If everything goes on well as wished, in 2059, Nigeria will be celebrating 60 years of uninterrupted democracy since 1999. If everything goes on as wished, Nigeria will be celebrating 99 years of independence from the Great Britain, her colonial master. If everything goes on as wished, Nigeria will be celebrating 36 years of President Muhammadu Buhari’s exit from power.
We have so many things to be celebrating as Nigerians in 2059. Some of us reading this piece now will be in our late 50s or 60s or 70s.
One thing we need to understand is that Nigeria is to Africa what United States of America is to the Americas( North and South America). Therefore, the survival of Nigeria is sacrosanct to the survival of the entire black race. Our birth rate is still very high. The projection is that we will double the population size of 2023 if something drastic is not done about the number of children couples agree to born.
The good news is: Nigeria will survive. This is not just an optimistic viewpoint; it is the reality. We know how terrible things are, but modern human has developed the ability to look at the bigger picture. Let me give you an instance. When Russia invaded Ukraine, the commonsensical reaction of United States or the NATO was to send bombs and other weapons of mass destruction to teach Putin a lesson. United States could have done that to a weak African or Latin American nation. But Russia is not weak. It has large arsenal of equally destructive weapons. So, United States of America swallowed their pride and embarked on sanctions. Those sanctions are really not effective because of Russia’s allies like China, and because of Russia’s gas. This has left the war to drag on for a year now. People are killed in Ukraine, and America just watch the events unfolding like a caged, toothless bulldog.
The point being made here is that, relatively speaking, we are not as irrational as at 1939 when World War II was fought. We are a little bit wiser.
This is also applicable to Nigeria and Nigerians. Irregardless of the call for secession by Nnamdi Kanu, Igbos are not ready to have a repeat of the 1967 Civil War. Nor are we ready to sink low into military interregnums of yesteryears.
The following is how Nigeria and Nigerians are going to look like in 2059:
(1) IN 2059, NIGERIANS WILL BE LESS TRIBALISTIC
Nigerians are gradually beginning to learn that what binds us together is greater than the fake colorations manufactured by our slavers to keep us hostage. In Europe, a Nigerian is a Nigerian. It does not matter if he is from Igbo or Yoruba ethnic group. If you really look at it closely, there is nothing that can tell one tribe apart from the other, especially in this time and age when inter-marriage is becoming almost a common event. In cosmopolitan states like Lagos and Kano people from other ethnicities are nearly equal in number or more than the aboriginals. In 2059, Nigerians from across cultural groups are likely to be so intertwined that where you come from or the language you speak will no longer matter. Culture is still going to exist. Languages are still going to exist. But we are going to see how stupid we were fighting over little identities like whether you are an igbo or Yoruba when we are all basically from the same source. There are some states in Nigeria today where people from other states hold political or appointed offices. That will tell you that in the near future minorities can emerge as presidents and can give politicians from so-called majority ethnic groups a bloody nose in the game of contest.
(2) IN 2059, NIGERIANS WILL BE LESS RELIGIOUS
If Nigerians and humanity as a whole is still around in 35 years time, there will be the birth of a new age. The age of mass irreligion. We are already witnessing that in Europe. Churches and other places of worship are empty except of popular holidays like Christmas. Mind you, Nigeria has an imitative culture.
In many cities in Nigeria Sundays and Fridays are much more activity-packed, unlike those days when the streets used to be sepulchral on worship days. It is already in the air, just that people are not yet upfront about it.
The more educated people are, the more self-conscious and observant they are, and the more they study the dark ages of religion and the untold havoc it has wreaked, the more their spirituality wane. So the new generation of 2059 will come, carrying a living past, a source of disdain for piety and spirituality. Nigerians will come to see how barbaric it is to hate, talk more of to kill, anyone because of religion. Not to mention the proliferacy of prophetic centres where poorly trained, thuggish pastors are performing questionable miracles and where words of edification are never spoken. One day, people will get fed up, and that will lead to the gradual decline of the business of religion in Nigeria. This will drastically reduce the way we demonize and persecute others because we come to realize is far beyond the call for happiness hereafter.
