There is something that is thrilling about independence which triggers a feeling of upliftment. It is an upswelling of a deep sense of freedom, even though it is not every time that independence and freedom are one and the same. One can see that independence is not always connected with freedom, deep within us.
One is a means to an end, for example, and not the end by itself. I will come to it presently. The thrill helps one to see, share and swing in the enrapturing experience of Alhaji Babatunde Jose, now of blessed memory, on the night of Nigeria’s Independence Day. He wrote:
‘As the clock struck mid-night, they took their positions on the dais and watched the lowering of the Union Jack (British Flag) and the hoisting of the Nigerian Flag…and so ended 100 years of British rule…100 years of colonial bondage…And I am happy. And I am sobbing’.
That was the classic impressionistic reporting by Alhaji Jose, the exceptionally gifted editor and newspaper administrator extra-ordinary, the one and only managing director/chairman of the Daily Times.
He filed his report from the Race Course, years later renamed Tafawa Balewa Square. The report was appropriately bylined Babatunde Jose, Editor, Daily Times Newspaper on 01 October, 1960. For those of us privileged to have passed through his hands, his mentorship and his exemplariness on how to be a leader, in our magic kingdom and empire, the largest newspaper organisation in Africa South of the Sahara are simply exceptional.
On momentous occasions, joyful as Independence Day, devastatingly sad as the bloody Dimka coup, Alhaji Jose would mount the typewriter himself in the Newsroom. The report he filed and his thoughts on the lowering of the Union Jack cannot but evoke sweet nostalgic memories. For the campaigners and freedom fighters, for the generality of Nigerians it was dream come true. School children marched through the streets to gather on fields designated for the great Day, waving the Green-White-Green National Flag to blow away the Empire Day and to welcome the dawn of Independence and freedom in their land.
The Prime Minister, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, said in his triumphal tone: ‘Today is Independence Day. The First of October 1960 is a date to which for two years Nigeria has been eagerly looking forward. At last, our great day has arrived, and Nigeria is now indeed an independent sovereign nation. We are grateful to the British officers whom we have known, first as masters, and then as leaders, and finally as partners, but always as friends’. That was 65 years ago.
What were the dreams, what was the vision of the nation’s founding fathers and their lieutenants in the field of battle? Have the promises held aloft been realised over the years? Why are we still in the doldrums? Newspaper editorials and political pundits did justice to this in the run-off to last Wednesday, the anniversary day, the day of the re-enactment of the thrills of 01 October, 1960. Political leaders of different hues did broadcast or issued statements, the kernel of which, as accustomed, hammered on the Eldorado in the offing and the plea for peace and cooperation. In spite of the failings, the anniversary every year rekindles sweet memories, especially seeing school children in a march past, and soldiers and policemen doing likewise and, in addition, saluting the National Flag in state capitals.
Overtime, President Bola Tinubu has gained confidence and pose, away from tentative steps of his early days in office. As he spoke on Wednesday he exuded warmth and confidence, evidently because he has a list of concrete achievements of his Administration this time to brandish before our gaze, but first what the country has achieved in general. The speech was beautifully put together, uncluttered with tired clichés of the past. It was inspirational, too. Hear him:
‘For decades, the promise of our Independence has been tested by profound social, economic, and political challenges, and we have survived. While we may not have achieved all the lofty dreams of our forebears we have not strayed too far from them. In 65 years since our independence, we have made tremendous progress in economic growth, social cohesion, and physical development. Our economy has experienced significant growth since 1960.
‘Although it is much easier for those whose vocation is to focus solely on what ought to be, we must recognize and celebrate our significant progress. Nigerians today have access to better education and health care than in 1960. At Independence, Nigeria had 120 secondary schools with a student population of about 130, 000.
Available data indicate that, as of year 2024, there were more than 23,000 secondary schools in our country. At Independence, we had only the University of Ibadan and Yaba college of Technology as the two tertiary institutions in Nigeria. By the end of last year, there were 274 universities, 183 Polytechnics, and 236 Colleges of Education in Nigeria, comprising Federal, State and private institutions. We have experienced a significant surge in growth across every sector of our national life since Independence—in healthcare, infrastructure, financial services, manufacturing, telecommunications, information technology, aviation and defence, among others.
‘Our country has experienced both the good and the bad times in its 65 years of nationhood, as is normal for every nation and its people’. Tinubu spoke of the civil war and political storms and efforts to build a ‘more perfect union in which every Nigerian can find better accommodation and find purpose and fulfillment’.
As for his Administration, President Tinubu said although he inherited what he called near-collapsed economy flowing from decades of fiscal policy distortions and misalignment; he has rolled up his sleeves to redirect the economy by embarking on fundamental reforms through channeling money ‘to fund education, healthcare, national security, agriculture, and critical economic infrastructure, such as roads, power, broadband, and social investment programmes…As a result of the tough decisions we made, the Federal and State governments, including Local Governments, now have more resources to take care of the people at the lower level of the ladder, to address our development challenges’.
Pledging to work and justify the confidence reposed in him, the President said: ‘I am pleased to report that we have finally turned the corner. The worst is over, I say. Yesterday’s pains are giving way to relief. To further soothe nerves, he reeled out what his Administration has achieved in specific terms, what he attributed to the reforms as follows: Gross Domestic Product grew by 4.23 per cent, outpacing the 3.4 per cent the International Monetary Fund (IMF) projected; inflation dropped to 20.12 per cent and the administration is working to bring food cost down. There is record-breaking rise in non-oil revenue to over N20 trillion as of August; last month alone, the government raised N3.65 trillion, 411per cent higher than what was raised in May. Debt service-to-revenue ratio has gone down markedly from 97 per cent to 50 per cent. For him, according to his score-card, things are looking up. ‘We have paid down the infamous ‘Ways and means’ advances that threatened our economic stability and triggered inflation’. he said. The external reserves rose to $42.03 billion last month, the highest, he said, since 2019. Nigeria trade export rose by 44.3 per cent in the second quarter of the year N7.46 trillion ($4.74 billion). Goods manufactured in Nigeria and exported jumped by 173 per cent with non-oil component accounting for 48 per cent. This time President Tinubu came on broadcast stage loaded and waving a glowing record of achievements. The hope glitters that these will manifest in tangible effect at the micro level. Indeed, he spoke proudly of Nigeria being an exporter of Aviation Fuel, credit one must state to Dangote Refinery.
