Nigeria at 65: Hyenas in Charge of the Reserve

By Nwafor Oji Awala

At 65, nations should be basking in stability and dignity. At 65, a mother-country ought to sit, proud and fulfilled, with her children drawing strength from her achievements. But Nigeria, at 65, is not a proud mother. She is a carcass surrounded by hyenas: leaders who were meant to protect her but instead gnaw at her bones.

That is the central tragedy of our independence journey. We have placed hyenas in charge of a reserve, expecting them to tend the animals. Instead, they devour them. Nigeria’s leaders, past and present, have feasted on the very people they swore to serve.

This morning President Bola Ahmed Tinubu told Nigerians that “the worst is over.” But if the worst is truly over, why are millions still dying of hunger? Why is healthcare a luxury beyond the reach of more than two-thirds of the population? Why do empty pots sing louder than the national anthem in countless homes?

Mr. President, you called off this year’s celebration of independence. Is it to mourn Nigeria before you finally slit her throat?

Three years in Aso Rock is enough for any serious leader to redirect a collapsing economy. Instead, our economy has sunk deeper. The “worst” can only be said to be over when food prices return to what they were on the day you took office. The worst can only be over when fuel prices are back to pre-inauguration levels. The worst can only be over when the naira regains the value it had against the dollar the very day you became president.

Anything else is political theatre.

Our currency is in tatters. Coins vanished from circulation years ago, and nobody cared. A nation transacts with ₦100 as its smallest note while advisers clap blindly. That was the beginning of this monetary sickness, yet no one acted.

Buhari’s eight wasted years did nothing to stop child malnutrition, hunger, or insecurity. Under Tinubu, things are worse. Thousands of Nigerian children still die yearly, while government urgency is missing in action. UNICEF and the Gates Foundation now do the job of keeping our infants alive. Nigeria is not at war, yet our reality is worse than that of war-torn states.

IDP camps have become permanent fixtures across the North and Middle Belt. For over fifteen years, Nigerians have been trapped in makeshift lives, while leaders pass by with eyes averted.

Meanwhile, corruption is flourishing. The oil and gas sector, once our lifeline, has been converted into a private feast. We boast of the world’s largest private refinery, yet fuel is cheaper in non-oil producing countries. Nigeria exports crude and then imports crude back. It is madness disguised as governance.

Taxes multiply daily, crushing businesses and households, yet public coffers remain empty. Debts pile higher every month. Our economy, once the largest in Africa, now struggles to remain in the top five.

And insecurity? It is the national soundtrack. Bandits and terrorists hold sway. Even with intelligence warnings, attacks are rarely prevented. We only count the dead afterwards.

At 65, Nigeria is broken. A country where the First Lady can conjure ₦20 billion overnight in the name of a library project while schools decay and hospitals gasp. A country where the President skips the UN General Assembly two years in a row but racks up over 60 foreign trips, most whispered to be for medical reasons.

So I ask: are Nigeria’s billionaires, richer than some African states, waiting for this country to finally collapse so they can pick her bones clean?

Nigeria at 65 is not just struggling. She is bleeding. And the hyenas meant to guard her reserve are still feasting.

(c) Nwafor Oji Awala 

Prime Heritage Magazine