By Kabiru Danladi Lawanti
Nigeria at the edge” is a headline we have encountered repeatedly—an elliptical expression that has appeared time and again in our national dailies. It is a phrase frequently invoked by public commentators, one that, once again, mirrors our present reality.
We are a nation richly endowed, yet persistently constrained by the very structures meant to sustain us. Governance has been reduced to the management of revenue streams rather than the transformation of livelihoods. Our diversity—ethnic, religious, and regional—ought to be a source of strength; instead, it has repeatedly been weaponised in the struggle for power, entrenching a culture of patronage and elite bargaining. Institutions that should serve the public good are too often subordinated to political expediency, while leadership remains reactive, hesitant, and at times disconnected from the urgency of the moment.
The consequence is evident in the deepening crisis of insecurity—killings, kidnappings, and bombings—that has left many Nigerians negotiating their own survival in an increasingly uncertain environment.
To say Nigeria is “at the edge” is not merely to predict collapse, but to grasp the fragility of our current condition. History reminds us that this is not unfamiliar terrain. From the 1966 Nigerian coups that precipitated the Nigerian Civil War, to the structural economic shift of 1986; from the crises of the late 1980s and early 1990s to the annulment of the June 12 1993 presidential election; from the tensions surrounding the 1997 alleged coup and the death of Sani Abacha in 1998, to the reintroduction of democratic rule and the introduction of political Sharia in 1999; from the religious conflicts of the early 2000s to the 2010 power vacuum and the watershed 2015 Nigerian general election—each moment has contributed to redefining the Nigerian state.
As we approach 2027, Nigeria once again finds itself precariously at the edge. How we manage the build up of these important historical events with the ethnic, religious, regional tensions never seen in history define our future.
