Olu Falae, the erstwhile secretary to the government of the federation, has lamented Nigeria’s slow pace of development as the country marks its 65th Independence anniversary.

According to Mr Falae, an elder statesman and economist, Nigeria is still grappling with fundamental challenges, such as poor infrastructure, insecurity, tribalism, religious crises, and inadequate social services, which he noted are stifling national progress.

Mr Falae acknowledged that Nigeria’s GDP has grown under President Bola Tinubu but argued that the growth has not translated into improved welfare for citizens.

“You know, I’m a professional economist and banker. What we are having is growth without development. When the GDP is growing, revenue is increasing, but the welfare of the people is declining. We call that growth without development. And that happens when government programmes are not deliberately and consciously designed to increase the welfare of the people.

“Revenue coming in, we don’t spend it anyhow. There is no plan. One of the saddest developments in Nigeria in the last 65 years is that we stopped development planning,” Mr Falae told Peoples Gazette.

He added, “Nigeria is far below the level we expected it to be. Sixty-five years of independence with all the oil money we have received and disbursed. We are still being kidnapped on our streets. There’s no running water anywhere. There’s no sewage system.

“In the southwestern part of Nigeria, the farmers are virtually neglected. Time was when we had an agric input company here in Ondo state that sold subsidised inputs to farmers, like fertiliser, insecticides, etc. Not anymore.”

The former presidential candidate of the defunct Alliance for Democracy described the nation’s achievements since independence as “disappointing” when compared to those of other African countries.

“The achievement so far on most fronts has been very disappointing. Most countries in Africa with a much smaller population and limited resources have achieved more in education, road transportation, and health development, which Nigeria has not been able to achieve,” Mr Falae stated.

According to him, Nigeria’s cities remain underdeveloped, with many lacking central sewage and water systems, while untarred roads still dominate urban areas.

“You know, it is very painful that today in Nigeria, outside of Abuja, I don’t think there is any city that has a central sewage system and a central water system. In many cities in Nigeria today, you still have very many untarred roads. It is a shame at 65 years after independence,” he said.

Mr Falae observed the level of decadence in the country’s educational sector, adding that there is a virtual collapse that has affected the graduates being pushed out of universities.

He frowned upon how the government had placed a premium on quantity rather than quality in improving the country’s education sector, stressing that the standard was still far below expectations.

The elder statesman further faulted successive governments for neglecting critical investments in education, health, and agriculture, recalling how farmers once benefited from subsidised inputs in the southwest but are now abandoned.

“In the western region, the Yoruba land, we used to boost our achievements in education. But even then, there is a virtual collapse. Graduates of polytechnics and universities. Some of them are hardly able to express themselves.

“The quality of education has dropped. The hospitals, many of them are dilapidated. All in all, it’s a very sad situation. Today, we have maybe hundreds of universities. There should be a quantitative growth in the number of educational institutions.

“But what I’m complaining about is the quality of education. So, we have many state capitals, and we have so many polytechnics, secondary schools, universities, hospitals, etc. But these are quantitative improvements. The quality they are generating is below standard,” Mr Falae explained.