Nigeria gained independence in 1960.
Since then the survival of the Nigerian state has been under several tests from unstable leadership; coups; high profile assassinations; crime and social vices; corruption, civil, ethnic, religious and political unrests; and infrastructural inadequacies.
Notwithstanding these challenges, the country has remained resolute and ever more united against disintegration.
The ordinary Nigerian has been shaped into a solid and unbreakable spirit being with the brilliance of survival tactics.
Take for example, the emergence of the Igbos as the most successful commercial ethnic group after the sufferings and challenges of the civil war; the educational advancements of the Yorubas after their initial rejection of colonial dictates; and agricultural prowess of the Hausa-Fulani.
Millions of Nigerians engage in subsistence trade, agrarian peasantry or small scale enterprises which drive individual and communal relationships across the country.
These micro economies are the main stay of the ordinary Nigerian family.
According to the Federal Office of Statistics, the bulk of Nigeria's working class belong to the informal sector of the economy, especially subsistence farming.
The raw materials and cheap labour which drive the informal sector are tapped directly from rural and sub-urban areas where over 60% of Nigerians are said to be interacting with their environment and establishing their livelihoods.
Nigeria has enjoyed a rather stable democracy since 1999 and you can bet we are indeed determined to preserve it with whatever it takes.
The gains of democracy are not very prominent yet but no one can deny that flashes of what is expected have not manifested in some way in someplace.
Challenges still persist in every sector including health, education, politics, energy, infrastructure and social amenities to mention a few.
The realisation of these challenges has led to a lot of positive policy implementations across board.
A friend of mine keeps saying "the Nigeria our children's children will meet will be far better than what we have now".
An official of a developed nation recently voiced a contrary view saying that Nigeria is a failed state and may cease to exist as a nation in about 15 years.
What do you patriotic Nigerians think? A huge developmental gap exists between 1914, 1960 (Year of independence) and 2014.
A sustained democracy through these years would have no doubt made a huge difference.
Our indices on indicators of development as determined by international organisations such as the World Bank, World Health Organisation and Transparency International are still a source of concern.
It is worth mentioning here that Nigeria ranks very low in the UNDP Human Development Report (HDR) of 2013.
The national report on the progress made towards attaining the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) suggest that Nigeria is on course to achieving five of the eight which are related to Universal Primary Education, Promoting Gender Equality and Empowerment of Women, Reducing Child Mortality, Combating HIV/AIDS, Malaria and other diseases, and Global Partnerships for Development.
In 1986, Nigeria was confronted by a public health challenge which still suffers the attention it deserved even in 1986.
HIV has become a global challenge to developmental efforts with about 33 million people living with the infection.
South-South countries shoulder a huge brunt of the effects of HIV with sub-Saharan Africa accounting for the first two most burdened countries.
Nigeria is today second after South Africa with more than 3 million infected persons.
The implication of the continued burden of the HIV epidemic in Nigeria is huge and threatens our aspiration to achieve sustainable development.
As Nigeria celebrates 100 years of existence in 2014, one wonders if a lot more success stories could have been celebrated alongside.
It's not too late! In a few years to come, Nigeria would be celebrating its diamond independence anniversary at 75.
The year 2015 set for the achievement of the MDGs would have come and gone.
So also the years set for housing and education for all Nigerian citizens.
The vision 20:2020 would have either succeeded or failed.
What should we have done differently if we looked back in time to assess our efforts assuming our aspirations are not achieved? Posterity will definitely hold this generation accountable.
Our leaders must be ready to take the responsibility and back policy decisions necessary to ensure the success of our developmental programmes.
Nigeria now has a Health Bill which has been passed into law and signed to by our President.
This Bill generally standardizes health care practice and is a confidence statement for investors in health care.
What is the impact of HIV in your locality? The economic cost of the HIV epidemic alone has had huge implications on the Nigerian economy.
Try adding the economic cost of malaria, tuberculosis, maternal mortality, STIs, and Hepatitis to that of HIV.
These are all preventable infections with parallel programmes on going with HIV services.
The cost of treating an HIV positive patient in a year is said to be 1000 US dollars and for every two HIV patients put on treatment, there are about five new HIV infections.
Prevention obviously remains the most cost effective strategy to protect the more than 90% of our population that are uninfected with HIV.
However, there is a huge inadequacy of HIV Prevention commodities in Nigeria.