This are so different now. Remembered the parachute challenge in the late 80's in Abuja.

How come the uniforms worn by female students where so short back then?

naptu2:
1974 video
The video begins with a street scene. We see a banner on the street that reads, “Happy 14th year anniversary”. Then we see the Tafawa Balewa Square. We can see Western House in the background. The Nigerian Police Mounted Troop escort the state car into the venue. The horses’ hooves kick up too much dust, so I can’t tell for sure if the car is the iconic w100 Mercedes Benz 600 (the number 1 state car) or if it was a W108 S Class. Judging from the length of the car, I think it’s the 600 limousine.

Then we see a cross section of the members of the public who are watching the parade.

Next we see General Gowon in the uniform of an admiral. Behind him is the chief of staff, Supreme Headquarters, Vice Admiral Wey. They are both climbing up the stairs to the saluting dais.

Then we see the troops marching past. Then we see General Gowon, Admiral Wey and General Ejoor on the saluting dais. We next see policemen marching past and then it’s the turn of school children to march past the saluting dais. We also see some foreigners in the audience who are taking pictures.

We see the parade commander and then there’s a loss of sound as the 21 gun salute is fired. There’s still no sound as we see naval ratings give three cheers to the head of state. Finally we see the officers on the saluting dais.

It was on this day that General Gowon made a major mistake. He had previously promised that he would hand over to a civilian government in 1976. However, in his Independence Day speech in 1974, he said that the 1976 handover date was no longer feasible. Many soldiers were tired of military rule. They were tired of being involved in government and they wanted to return to purely military duties. After this speech, Shehu Musa Yar’Adua, Joseph Garba and Abdullahi Mohammed started plotting to overthrow General Gowon. They staged their coup in July 1975 and handed over to Murtala Muhammad, Olusegun Obasanjo and Theophilus Danjuma, who announced that they would hand over to a civilian government in 1979.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRO77ON2nkY

The sound from the music band in 74 was lovely

Over the years there have not been any development plans ,no party manifestos, water ministry is only developing boreholes that will not last, roads reconstruction that supposed to take 4years is expanding to 16 -20 years,railway lines only prototype we see the minister promising that the project is on course, nothing is heard on East-West railwayl ine from Calaber to Lagos ,unlike in the past when we hear about a development project it will be done.

As a nation achieving it’s independence in 1960, we have identified certain major causes of the regressive nature of affairs in our beloved nation, the Federal Republic of Nigeria. These include a false & forced perception of a single unitary entity while the nation’s true nature as a multinational state is ignored in its policy making. This has proved to be a major cause of conflict and unrest that urgently needs to be addressed. http://ndpra.home.blog

Chuks9000:
This are so different now. Remembered the parachute challenge in the late 80's in Abuja.

Yes, I remember that. It was in 1987. I remember President Babangida pointing out the parachutists to Maryam. That was the year that Babangida wore the uniform of an air chief marshal.

I remembered those parachutists a year later, during the 1988 African Nations Cup (Maroc '88).

Moroccan troops parachuted into the stadium during the opening ceremony, but one of them became stuck in the air when his parachute became entangled with a floodlight tower.

naptu2:

Yes, I remember that. It was in 1987. I remember President Babangida pointing out the parachutists to Maryam. That was the year that Babangida wore the uniform of an air chief marshal.

Your head dey their
That year, we saw lots of armored tank, jet fighters in Abuja. October 1st, is one of those things we look forward to as kids.

deavicky:
504 was once our presidential car. Even without AC now see the same 504 today. Almost no value. We should learn not worry ourselves over anything because what matters today may not matter tomorrow.

1) The 504 was air conditioned.

2) The choice of the 504 was quite deliberate. It was used to project an air of humility.

General Gowon was fond of using many Mercedes Benz stretch limousines and very long motorcades. This was one of the things that turned the people against him. His wife, Victoria Gowon, also used stretch limousines and his deputy, Admiral Wey had a Daimler as his official car.

When Murtala Muhammad came to power, he banned other government officials, including the first lady, from using stretch limousines. Only the head of state used a stretch limousine. Furthermore, Murtala Muhammad did not use any motorcade. It was only his car without any escorts or sirens. That was why it was easy for his assassins to shoot him dead in the middle of a traffic jam.

General Obasanjo used a Peugeot 504 as his everyday car, but he also used Mercedes Benz cars for special occasions, for example, when he was receiving visiting heads of state.

