At 66, Nigeria has reached another important point in its long and often tortuous economic journey. For Prof. Okechuku Onuchuku, the Vice Chancellor of Ignatius Ajuru University of Education, Port Harcourt, the anniversary offers an opportunity to look beyond the celebration of independence and ask a more fundamental question: what is the country doing with the resources at its disposal?
It is a question that goes to the heart of the current national conversation. Nigeria has enormous natural resources, a large population, a youthful workforce, an expanding market and considerable entrepreneurial energy. Yet, the country continues to grapple with inadequate infrastructure, energy shortages, unemployment and the rising cost of living.
For Onuchuku, an economist and academic, the answer cannot be found simply by measuring the immediate discomfort associated with economic reforms. It must also be found in what those reforms are intended to achieve and, more importantly, whether governments at all levels are prepared to convert available resources into productive capacity.
The Vice Chancellor made the observation in an exclusive interview with The Tide Newspaper in his office at the Ignatius Ajuru University of Education, Port Harcourt, as Nigeria prepares to mark its 66th Independence Anniversary.
His intervention places the anniversary within a broader of economic context. Independence, he suggests, is not only about political sovereignty; it is also about a nation’s capacity to feed itself, power its industries, educate its citizens, create wealth and build infrastructure from its own resources.
Onuchuku therefore urged Nigerians to look at the reforms of the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration from a wider perspective, even while recognising the hardship that has accompanied some of the policies.
He cited the removal of petrol subsidy, foreign exchange reforms, the Nigerian Education Loan Fund, NELFUND, and other interventions as measures that should be considered within the administration’s broader attempt to restructure the economy.
“The reforms are not just about what people are experiencing today; we must also look at what these policies are intended to achieve for the future of the economy,” he said.
That argument does not make the present hardship insignificant. Rather, it raises the more difficult question of whether the sacrifices associated with reform will eventually produce an economy in which government is financially stronger, businesses are more productive and citizens have greater economic opportunities.
The World Bank and International Monetary Fund have both pointed to improvements in aspects of Nigeria’s macroeconomic position following the reforms, while also highlighting continuing challenges around inflation, poverty, food insecurity and living standards. The reform debate, therefore, remains one in which macroeconomic developments and the everyday experiences of households must be considered together.
But Onuchuku’s concern extends beyond Abuja. He believes the real transformation of Nigeria will depend substantially on what the states and local governments do with the resources available to them.
It is here that his message to the South-South becomes particularly significant.
The region has for decades occupied a strategic position in Nigeria’s economic life, particularly because of its contribution to the nation’s oil and gas economy. Yet, despite this economic importance, many communities and businesses in the region continue to contend with inadequate infrastructure and unreliable electricity.
For the economist, the time has come for the region to begin thinking seriously about power generation as a collective development priority.
“If the allocations and internally generated revenue of the states and local governments in the South-South are properly utilised, they can be enough to build an indigenous power plant for the region,” he said.
The proposition deserves attention because electricity is not merely another infrastructure item. It is the foundation upon which much of modern economic activity rests.
A manufacturer requires power to produce. A hospital requires power to operate. A university requires electricity to teach and conduct research. A technology company requires reliable power to remain online. A small business needs electricity to preserve its products, operate its equipment and remain competitive.
Where electricity is unreliable, the cost of production rises, investment becomes more difficult and businesses are compelled to spend scarce capital on alternative sources of power.
Onuchuku’s proposition, therefore, is not simply that the South-South should build a power plant. His larger argument is that public resources should be converted into infrastructure capable of creating new economic possibilities.
That is the fundamental distinction between expenditure and investment: expenditure may meet an immediate need, while productive investment can continue generating economic value long after the money has been spent.
The Vice Chancellor believes the states and local governments of the South-South have sufficient resources, if properly managed and strategically combined, to begin addressing some of the region’s most fundamental infrastructure challenges.
Such an approach would require cooperation across political and administrative boundaries, careful feasibility studies, professional management, transparent procurement and a sustainable commercial model.
It would also require a departure from the mentality that every major development challenge must necessarily await intervention from the Federal Government.
In making this argument, Onuchuku cited Abia State Governor, Dr. Alex Otti, as an example of what he described as judicious utilisation of public resources and deliberate investment in infrastructure.
According to the Vice Chancellor, Otti is gradually transforming Abia into a modern economic environment by directing resources towards projects intended to improve infrastructure and the business environment.
The Abia State Government has placed considerable emphasis on capital investment, with the state’s 2025 budget documentation allocating a large proportion of proposed expenditure to capital projects. The administration has also reported investments in roads, transportation, healthcare, education and other infrastructure.
In 2026, the administration commissioned the Umuahia Central Bus Terminal, a major transportation project designed to improve the organisation and efficiency of movement in the state. The project was presented by the state government as part of a wider infrastructure and economic development programme.
Power has also featured in the state’s development agenda. Abia has established a mini-grid regulatory framework intended to encourage private-sector participation in electricity generation and distribution to underserved communities.
