NIGERIA celebrated its 51st independence anniversary on a rather sober and scarry note as the Federal Government shelved all funfair that should accompany such an event.

Rather, it opted for a low-key celebration which featured a national broadcast by President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan and an inspection of Guard of Honour inside the Presidential Villa. Before then, there were series of religious events in both churches and mosques. There was a national day of prayer on Thursday, organised by different prayer groups in the country.

There were also threats by anti-state agents namely: Boko Haram and Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND), to bomb the event as was the case in 2010, during the golden anniversary celebrations.

Expectedly, Nigerians have to use these developments to assess the state of the nation and most importantly, reflect on the terms and conditions of the Nigerian union.

The picture that propped up before the citizens and the leadership was forlon, regardless of the spark of brilliance that Nigerians have displayed individually in their various callings.

It is a great achievement that Nigeria is still trudging on as a nation in spite of the fact that it survived a civil war just six years after its independence. It is also a mark of resilence that it waded through the political impasse created by the baseless annulment of the result of the Presidential election held in June 12, 1993 where, Bashorun Moshood Olawale Kashimawo Abiola was favoured to win. The country stood up with one resolve to say no to the continued presence of the military in politics.

The upsurge in militant activities and agitations for equity social justice and resource control, the senseless ethno-religious crisis and the recent vogue of gleefully throwing of bombs on institutions and individuals, truly betray an unsavoury state of affair in the country.

Nigeria remains low on the scale of human development index which is annually compiled by the United Nations. The global perception index on corruption easily puts Nigeria down as one of the most corrupt countries on earth. In spite of the official statistics that Nigeria’s agricultural sector is growing at 8% of the GDP, the country remains a net importer of food, while hunger ravages the citizenry. The same can be said of the economy which, President Jonathan told Nigerians is growing at 7.5% of the GDP, yet warehouses remain places of worship. Unemployment among graduates and young energetic people keeps bloating every day.

The state of affairs in social sector is deplorable. Education, power, health, etc, continue to feature endlessly in public debate. Unfortunately this has been the case in the past 51 years. Nigerians continue to think of the good old days and remain apprehensive of the future.

Even with the transformation agenda of the present administration, Nigerians have not seen the road map of the transformation. The promise and vows to change this remain the best Nigerians can hope for. A large chunk of the political class has not mastered the act of organising the social formations and institutions that make the Nigerian state, their pre-occupation remains how to loot the nation dry, and openly lament that things are not working.