I sailed into our independence anniversary yesterday(2 days ago) with ‘shiny eyes’ and stayed that way for the better part of the day, at least till nature began seeking its portion of sleep from me. Not that it was really the plan, it just happened that way and I’ll tell you why. It was about 10:37 PM on Sunday the 30th of September (2012 of course!) and I just finished from taking a long (and boring) call from someone. Feeling weary from the day’s activities, I just lay there in bed, in the darkness of my room, eyes shut while sliding into the world of sleep when I was twitched back to alertness by the blazing fury of my electric bulb burning through my shut eyelids to my retinas! This was quite unexpected since I almost never sleep on my back. In less than a few seconds I was wide awake again...and thankful since the electricity supply in my current location had been erratic since I got there five days ago.

So I was up and doing everything I should have done long since had power supply here been as ‘regular’ as it was in time past. In-between the activities of my late night shift I found time to check the popular social networks and I stumbled on tweets and posts about Nigeria’s Independence Day celebration. Only then did it dawn on me that it was October 1st; Independence Day! Not that I didn’t have a clue of the calender...I just didn’t remember it to be a significant day of our independence, at least not until seeing those tweets. The way I forgot about our Independence Day is just the same way the kids from a poor family that can hardly afford a square meal a day would forget their birthdays. It was an unfortunate subconscious oversight. However, the realisation of our independence didn’t put smiles on my face. The best I could do was to shake my head.

Now I may begin to come off as unpatriotic to some, ungrateful even. If so, it might be appropriate for those who think me unpatriotic to ask themselves a simple question; is it in line with patriotism to entertain charades? I ask this because in my humble opinion I assert that people have cause to celebrate an anniversary only when a tangible status of achievements have been recorded which gives ample reason for joy and gladness...if and only if they have the means to celebrate! You don’t see married couples celebrating their anniversary if it has been a turbulent union. In fact, I'll bet you they might even have forgotten! So suddenly remembering yesterday was our independence day didn’t make me wanna call out champagne bottles and jam full glasses. It made me wanna sit still and think, it made me wanna ponder on the path we find ourselves and how we got here, it made me wanna inquire from whence we came and where we are headed, it made me wanna consider our plunging economy and decrepit infrastructures, it made me wanna cry out for the increasing cost of living and the declining standard of living, it made me wanna curse someone for our depreciating standard of education and the appreciating rate of unemployment, it made me wanna weep for the lives of those lost at the wake of violent terrorist attacks up-North, it made me wanna cringe from recollection of the enormous amounts in varied currencies of taxpayers' money brazenly looted by the very custodians, it made me wanna question leadership and apportion blame, it made me wanna pray and fast...

Of the many things thoughts of our 52 years of independence made me think and want to do, I fear that some may be of no gainful consequence. Yet, others may well be the very fulcrum of our turning point towards that greatness we endlessly claim in words and lack in deeds. A State or a Nation is defined by the geographical location and the people within it. Thence, the independence of a State or a Nation cannot be separated from the human entities that define that State. So what is the logic of an independent State if the people of that State cannot aspire to attain a similar sense of independence?

The concept of independence potrays freedom from external control, the freedom to govern one's affairs as one sees fit. This refers specifically to independence of a State. Independence of an individual as part of a State has quite a different interpretation although the concept remains fundamentally the same. For an individual independence means one's freedom to choose the life they want for themselves and to have the means to attain it. Therefore, the independence of the individual is not solely a function of the independence of the State if the State's independence cannot guarantee its development for which the individual's independence relies.

The essence of independence is to tear down the walls of restrictions which binds the dependant from aspiring to do and be more than those standards the 'controllers' have set. It is an aspiration to move from a status of subservience to one of equality. It makes me wonder what we really celebrate as a people, the bulk of which are still in economic bondage. It makes me wonder if our celebration isn't more than a service to the unscrupulous cohorts of political leaders who have kept us under for long years.

What we truly celebrate on the 1st of October each year is our dependence on our leaders to lead us to the promiseland we have long prayed for. Little do we know that we have always been on promiseland! In itself, dependence on leadership isn't such a bad thing since leadership has a responsibility to the people. But when we refuse to accept the reality that bad leadership promotes perpetual dependence of the people without hope of redemption we lose sight of the true definition of independence whose celebration we annually fake.

Independence is not just the physical freedom from external influence for he is trapped whose mind is caged but whose body is free. Independence must be accompanied with subsequent positive reports on development and increase in social status. It is of no consequence if the people's lives experience no significant improvement. Independence means nothing to the people if they still drown in squalorish living standards akin to the days of slavery. Hence, rather than see independence day as a day of celebration, it would be wiser to take it to be an opportunity to start afresh, refresh our attitudes and minds to focus on being all that we can be as individuals and as a nation. A nation becomes what it is by the collective effort of the people who make up that nation. The greatest service we can do for ourselves is to not fail ourselves where leadership has failed us. The family is the smallest unit of any society and by default people wish for the success of their individual families. In like fashion we must begin to see our nation as a projection of family in the larger society. Every individual success should be seen as a collective success. It behoves each and every one of us to put hands together regardless of ethnicity and religious inclinations and pursue the future we want for ourselves and our dear nation. Though individual interests exist, the collective interest supercedes. This is the tenet of patriotism which we must all imbibe and live by. Only then can we begin to have a taste of what independence truly means.

God bless Nigeria and Nigerians.

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