Chief Ayo Opadokun is the  convener of the Coalition of Democrats for Electoral Reforms,CODER. Opadokun was also the prime mover and General Secretary of the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO).In this interview with Charles kumolu, he maintains that there is nothing to celebrate on October 1, 2010.

He believes that the proposed N10 billion for independence anniversary is a misplaced priority, adding that the amount may end up in private pockets. As far as he is concerned, a country that occupies a sorry position in Global Human Development Index, does not need to waste N10 billion on celebration of past and present failures.

Chief AyoOpadokun

THE N10bn budget proposed by the presidency for Nigeria’s 50th independence anniversary is generating mixed reactions, do you think there is actually something to celebrate at 50?

I think it is a deliberate mischief on the part of the political operators of the day. It is another instance of their unconsciousness of what the nation actually needs.

They have again exhibited their inability to comprehend and appreciate the state of economic deprivation the Nigerian people are going through.

That ten billion naira is capable of making significant impact on the state of the Nigerian education. If you were to invest it on the medical services of this country, you will see significant manifestation of positive impacts.

So, I strongly submit that the political operators of the day need to have a rethink about their conduct on that proposal. The nation does not need such a waste at this time.

The Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, describing it as a sign of insensitivity on the part of the political leadership, describig it as wasteful. Do you also see it as a misplaced priority?

I am not in any doubt that significant portion of that money would go into the pockets of the current political operators. We know what they are capable of doing.

There would be no significant achievement that such money would generate at the conclusion of the 50th anniversary. With what we have had in the past and present, such money would be used for the interest of the current operators.

I therefore say that rather than waste such public fund, they should devote their time to solving the major national crisis of our terribly deficient social services and our grossly decayed infrastructures. I beg to disagree with their thinking that there is something for us to celebrate.

You share the view of others, who are unrepentant that there is nothing  to celebrate at 50?

There is nothing at all, the evidences are every where for people to see. The latest World Bank statistics shows Nigeria among the 12 poorest countries in the world. Our human capital development index is not something to write home about.

It is like that of war torn countries and poor countries like Haiti and we are not supposed to be in such a situation. There is nothing for us to celebrate. Except for the fact that the military and their collaborators have ravaged our land and thy have unleashed misfortune on the Nigerian people.

For me my recommendation is that October 1, 2010 should be a day of mourning and national sober reflection. And when we have such a national activity, perhaps, it would help all of us to develop credible idea that can lift our land from its current misfortune.

If your advice on a national sober reflection is heeded,  how do we start on a clean slate after October 1, 2010?

A representative Assembly of the Nigerian people should be set up. And not the current confederate fellows who succeeded the military, who are in the National Assembly and political operators in various parts of the country.

We need true representatives of the people, who will sit down and look into our past and fashion out how we can move ahead as a nation. No country can develop where the majority of the public do not believe in the government.

This country needs to start afresh with defined goals on how to succeed. That cannot be achieved by spending 10bn  public fund