By Ojone Enejoh (Energy Correspondent)

No sector better explains Nigeria's underdevelopment in 66 years of Nigeria's nationhood than electricity. For decades, governments have announced power projects. There have been: National Electric Power Authority (NEPA); Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) unbundling;
generation and distribution privatisation programmes; the Electric Power Sector Reform Act; the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading framework; the transmission investments; the renewable-energy initiatives; the rural electrification programmes; and, more recently, the Electricity Act 2023.

By Ojone Enejoh (Energy Correspondent)

The nation's Petroleum financed Nigeria's transformation, but it also became one of the principal reasons that transformation remained incomplete.

By Dimeji Shobowale (Agric & Food Security Correspondent)

Perhaps nowhere is Nigeria's missed opportunity clearer than agriculture. At independence in 1960, agriculture was the backbone of the economy and the principal source of exports.

By JVINN Okafor (Managing Editor/ Head, Business & Economic Desk)

Nigeria's economic history can almost be divided into five chapters: agriculture before oil; oil boom; oil dependence; structural adjustment; and the present search for diversification.

By Desmond Ukandu (Editorial Director/Head, Politics Desk)

Nigeria's political journey has probably been the country's most disruptive story. The First Republic inherited a federal parliamentary system. Regional political parties were powerful, and political competition was closely associated with regional identities.
The crisis of the First Republic culminated in the January 1966 military coup. The counter-coup of July 1966, the civil war from 1967 to 1970 and the subsequent centralisation of political power, fundamentally altered the federation. Military rule brought some important administrative changes, including the creation of states and stronger central institutions. But it also weakened democratic culture and normalised government by decree.

Preamble

A sector-by-sector audit of 66 years of independence — the dreams, the development plans, the oil boom, military interventions, democratic experiments, wasted opportunities and the difficult search for a new national direction

By Celestine Okafor (Editor-in-chief)

On October 1, 1960, Nigeria stepped into independence carrying an enormous burden of expectation. The country was not without problems. It inherited weak industrialization, limited infrastructure, regional inequalities, a largely agrarian economy and a political system whose foundations had been laid by the departing colonial power. But there was also extraordinary optimism.

Sixty-six years after independence, Africa’s most populous nation has produced remarkable achievements in some fields, but poverty, insecurity, weak institutions, poor infrastructure, unemployment and a widening gap between promise and reality continue to test the Nigerian dream.

By Celestine Okafor (Editor-in-chief)

Today, Thursday, October 1, 2026, Nigeria will, once again, roll out the national colours of green and white to commemorate her 66 years of independence from British rule on October 1, 1960.

• Lists Gains In Economy, Infrastructure And Security

By Our Reporter

The Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Sen. George Akume, has explained that the bold reforms undertaken by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration since 2023 were necessary to save Nigeria from imminent collapse.

By Celestine Okafor (Editor-in-chief)

The Management of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) has commiserated with the family of its former Director General, Colonel Peter Kolawole Obasa, who died yesterday.

By Our Reporter

The Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Sen. George Akume, has charged Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to translate the findings of the 2026 Transparency and Integrity Index (TII) into concrete improvements in their operations in order to strengthen accountability and public trust.

By Celestine Okafor (Editor-in-chief)

The Comptroller-General of Customs (CGC), Adewale Adeniyi, has pledged the support of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) for the successful hosting of the 2026 World Public Relations Forum (WPRF), scheduled to take place in November 2026, while highlighting the impact of strategic communication towards the success of key reforms being implemented by the Service.

By Celestine Okafor (Editor-in-chief)

The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) of the United Kingdom have advanced discussions to finalise a Customs Mutual Administrative Assistance Agreement (CMAA) to strengthen information sharing, compliance, and trade facilitation between the two countries.