Golden jubilees are meant to glitter. They are milestones that invite pageantry, retrospection, and bold re-imagination.
Yet, as Ondo State clocks fifty years of existence, the moment feels strangely muted, more a passing date on the calendar than a collective celebration of identity, struggle, and progress.
The lukewarm attitude surrounding Ondo State at 50 is not merely about low-key ceremonies or the absence of fanfare. It is symptomatic of a deeper disconnect between the state and its people, a silence that raises uncomfortable questions about belonging, governance, and shared vision.
Ondo State was created in 1976 with promises. Endowed with fertile land, rich mineral deposits, a long coastline, and a proud intellectual tradition, it was imagined as a beacon of balanced development in Nigeria’s southwest.
Over the decades, it has produced respected scholars, jurists, civil servants, and cultural icons. By all reasonable expectations, fifty years on should have been an occasion to take stock with pride.
Instead, public enthusiasm appears tepid. Streets are not buzzing with anticipation.
Conversations about the jubilee are sparse. For many citizens, the anniversary feels distant, almost irrelevant. This emotional distance is telling very loudly and disturbing, for a passionate mind and an enthusiast.
One reason for this apathy is the gap between potential and lived reality. Despite its resources, Ondo State still grapples with underdevelopment in critical areas: youth unemployment, decaying infrastructure, limited industrialization, and uneven rural development.
When daily life remains a struggle, anniversaries can feel hollow. It is hard to celebrate a journey, when the destination still seems unclear.
There is also the matter of narrative. Milestones require storytelling, an honest account of where and how we started, what we endured for the younger generations to learn, what we have achieved, and what we failed to do.
Ondo at 50 has not been framed compellingly as a shared story. Without deliberate efforts to engage citizens, especially young people, the jubilee risks becoming an elite memory rather than a collective experience.
Politics too, casts a long shadow over such an epoch making and historic event.
In Nigeria, state anniversaries often become government events rather than people’s moments, but can attract private organizations and individuals to buy in.
When celebrations are perceived as performative or disconnected from real progress, public buy in evaporates. Citizens watch, shrug, and move on.
The golden jubilee then becomes another official ritual, drained of emotional substance.
Yet, this quietness should not be mistaken for indifference alone; it can also be read as a quiet protest.
A subdued jubilee may be the people’s way of saying: we want more than speeches. We want roads that last, schools that inspire, hospitals that heal, jobs that dignify, and leadership that listens.
Until these are felt tangibly, anniversaries will struggle to resonate ordinarily.
Still, fifty years is too significant as a marker to ignore. Even in its quietness, Ondo State at 50 offers an opportunity, perhaps a rare one, for introspection.
Not the noisy kind, but a sober, with honest reckoning.
What kind of state has Ondo become? Who has benefited from its journey? Who has been left behind? And what must the next fifty years look like?
A golden jubilee does not have to be so loud to be meaningful, but it must be sincere. If Ondo State’s fiftieth anniversary prompts leaders and citizens alike to confront uncomfortable truths and recommit to a shared future, then the silence may yet speak volumes.
The real tragedy would not be a quiet celebration, it would be a quiet continuation of old mistakes. At fifty, Ondo State stands at a crossroads. Whether this muted moment becomes a turning point or a missed opportunit, it will define not just the next anniversary, but the legacy of a generation.
I so submit, because the paucity of funds, remains no excuse, for a milestone age and anniversary celebration, which ordinarily should come with some level of planning to showcase the last five decades of the state’s existence, partnership and support by prospective individuals and corporate organizations, who are expected to naturally check or take a look at their purse, for posterity sake and the place of social responsibility.
