Nigeria at 66: How complexity opens up the space for originality, By Adéwálè Àjàdí

Nigerians are some of the most adaptive and resilient people. This is the hallmark of human evolution: their intuitive habit. The challenge for the next few decades is about Nigerians intentionally making this a craft for their predicted excellence in the next 50 years.

The best and most audacious entity ever is this country, Nigeria. It is a very unlikely but profoundly significant one at that. Many give credit to Ms Shaw, but some descriptions use the term ‘Nigeria’ to refer to people from the different areas of the country. In 1862, English trader William Cole published a book titled, Life in the Niger (based on his 1859 memoirs). In it, he repeatedly used the word “Nigerians” to describe the people living near the river. Also in 1863, the famous explorer Sir Richard Burton used the term “Nigerian” in his essay, “My Wanderings in West Africa: A Visit to the Renowned Cities of Warri and Benin.”<

As such, 9 January, 1897 was not the first time the name was used as a description of people who lived and thrived around the lower end of the Niger. Today, 66 years after our independence from the British, the name is one I have carried all my life with great purpose and service. It refers to the space from which I am called to contribute to humanity.

Increasingly, the world has openly declared that a successful state is one that caters to the ease and comfort of its citizens. This premise has become the basis for many to reduce Nigeria to a curse or swear word. It unfortunately has many distressing aspects, leading to the state of comparison with those who have better infrastructure or appear to be better organised. It is similar to the people who romanticise the past, including the colonial period. These perspectives are not based on any critical assessment but, as is often the case, an emotional reaction towards the perceived or real lack they experience.

Nigerian complexity offers a space for originality, which starts with genuine curiosity rather than knee-jerk benchmarking. The profound space that generosity plays in Nigerian self-expression and why it is constantly ranked top in the world for giving, should become an intentional part of self-conception, as well as a definitive convening of the grundnorm.

For example, by the time of independence in 1960, 15.6 per cent of Nigerians were literate, life expectancy was 36-37 years, and GDP per person was $93 after 60 years of rule by the Crown of the United Kingdom. In fact, by 1960, 8,745 kilometres  (about 13 per cent) of the about 66,000 kilometres of all the roads were tarred. The comparison to just 66 years of independent rule, with 60,000 kilometres (31 per cent) tarred out of 200,000 kilometres of roads, which is currently the second longest road network in Africa. Adult literacy is at 70 per cent, and life expectancy is 55 years. For a country that is often considered as a failure, these are significant developments for the estimated 240 million Nigerians.

There are the usual things that could and should be better, and this is a great spur against complacency. The fact that our country demands greater solutions is our spur for innovation. The often interrupted electricity is a spur to build alternatives outside the grid system. The often deplorable state of the road system is a challenge beyond settling for bitumen-tarred roads. The destructive levels of state capture and malignant acquisition of wealth by subterfuge question where our values originate and how we socialise them. What we now call insecurity, with organised attacks on everyday Nigerians, challenges our winner-takes-all politics and opens up critical enquiry into Nigeria as one country with over 372 ethnic nations. Its diversity solutions are becoming more definitive of the operating system, rather than socially engineered top-down solutions.

Nigerian complexity offers a space for originality, which starts with genuine curiosity rather than knee-jerk benchmarking. The profound space that generosity plays in Nigerian self-expression and why it is constantly ranked top in the world for giving, should become an intentional part of self-conception, as well as a definitive convening of the grundnorm. The lesson of the Dangote new flex, which is beyond the number of cars or the worth of mansions, is key. Today, the flex is: I built the largest refinery and employ tens of thousands of people.

The importance of decolonisation to our way ahead to exceed incremental change and embrace profound transformation that comes from deep work cannot be overestimated. Part of the way ahead is also getting the three major ethnic nationalities, Yoruba, Igbo and Hausa, to adopt a role of trusteeship towards the at least 372 listed Nigerian ethnicities. Working to ensure we bridge our residency and indigeneity gap towards citizenship, while ensuring that numbers are not the determinant of significance.

The Nigerian elite are nothing if not serial benchmarkers, and if they start building economic capacity by being prime investors in Nigeria, that will be even more transformative. The current harsh judgement that passes as realistic evaluation seems to be a form of colonial orientation that assumes Westernisation is the only form of modernisation worthy of note. The critical value we accord to Western validation ignores our own agency to create original solutions, and the role that failure plays in prototypes of the way ahead.

The importance of decolonisation to our way ahead to exceed incremental change and embrace profound transformation that comes from deep work cannot be overestimated. Part of the way ahead is also getting the three major ethnic nationalities, Yoruba, Igbo and Hausa, to adopt a role of trusteeship towards the at least 372 listed Nigerian ethnicities. Working to ensure we bridge our residency and indigeneity gap towards citizenship, while ensuring that numbers are not the determinant of significance. We also should have a system that allows for diverse perspectives to lead to engaging understanding, so that we agree to disagree without being disagreeable. We need our women to be central to our lives, not marginal to it.

Nigerians are some of the most adaptive and resilient people. This is the hallmark of human evolution: their intuitive habit. The challenge for the next few decades is about Nigerians intentionally making this a craft for their predicted excellence in the next 50 years.

Adéwálé Àjàdí, a lawyer, creative consultant and leadership expert, is author of the newly released Afrilition: 21st Century African Manifesto, and Omoluwabi 2.0: A Code of Transformation in 21st Century Nigeria.