Lagos — Independent Nigeria is forty years old and many will be celebrating the nation's arrival at an age that traditionally marks the shift from young adulthood to maturity. But is it a Happy Birthday? AllAfrica put that question to six ordinary Nigerians.

Things will only improve, says Simeon Ibeabuchi, a businessman who was born in the 1940s, when Nigeria gets "national leaders".

The bane of the country’s development, he says, is that those who have ruled the country since independence have been 'gangs of tribal leaders' who have ruled with prejudice against other ethnic groups, and often made laws against the interest of people from other tribes.

Being independent, he says, gives Nigeria recognition among the nations of the world. Attainment of independence set Nigeria on the path of development, he says; but he points out that bad leadership scuttled that dream. The benefits that should accrue to the citizens of the nation have largely remained mere potentials.

Part of the reason for this, according to him, is the incursion by the military into government. On the whole, the military have ruled Nigeria for about 30 years since they made their first appearance on the political scene in 1966. The military has ruled us for longer than civilians, which in a way prolonged our colonization," says Ibeabuchi.

Nigeria is still far from attaining self-sufficiency in food production; it is far from producing steel and iron products (despite huge investments in an Iron and Steel Company in the Niger Delta area), and still far from providing shelter for its citizens.

After 40 years of independence, Ibeabuchi says Nigeria should be able to produce cars, and other industrial products. That way, he says, there would be less pressure on prices and the nation’s foreign exchange rate. The naira, the country’s currency, has fallen in its exchange rate of about 0.75 naira to the United States dollar in the early 1980s, to its current exchange rate of over 100 naira to one dollar.

Ibeabuchi says Nigerians have depended on God’s provisions than on the fruit of their own efforts. "All we have enjoyed "oil, gas and solid minerals "is what God gave to us." Export of crude oil accounts for over 90 percent of Nigeria’s foreign exchange earnings.

The way forward for the country, he says, is for the government to encourage industrial production. But this means that the government has to address several obstacles facing industry. "We cannot even boast of power (electricity) production," he says.