago, USA. Dr Bennet Omalu also discovered chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) in American football players, thus transforming global sports safety regulations. Also Dr Oluyinka Olutoye is globally famous for successfully performing complex in-utera fatal surgery to remove tumors from unborn babies.

In public service at the global level, we have had Chief Emeka Anyaoku, who was the Commonwealth Secretary General; Dr Ngozi Okonio-Iweala who is serving as the Director General of World Trade Organisation (WTO); Ms Amina Mohammed who is the current Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations; Dr Akinwumi Adesina who served as the President of the African Development Bank; Prof. Benedict Oramah served as the President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) since 2015; Dr Wale Adeniyi, the Comptroller General of Nigeria Customs Service was elected in 2025 as the Chairman of the World Customs Organisation (WCO); Prof. Tijani Muhammed-Bande served as the President of the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) from 2019 to 2020; Judge Chile Eboe-Osuji served as the President of the International Criminal Court (ICC) at the Hague from 2018 to 2021; Mr Mohammed Sanusi Barkindo served as the Secretary General of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) from 2016 until his death in 2022.

In the sporting arena, Mr Hakeem Olajuwon was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame after winning two NBA championships and Most Valuable Player award with the Houston Rockets. In 1996, Nigeria’s Dream Team made history at the Atlanta Games by becoming the first African country to win an Olympic Gold in football. Nigeria’s Golden Eaglets (under 17) have won the world cup a record five times (1985, 1993, 2007, 2013, 2015). In Africa, Nigeria’s female football team, the Super Falcons have been exceptionally brilliant, winning 10 continental titles out of 14. Nigerian football club sides such as Enyimba, Shooting Stars, Enugu Rangers, BCC Lions and Bendel Insurance have also won continental titles for Nigeria over the years.

In the music, movies and beauty sector, we have also chalked up some admirable achievements. In 2001, Ms Agbani Darego made history by becoming the first Nigerian woman to win the Miss World Competition. In the movie business, Nigeria’s Nollywood has made a phenomenal entry into the international film industry exporting Nigerian narratives to global streaming platforms worldwide, thus putting Nigeria prominently on the entertainment map of the world. Equally impactful are our musicians such as Fela, Burna Boy, Wizkid, Davido, Tems who have won Grammy awards and globalized the Afrobeats music genre. They have, by their exertions, shattered international streaming records and put Nigeria on the right side of entertainment history.

There must be many more Nigerians who have done Nigeria proud in various fields that are unknown to me both here and in the diaspora. But perhaps the most important achievement I can record for Nigeria is the fact that we have remained one country despite the stresses we have gone through. We have had several coup plots, successful and unsuccessful ones, but we have remained united. We have had a secession attempt and a civil war that lasted 30 months and claimed more than a million lives but we have stayed together. We have had, and are still having, more noises about disintegration, rebellion, autonomy, independence, and other kinds of agitation mounted by people in various parts of the country but we are still here, staying together. We have had disagreements on religion, ethnicity, regionalism, type of government, sharing of the national patrimony, gender issues, unequal representation, judicial issues, separation of powers, centripetalism etc. but we have not disintegrated. We are still here together, quarrelling with each other but still staying together. That is resilience and that is a virtue in governance because it is that level of accommodation and tolerance that leads to stability. This is a country of tremendous diversity and inequality in terms of resources, education, literacy, language, religion, ethnicity, development architecture and global outlook but we have manged to stay together as if there was no diversity, as if there is only uniformity. That is resilience and it is that resilience that has led to our stability and unity. That is an achievement. Without stability there can be no progress and lack of progress gives birth to misery. We are all complaining today about the uncomfortable state of affairs in the country, such as insecurity and unemployment and poverty. But it could have been worse if we did not have a certain level of stability, stability that is provided by our ability to make compromises through democratic engagement.

My view is that eventhough we have not reached our dream destination yet we have a chance to keep going if we do not put high hurdles on our way by digging the ground and putting Nigeria in the hole through our acts of commission or mission.