As the whole world marks the 80th anniversary of the end of World War Two, I hope 200m Nigerians are learning the lessons of self-reliance the conflict taught us

Ayo Akinfe

[1] When I look at the ongoing World War Two celebrations, I cannot but marvel at how during the conflict, nations had to step up the production of new industrial goods. Mankind has never looked back since

[2] In Britain in particular, they take real pride in this fighter plane called the Spitfire. A total of 20,341 were manufactured and it ensured that the Germans were defeated in the Battle of Britain

[3] It does not shame 200m Nigerians that 65 years after independence, they cannot manufacture a fighter jet to defend their airspace. Have we really earned the right to be a sovereign nation?

[4] Militarily, many nations, led by the US, had no armies of note before World War Two but alas, the conflict led them to go and build formidable armies, navies and air forces. These nations remain military giants today. In 10 years of conflict with Boko Haram, we are yet to up our game

[5] Australia is one country that suffered a humiliating insult during World War Two as apart from the fact that the Japanese crushed their forces whenever they met, the Germans rubbished their navy as a scrap iron flotilla. It spurred the Australians on to building a modern navy. Nigerians simply do not get shamed into action like that

[6] At the start of the war, Australia backed Britain in the Mediterranean by sending its flotilla of five Royal Australian Navy destroyers to protect convoys. These five ships had been British Royal Navy ships that had been built and served during the First World War and transferred to Australia in the 1930s. Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels laughed at the flotilla as floating junk and coined the phrase scrap iron flotilla. It is no surprise that the ships were soon sunk with torpedoes. Two of them survived but they were of no danger to man or beast. At best, they were fishing vessels

[7] Today, the Australian Navy prides itself on having a fleet made up of 50 commissioned warships. Its main strength is the eight frigates and two destroyers. Among other things, Australia has a fleet of guided missile submarines. Now, that is a nation that has pride and wants to be treated as equals with everyone else. They learnt from the insult

[8] When you do not produce anything or bring anything to the table, why will the rest of the world treat you as equal human beings?

[9] World War Two forced the rest of the world to step up the production of every known industrial product. Nigerians should consider the 80th anniversary as their clarion call to action

[10] How can the world’s largest black nation not be self-sufficient in the supply of basic defence equipment? This thing just beats me

ayoakinfe@gmail.com