The Federation of Nigeria was granted full independence on 1 October 1960 under a constitution that provided for a parliamentary government and a substantial measure of self-government for the country's three regions. From 1959 to 1960, _Jaja Wachuku_ was the First Nigerian Speaker of the Nigerian Parliament, also called the "House of Representatives." Jaja Wachuku replaced _Sir Frederick Metcalfe_ of Britain. Notably, as First Speaker of the House, Jaja Wachuku received Nigeria's Instrument of Independence, also known as Freedom Charter, on 1 October 1960, from _Princess Alexandra of Kent,_ The Queen's representative at the Nigerian 1st independence ceremonies.
We thought we're freed, we thought everything is settled, we thought we're in control of our own affairs till we discovered we never had a frontier nationalist like many other Third World countries which strengthen their unity rather we had statesmen whose national activities is fundamentally guided by their respective regional interests which transcend that of our national interest. Likely giant developing countries like India had Mahatma Gandhi, South Africa had Nelson Mandela, Tanzania had Julius Nyerere, Ghana had Kwame Nkrumah but Nigeria had the trio of Ahmadu Bello, Nnamdi Azikiwe and Obafemi Awolowo. The trio are very great men with varying intellectual and ideological disposition but the pluralistic methodologies employed by them for their reckoning achievements seems unpalatable making our future unpredictably murky.
_"Man is born free and everywhere he is in chains."_ The opening sentence of _Rousseau's The Social Contract_ not only summarises his entire philosophical system, it also proves how important he still is today. Nigeria had since been freed by nature, subdued but later granted independence by our political lord; Britain but the country continue to be in chains everywhere due to the unrelenting negative attitudes to national developments being plagued by the entire citizenry. From the outset, Nigeria's ethnic and religious tensions were magnified by the disparities in economic and educational development between the south and the north, a country that faced many problems, including a dysfunctional bureaucracy, collapsed infrastructure, and a military that wanted a reward for returning quietly to the barracks.
Successive Nigerian government most especially during the current democratic dispensation have always faced the daunting task of rebuilding a petroleum-based economy, whose revenues have been squandered through corruption and mismanagement. Additionally, the Buhari administration must defuse longstanding ethnic and religious tensions if it hopes to build a foundation for economic growth and political stability. Currently, there is conflict in the Niger Delta over the soil degradation and environmental destruction caused by oil drilling and the ongoing poverty in the oil-rich region.
"Man is born free and everywhere is in chains." Centuries after that prophetic opening sentence, we should ask ourselves if we can afford to ignore Rousseau's warning, in a world dominated by flashing mobile phones and social media. Man may indeed be born free, but in the 21st century, the chains may be even harder to see. Defining natural man as being free and happy and living in the forest. Rousseau explains how man went from this state of autonomy to the modern condition, dominated by inequality, dependency, violence and unhappiness. There were positive aspects to this process too, he admits, including the creation of families, the discovery of tools and technology, and the building of cities and social organisations. Unfortunately, this also gives way to what Rousseau called the "right of the strongest", where a reign of inequality destroys man's original state of happiness and freedom. Humanity becomes alienated, and the Discourse on Inequality ends unhappily in general war.
_Atiku_ says All is not well with Nigeria but _Bill Clinton_ rightly posited that "You don't have to wait till your party is in power before you have impact on life at home and around the world". In order to extirpate such sociopolitical and economic pathologies as elite conflict, opposition enmity, culminating corruption, mass defection and cross carpeting, abduction and assassination, interrupted power supply, mass unemployment, internal insurgency, administrative deficiency, currency depreciation and devaluation, gerontocratic and plutocractic tendency, selfish political interest, ethnic militias, tribal clashes, xenophobic attacks amongst others, the entire populace ranging from political and administrative officials, politicians, religious leaders, business moguls, media personnel, unions leaders and all the citizenry must resort to the subordination of individual interest to the general interest, utmost loyalty and patriotism to the country and extirpation of chauvinistic and jingoistic tendency at all levels of our country's social structure.
The only thing that made humans different from animals is his free will, something constantly placed in danger whenever man enters into society. Only the general will – general interest as opposed to private interest – guarantees man his autonomy. Nigeria can't be free unless individuals understand that the general will or general interest should prevail over their own private interest. It is on this note that my writing pen enjoined all Nigerians to think deeply on how to make themselves and their natural mind appeal to the country's state of nature, be a good vicegerent of the the country everywhere they reside either home or abroad.
```Happy Independence Day to my twin brother; Nigeria.```
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```Alamu Azeez```
🇳🇬 *Mr. Nigeria*✍
Certified Administrator, Political Analyst.
FB: Alamu Azeez Adebayo
Twitter Handle: @MrNigeria01
©️ October, 2019.
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