Moreover, as of today, few Nigerians will be bold enough to sit on television and express their atheistic views, as many feminists do today. But in 2059, mainstream corporate news will anchor talk shows where ideas about the betterment of humanism over religion are expressly debated. And immediately social media is infected, the rest will be history.
(3) IN 2059, NIGERIA WILL WAGE A WAR
This is not the type of warfare you are imagining. It will not be fought with guns or bomb, rather it will be led by politicians and civil rights activists whose main weapon will be legislations.
It is the war against poaching!
Over the years, there has been devastating destruction of species in our environment which has harmed us in a powerful way that we are ignorantly oblivious of. Nigerians are used to eating “bush meat” that are illegally hunted in our forests. Rapid urbanization has also been reducing the natural habitat of animals for decades. This has to the extinction of many species. However, virtually no politician has ever delved on this issue, not to talk of addressing it when elected. In 2059, Nigeria will have an epiphany, a wake-up call. Nigerians will suddenly realize that killing diversity in our ecosystem has had negative consequences and will continue to have. A serious campaign will be initiated by Nigerians in the diaspora but will spread like harmattan fire to every nook and cranny of the country. Laws will be enacted that will not only fiercely criminalize poaching, but will make it a life sentence. Security agencies will go after anyone fingered to have taken a single beast from any of the revered game reserves and national parks.
(4) IN 2059, NIGERIA WILL ANNEX BAKASSI PENINSULA
This event will be the ugliest part of the century. Let nobody deceive you: oil will continue to serve as a major source of revenue for a long time to come. What it means is that Nigeria will continue looking for ways to expand its fossil fuel territory. In the end, after emerging as a fearsome force in Africa, it will forcefully take over Bakassi Peninsula from Cameroon. Nigeria has always believed that the ruling of the International Court of Justice was an outright miscarriage of justice. Some maintained Former President Olusegun Obasanjo sold Nigeria by bowing to international pressure and withdrawing over 3,000 troops in the peninsula. The Senate House unequivocally said it is against the action of the former president in a very strong words. In 2059, Nigerian forces will grow to be one of the largest in the world, and will move to take back the region from Cameroon. It will actually be greeted with backlash from the international community, but Nigeria will not give an ear nor yield to any pressure. Though, it will have economic consequences, Nigeria’s annexation of Bakassi Peninsula will still go down in history as a milestone chalked by Africa’s regional superpower.
(5) IN 2059, THERE WILL BE A RAPID GROWTH OF MORE BILLIONAIRE ENTREPRENEURS
For years now Alhaji Aliko Dangote has maintained the enviable position of the richest man in Nigeria, and Africa as a whole. He is one entrepreneur whose wealth seems to be unmatched. However, as non-oil sectors continue growing in leaps and bounds, more billionaires will sprout from entertainment and agricultural sectors. For instance, Michael Collins Ajereh, popularly known as Don Jazzy, will perhaps dominate the entertainment scene in sub-Sahara Africa. He has mentored quite a number of award-winning music stars such Di’ja, Johnny Drille, Rema, Tiwa Savage, Wande Coal, Iyanya, Ayra Starr, and more. He has also diversified beyond music and movies. He is also the Chief Executive Officer of Mavin Energy Ltd, Mavin Real Estate Inc., and Mavin Burger. These companies are raking in millions of naira on weekly basis. As of 2023, he is the richest musician in Nigeria, but he will take a step further to be one of the richest in Africa, surpassing Alhaji Dangote and Mike Adenuga.
Nigeria is the highest exporter of cassava in the world. In the Russia-Ukrainain war continues, Nigeria is probably going to be major supplier of gas to Europe. But apart from that, wealthy Nigerians in the diaspora are believed to return home and invest heavily on agriculture, especially in diary products and cassava.
Nobody knows the future. The African proverb says that tomorrow is pregnant. But if we assume that mankind is not going to do something crazy, we can predict certain things that will happen in the future.