In this video, President Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia visited Nigeria and General Obasanjo went to welcome him at the airport. You can see that both heads of state were about to get into an S Class Mercedes Benz, but Colonel Joseph Garba ushered them into a Mercedes 600 instead. That 600 was Nigeria's number one state car for a long time.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUhfL8rYAgQ

President Shehu Shagari revived the use of stretch limousines and S Class Mercedes. General Buhari used a Volkswagen Santana as his everyday car and a Mercedes S Class for special occasions. General Babangida used a 504 as his official car from 1985-1988, when he brought back the 600 that you see in the video above.

chuksville:


Not everyone is a killer... There are still good things Happening in a bad world.

..na only one dem catch wat of the remaining ones?

Brief history of Nigeria INDEPENDANCE day

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzVd15896LI

onwuakpachris:
yes but I'm not ibonachi anything..who r u?

Ibonachi means good morning, sorry u misunderstood.

Who i am doesn't matter.

Many thanks OP for this piece. It has help sharpen my understanding of the behind the scene for the 1985 celebration when IBB arrived in a naval uniform. I see that you did not say if the celebration held in 1984, by which time Buhari was in power with Idiagbon a Brigadier as chief of staff supreme headquarters (the vice), IBB a maj.gen the chief of army staff and i think Mutala Nyako the naval chief. Note that Idiagbon as chief of staff supreme Hqs was a defacto number 2 with powers over the service chiefs a tradition that was in existence from previous military govts.

However, IBB changed all that when he appointed Ukiwe (a one star general) as chief of general staff as his vice but with no powers over the service chiefs. I guess he was afraid if his vice have such vast powers, he could be toppled.

farady:
Many thanks OP for this piece. It has help sharpen my understanding of the behind the scene for the 1985 celebration when IBB arrived in a naval uniform. I see that you did not say if the celebration held in 1984, by which time Buhari was in power with Idiagbon a Brigadier as chief of staff supreme headquarters (the vice), IBB a maj.gen the chief of army staff and i think Mutala Nyako the naval chief. Note that Idiagbon as chief of staff supreme Hqs was a defacto number 2 with powers over the service chiefs a tradition that was in existence from previous military govts.

However, IBB changed all that when he appointed Ukiwe (a one star general) as chief of general staff as his vice but with no powers over the service chiefs. I guess he was afraid if his vice have such vast powers, he could be toppled.

In 1984 the order of precedence was thus:

Major General Muhamadu Buhari - Head of state

Major General Tunde Idiagbon - Chief of staff, Supreme Headquarters.

Major General Domkat Bali - Minister of defence

Major General Ibrahim Babangida - Chief of army staff


Rear Admiral Augustus Aikhomu - Chief of naval staff

Air Vice Marshal Ibrahim Alfa - Chief of air staff

Mr Etim Inyang - Inspector general of police.

The parade was held in 1984. (Idiagbon was promoted to the rank of major general in 1984).

The videos reminded me of the popular Fela trousers, we have greatly improved when you look back from where we started, with God on our side, we will surely reach the next level.

Exc2000:
O.P You are a wonderful writter, please can you write about any of Nigeria's coup or counter coup.. something tells me you are quite knowledgeable on the subject, perhaps you were a barack boy just like myself

Do you think that barrack is a synonym for pampered?
Pampered with a silver spoon.

mechanics:
The videos reminded me of the popular Fela trousers, we have greatly improved when you look back from where we started, with God on our side, we will surely reach the next level.

We have not improved.
Not in the basics of modern life.
We have not. Rather we have deteriorated.
In government schools (primary, secondary and vocational), electricity, government healthcare, water, roads, government libraries etc.
It is terrible that while we have progressed as individuals (at least for some), our collective wellbeing is worse. To the point that we are called fantastically corrupt shithole dwellers, and one of those public servants responsible for the rot, simply nods in agreement.

anonimi:


We have not improved.
Not in the basics of modern life.
We have not. Rather we have deteriorated.
In government schools (primary, secondary and vocational), electricity, government healthcare, water, roads, government libraries etc.
It is terrible that while we have progressed as individuals (at least for some), our collective wellbeing is worse. To the point that we are called fantastically corrupt shithole dwellers, and one of those public servants responsible for the rot, simply nods in agreement.

There is hope ahead.