NIGERIA AT 66 - THE SCARS - THE HEALING I. THE MORNING OF 1960: In 1960, the Nigeria handed to us by the colonialists was free, robust and full of promise. It was a true federation, with each of the three regions enjoying substantial autonomy and the room to grow as far as their creativity could carry them. Regions competed to stand out in development and advancement. Leaders were challenged to be intellectually adventurous and economically productive. II. THE SCARS But we lost it. Less than a decade into that visionary experiment, the federation collapsed and the unitary system was planted in our national consciousness. It strangled the regional competitive spirit and left one strongman at the center. The regions and subnationals, once proud farmers of their own fields, were reduced to beggars at the gate of the barn. Every leader since then tried, and failed, to restore the working order of the First Republic. Until now. III. THE HEALING When President Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu took the reins of power, he came with a conviction: the order of the First Republic would be restored to our national awakening. We have returned to the era of fiscal federalism, where there is liquidity in the system and the subnationals have the resources to prosecute development. States that once owed months of salaries, paid half-wages and staggered workers' pay can now pay above the national minimum wage, clear pension backlogs and even guarantee a 13th month while developmental demands are being met. The beggars at the gate have become farmers again. It is the Tinubu New World Order. We have returned to the era where governance is not centered in Abuja alone, but lives in the states, in the local governments, in the communities, in the villages. Asiwaju restored local government autonomy so that the government closest to the people can truly serve those in the grassroots. It is the Tinubu New World Order. In the First Republic, our tertiary education was at its strongest, most progressive and most impactful. Foreigners queued at our university gates, as lecturers and as students. But the model we learnt from our colonial masters was destroyed along with the Republic that nurtured it. The child who is not taught will sell the family house. The Fourth Republic taught us that proverb the hard way. Decaying infrastructure and perennial strikes squandered the best years of our children, and a generation was left to sell its inheritance for want of instruction. Until now. Asiwaju has introduced an order in which our universities stay open and students have no valid reason to stay out of them. It is the Asiwaju New World Order. IV. THE SOUL OF A NATION Above all, Nigeria at independence was a nation of ideological honesty. Its leaders did not chase popularity at the expense of generational development. They governed with sincerity and never traded the future for instant applause. That was the golden era we lost with the fall of the Republic, and it is the same spirit Asiwaju has reawakened in our collective consciousness. A leader who feeds the crowd today and starves the children tomorrow is not a shepherd but a thief with a smile. Never again will the future of Nigerians, living and unborn, be gambled for political correctness. It is the Asiwaju New World Order. No matter how long we got it wrong, we are grateful to finally get it right. Happy Independence Day Nigeria. Good Morning Severally.