THERE must be something great about Nigeria. Or there should be a uniqueness about Nigeria that makes it defy predictions about its pendulous greatness or the immensity of its proclivities for fumbling.

Nigeria’s greatness has descended to triteness. Pretences that Nigeria is “something” have deflated the boundaries of decency even for the most permissive optimists. From high hopes of relevance, Nigeria has spent its 52 years swamped by leaderships that marked their time and departed.

We are a country that easily relapses to living in its “glorious past”, not that the past had momentous foundations for Nigeria, but low as the standards might have been, they still exceeded today’s boisterous governments that lead by words.

Nigeria is sliding off the global radar in a way that demands emergency measures to re-focus it. Gleeful bouts of government policies paint a different picture. We confound the simplest matters about our existence and ignore more complicated issues, sometimes postponing them to a time too late to do anything about them.

Signs of the unstable health of our federation are evident. Agitations for more liberties, to afford the people a say in how they live, is one of the strongest pointers to the dissatisfaction with Nigeria. Out-of-power politicians may be instigating the process for their benefit, but the fact remains that more robust debates about the future structure of Nigeria are important.

Will the constitutional amendments address the vacuums? Nigerians should grab the opportunity to see that happen. The 52nd  independence anniversary calls for a sober review of how to make the country work better. The authorities could deceive themselves with flowery speeches that list their achievements, the most important, according to them, being the unity of the country. The truth lies elsewhere.

Nigeria cannot make progress without leadership that provides direction. The wasted years resulted from running the country on ad hoc programmes. Governments’ grandiose pronouncements have never thought of the welfare of Nigerians as the essence of governments.

The wastes go beyond the immediate mismanagement of the country’s resources. The consequences of today’s indecisions would haunt the country for years. The present has been misused. The future has been blurred by poor planning and in most cases no planning, making the rosy pictures that politicians paint of the country a mirage.

Our youth are ill-prepared for the demands of the quick-paced transition to the vast possibilities information technology provides. These do not bother our leaders who think that whoever gets into office should pull all the stops to look after himself and his panjandrums.

Nigeria would be ruined irredeemably, if promotion of leadership as authorised access to unrelenting looting of the commonwealth continues.