Governor Otti has also spoken of plans to extend power generated in Aba to other parts of the state, with the state government reporting efforts to expand access beyond the existing service area.
Whether every element of that development programme ultimately delivers its intended economic impact will depend on implementation, maintenance, financing and sustainability. But the principle behind the example is precisely what Onuchuku wants other sub-national governments to consider: using public resources to build infrastructure that supports production.
He similarly drew attention to the Federal Capital Territory under the Minister, Chief Ezenwo Nyesom Wike, CON, where infrastructure has become a prominent feature of the administration’s development programme.
The FCT Administration has listed the restoration of the Abuja Master Plan, extension of development to satellite towns, completion of uncompleted projects, improved transportation infrastructure and reduction of revenue leakages among its priorities.
The development of satellite towns is particularly significant because the Abuja Master Plan envisages those communities as an integral part of the capital’s growth rather than neglected extensions of the city.
Official FCT records show ongoing infrastructure projects in areas including Kubwa, Bwari and Karshi, involving roads, drainage, water supply, electricity distribution, street lighting and other facilities.
The lesson from such projects is not that one government or another has solved Nigeria’s infrastructure problem. Rather, it demonstrates the scale of investment required to make public resources translate into functioning cities and productive communities.
For Onuchuku, that philosophy should inform the use of allocations across Nigeria.
The debate over subsidy removal, therefore, should not end with the question of how much is the cost of petrol. It should extend to what governments do with the fiscal space created by changes in the old subsidy regime.
If public resources are freed, the citizen should ultimately be able to see their value in better roads, electricity, schools, hospitals, transportation systems, security infrastructure and productive opportunities.
This is where the anniversary becomes more than a ceremonial occasion.
At 66, Nigeria must ask itself whether its enormous resources are being converted into assets that will continue to serve generations yet unborn.
The country has spent decades debating diversification, yet the basic infrastructure required to make diversification work remains inadequate in many parts of the country.
The South-South’s power question therefore fits into the larger national question of economic diversification.
A region that produces enormous quantities of energy resources should also be capable of developing an environment where electricity supports manufacturing, agro-processing, technology, commerce and other productive activities.
That transformation, however, cannot be achieved by government alone. Private capital, professional expertise, effective regulation, local communities and financial institutions must all form part of the equation.
The responsibility of government is to create the conditions in which such investment becomes possible, affordable and sustainable.
This is why Onuchuku’s argument ultimately goes beyond allocations.
It is an argument for a different philosophy of governance—one in which the monthly inflow of public money is not treated as the end of the economic process, but as the beginning of a decision about what permanent value can be created from it.
The Vice Chancellor also identified regular payment of salaries, benefits and other entitlements by state governments as another development that should be recognised within the broader fiscal changes taking place under the Tinubu administration. In his view, the improved capacity of governments to meet their obligations is one of the areas that deserves consideration in assessing the broader effects of the reforms.
But he wants governments to go beyond payment of recurrent obligations.
The economics guru urged governments, as a matter of urgency, to pay greater attention to social amenities and the construction of quality roads that can open up communities, connect cities, stimulate businesses and create new economic opportunities.
For him, infrastructure should not merely be viewed as a government responsibility in isolation, but as an economic instrument capable of reducing hardship, attracting investment and creating a healthier environment for production.
The 66th Independence Anniversary therefore arrives at a moment when Nigeria is simultaneously confronting the pain of economic adjustment and the opportunity to build a more productive economy.
The Tinubu administration’s reforms have changed important aspects of the country’s fiscal and monetary landscape. The next question is how those changes will translate into broader prosperity and improved living conditions for Nigerians.
For the states and local governments, the challenge is equally clear: resources must be accompanied by vision, discipline, accountability and investment choices that expand the economic base.
For the South-South, Onuchuku has offered one particularly ambitious direction—power generation.
For Abia, he sees in Alex Otti’s infrastructure programme an example of deliberate public investment.
For the Federal Capital Territory, the infrastructure programme under Wike provides another illustration of how public resources can be deployed to reshape the physical environment.
And for Nigeria as a whole, the 66th Independence Anniversary provides an opportunity to connect these lessons to one central national objective: transforming revenue into productive capacity.
The real meaning of economic independence, after all, is not merely that a country controls its territory and chooses its government.
It is that its people can look around and see the evidence of their nation’s wealth in the electricity that powers their businesses, the roads that connect their communities, the schools that prepare their children, the hospitals that protect their families and the industries that provide employment.
That is the Nigeria that the independence conversation must ultimately confront.
For Prof. Okechuku Onuchuku, the time has come for governments to move beyond the management of scarcity and begin deliberately building the productive assets that can make prosperity possible.
At 66, Nigeria does not lack resources. The more difficult challenge is turning those resources into enduring value.
The most consequential economic question raised by this year’s Independence Anniversary should therefore not simply be how much Nigeria receives, but what Nigeria builds with what it receives.
King Onunwor
