BY CLIFFORD NDUJIHE

…Agoro, PRONACO fault centenary celebration
DISTURBED by the sorry state of affairs in the country, eminent leaders of thought under the aegis of Project Nigeria (National Consensus Group) led by elder statesman and legal icon, Prof Ben Nwabueze, SAN, will meet with Northern leaders under the umbrella of Northern Elders Forum, NEF, chaired by elder statesman, Dr Yusuf Maitama Sule on Saturday.

Hinting about the meeting, Project Nigeria Spokesman, Mr. Olawale Okunniyi, said “the national consultation also becomes crucial against the backdrop of popular concern for political stability in Nigeria beyond the expiration of the 100 years amalgamation of Nigeria designed by colonial Britain to elapse next year January, 2014.

Expected at the meeting are leaders of The Patriots and Pro-National Conference Organisations, PRONACO, leading social critics and rights activists.

Indeed, veteran Presidential Candidate, Dr Olopade Agoro, has picked holes in the government’s celebration of Nigeria’s centenary.

He said: “100 years in the life of any nation is truly a landmark worth celebrating with befitting grandeurs. However, what was in display yesterday (Tuesday) at Aso Rock, Nigeria’s seat of power was a clear demonstration that our leaders are either short of meaningful ideas, insensitive and or mentally sick.

That a nation currently brawled in bloody insurgencies terribly associated with religious misplacements will toy with the idea of gambling at such a packed house event of Nigeria’s celebration of its centenary calls for the examination of the brains of our leaders.

“One would have expected something far reaching in human value benefiting projects like the launching “Nigeria Centenary University” and or “Nigeria Centenary Hospital”  that will evoke our need for unity and common good than ‘Project Lottery’ that could later be misconstrued by some religious bigots.”

PRONACO on its part, threatened to stage a nationwide protest against the Federal Government over the proposed centenary celebration if not urgently reviewed.

In a statement by Okunniyi, said the centenary celebration programme put together by Federal Government lacked depth and substance and would amount to a wasteful jamboree.

“Government’s plan over the centenary celebration is wasteful, lousy and very unfortunate because Nigerian leaders are not concerned about the well being of Nigerians at a very critical and trying moment in the nation’s life when lots of Nigerians are dying in their hundreds on a daily basis due to violent religious crises all over the country.

“Instead of the organizers of the centenary jamboree thinking of how to enrich themselves from the historic occasion, the Nigerian government should rather facilitate a solemn process of renegotiation by a Constituent Assembly to effectively fashion national consensus and collective ownership of the renewed, united and stable Nigeria beyond 2014,” he said.

Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Senator Anyim Pius Anyim, reportedly said last week that the celebration which was scheduled to run from February 4, 2013 to January 1 2014 would afford government the opportunity to put in place legacy projects including the erection of new Abuja City Gate, Abuja Centenary City, which was to attract an investment totaling $15billion from private investors and generating over 15,000 jobs, directly and indirectly.