Nigeria at 66 needs stronger institutions and shared identity, cleric says

Nigeria must use its 66th Independence Anniversary to examine the strength of its institutions and the kind of nation it wants to become, cleric Rasheed Akinbile has said. Akinbile, founder and spiritual master of the Caring and Sharing Sufi Centre, made the call in an anniversary statement issued in Ibadan on Thursday. He said the country could no longer wait for a single solution or “one wonder” to resolve its challenges.

He noted that Nigeria’s population had quadrupled since independence and said the country should reflect on its collective character. He also pointed to a generational transition, with members of the founding generation gradually passing away while those who inherited power had grown old. Akinbile said the key question for the present generation was no longer what its predecessors had built, but what their children had preserved.

He described Nigeria as being in a period of “institutional adolescence”, arguing that foundational structures existed but the country’s national character was still developing. The cleric identified three major tests. The first was achieving peaceful transfers of political power, including a system in which election losers could continue to live safely and participate in society.

The second was feeding the population while retaining talented young Nigerians who might otherwise seek opportunities abroad. The third was the creation of a common national identity. Akinbile said Nigeria needed a national story that Yoruba, Igbo, Hausa, Ijaw, Muslim and Christian citizens could all recognise as their own without feeling excluded.

He described the anniversary as a “mirror age” and urged citizens to ask not only how old Nigeria was, but who the country had become. He extended anniversary greetings and called on Nigerians to work together to build what he termed the true giant and economic engine of Africa.