However, be that as it may, an anniversary cannot detract from reflection and thanksgiving as parts of its essence. As it is in the lives of all human beings, that we are travellers, a country is on a journey also. An anniversary provides the opportunity for reflection, opportunity to look back: How has this journey fared. That is what President Tinubu just did on Wednesday. Then, a resolution ensues for renewed striving to attain the goal. For human beings, that goal is fulfilling the purpose of life. For a nation, it is to facilitate the attainment of that goal, through guaranteeing the right environment for the unfolding of talents and abilities, the environment for ennoblement, love, honour and dignity, otherwise all the exertions will come to nothingness. As it is said: ‘What does it profit a man to gain the whole world, but lose his soul!’ We are also told: ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by the words that proceedeth from Word of the Lord’.
Part of the contemplation would involve asking if independence and freedom are vehicles for the attainment of that goal. Contemplation of the Independence and Freedom thus becomes germane. Independence is not being dependent, whether as a nation, community or a human being. It is a state in which a nation is not dictated to. It is in a position, even if influenced by experiences and lessons learnt from other lands, to take its own decisions thought to be in its interest, and own that decision. It is in a position to take its destiny in its own hands. The nation can plan its life—political or economic without external interference. It can plan to fashion out its own means of protection and secure its borders.
An independent nation would be free to make its own laws and regulations. Among such laws would be those that guarantee freedom of thought, of speech, freedom of assembly, of movement, freedom to own property and the laws must guarantee fundamental human rights. There can be expansion of such rights by going into a collaborative working or entering into an alliance with other countries and signing treaties with them. To protect their citizens and see to their wellbeing, nations post ambassadors to other lands. So important, therefore, is independence that it enjoins a nation to own allegiance to no other land but to its citizens.
The independence, however, is a means to an end; it is not an end in itself. That end is free will. The laws which are a feature of independence only serve as guarantees for free will which constitutes an inalienable and inherent essence and property of a human being, the human spirit which is the real man. Any wonder, therefore, that a government can constrain the exercise of freedom only for a while. In the end the spirit will triumph. Over millennia, nations have fought wars; communities have gone into battle in defence of freedom. But then there are restraints to freedom. For there not to be restraints, there would be chaos and confusion. It is not infrequent that we hear it said: ‘Your freedom ends where mine begins’. We cannot use our freedom to harm others. The immovable limit to freedom is encapsulated in the statement by the Lord when He said: ‘Do unto others as you would want done unto you’. He also admonished us mankind: ‘Love thy neighbour as thyself’.
As it is human beings, so is it with nations. A country cannot in exercise of its freedom invade another country. It may wish to from the point of view of independence but it is forbidden by international sanctions. National laws are consequences of debates among legislators as I discussed last week. The legislators may have come under the external influences such as from constituents, friends, experiences or practices from other nations. The external impressions may have arisen from learning, from reading journals, reading of newspapers, and magazines, or watching television, videos or listening to radio. In these days of social media, internet susceptibility to external impressions is real. All these assail the brains. Thus, the brains receive these for internalization by individuals. The internalization requires that the impressions are passed down for sorting, weighing and examining by the spirit which has as its handmaiden the free will in the modern world of imbalance between the frontal brain, the cerebrum and the small brain, the cerebellum also known as the hind brain, however, the spirit is unable to sift, sort, weigh and examine. And so the laws are not infused with the loftiness that is its inherent quality. Thus what passes as law today is largely the product of the frontal brain. And the laws are passed by show of hands: The ‘yeas’ have it!
The spirit is a non-material consistency, totally alien to material in which it sojourns. It can make contact with the outside world only through its body which is material. The brain, on the other hand, is wholly material even if it is more ethereal than any other part of the body. The order is for the spirit to be assisted by the frontal brain which is of material consistency with materials it has gathered using its own instrument, the intellect. The spirit is to take the decision while the intellect carries them out. The spirit has its own freedom of choice called the free will. The more the frontal brain is consulted the more weakened the free will gets, and the situation gets to the point the faculty of free will is totally forgotten. And without the input of the spirit all manner of aberrations ensue. Because the spirit is not called upon to make decisions it is unable to unfold its abilities. And so is it that the law becomes fulfilled; what we use develops and what we don’t use atrophies. In the unfolding of the abilities of the spirit we develop the essence of true love, compassion, helpfulness, patience, understanding, gracefulness, refinement, polish, beauty and love of beauty, humility, kindness and nobility of spirit. And there you are: A true human being.
He stands there radiant, confident, unhampered, healthy and full of joy in worshipful adoration of the Most High, the Almighty. All these cannot happen without the spirit, in the exercise of free will, living and swinging in the Laws of Nature, the Divine Laws. Without the familiarization of oneself with them and obeying them, no man is free, for without inner freedom a man is a slave even if he were a king or an emperor. He is dependent! There can be no true independence without freedom as its foundation, and freedom not based on the exercise of free will soon leads to unfreedom, indeed, enslavement. The ultimate freedom of man, therefore, lies in the inner freedom!
