As National Conference winds down, what hope for Nigeria?

In a matter of days from now, the National Conference, which was inaugurated on March 17, 2014 by President Goodluck Jonathan, will come to an end, as the delegates at the august assembly have already begun to tidy up their activities.

What is doubtful at the moment is whether or not the conference, which was extended by four weeks at the expiration of the three months initial lifespan, will be able to meet the aspirations of the Nigerian people.

Josephine Anenih, a former minister of Women Affairs and a delegate, had expressed optimism before the kick off of the meeting that “Nigeria as a nation will be better for it if delegates attending  the conference approach issues with sincerity of purpose and an open mind.”

One major question many Nigerians appear to be asking is, to what extent has the delegates been able to address the major issues in the country which are hate and disunity which have held the nation down for so long?

 “The hall of the National Conference is filled with retired and tired men and women, some recycled over ten times in similar gatherings, ethnic jingoists who have been carrying on there as if the totality of the conference was on how to share national resources, retired military personnel and failed politicians whose actions and inactions aggregated to bring the country to the sorry state it is at the moment. With all these, it is doubtful if the conference will lead the country out of the woods,” an analyst said.

 Some Nigerians have expressed disappointment that the National Conference did not focus attention on the core problem of the country, but preoccupied itself with matters that can best be described as symptoms of an ailment.

Even before the kick off of the conference, many Nigerians of diverse backgrounds had said that if the issues of how to really inculcate the spirit of “Nigerian-ness” in every citizen and strengthening of the unity of the country were not addressed, then the gathering would have been in vain.  

Politicians and analysts who spoke with BDSUNDAY said from the discussions at the conference it was obvious that the “no go areas” order was heeded, which they noted had made whatever recommendation that will be submitted “dead on arrival”.

The issues within the purview of the National Conference were structural defects of the country, devolution of powers, national security, wealth allocation and sharing formula (fiscal federalism), among others.

Audu Ogbeh, a former national chairman of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) noted that Nigerians have always described the amalgamation of 1914 as a contraption, a forced marriage and one which must be annulled.

“At the on-going conference, no person seems to have been that blatant but there are unmistakable undertones discernible in some comments made by some participants. There is a strong undercurrent of anger and hate, the South for the North and vice versa. Some Southerners see the North as lazy and unproductive, unintelligent and retrogressive but wanting to control political power in perpetuity and oppressing everybody else. Some Northerners see the South as intellectually arrogant, insolent and claiming a copyright and monopoly of intelligence and know how in all things of life. These feelings have, until recently, been restricted to the three major ethnic groups,” he said.

If it were so, this should have been the major focus of the conference- to bridge that gap, by addressing the issues that evoked such sentiments.

“It is sad commentary that the National Conference has left its concern to pursue matters that are outright not within their purview. What for instance concerns the conference with minimum wage, Science & Tech Funds, refineries etc. I have also watched with dismay the way many of the delegates handle their presentations at the conference. Unlike when the conference started, when the seats were all full, today, there are more empty seats than the ones being occupied.

“They are now like the federal legislators who play truancy. Delegates now abandon their job, junketing from one part of the country, or world to another, pursuing their personal businesses. Those who had raised the alarm that the motivation of many of the delegates was the huge allowance not service to the nation were not wrong after all. It is said that it is likely going to end without anything positive coming out of it,” said a legal practitioner, who craved anonymity because, according to him, “I would not want to be misunderstood.”

 ‘National Conference has been hijacked’

A Civil society group based in Port Harcourt, Lower Niger Congress (LNC), has said that the ongoing National Conference which was supposed to be a unique opportunity to discuss the modalities for the continued co-existence of all Nigerians irrespective of religion and ethnic leanings had been hijacked by certain elements who hide under their population at the conference to frustrate what were supposed to be the primary agenda.

According to Tony Nnadi, secretary general of the group, “The issues centre on the relationship between the various national groups that make up the federation called Nigeria, the agitation for control and management of the nation’s economic resources, equal access to political powers, observance of the rule of law, religious tolerance and equity in national polity.

“Neither the 1994 Constitutional Conference put in place by the late General Sani Abacha, nor the National Conference under the Obasanjo administration in 2007, could assuage the agitations of Nigerians from the different parts of the country for a national conference where Nigerians should freely discuss the terms of the 1914 Amalgamation, the inherent contradictions of the British colonial rule and the panacea for the healthy growth and development of the country.

“Our position is simple, that the conference cannot achieve any meaningful thing. We need to re-examine the foundation on which we stand as a country which is shaky at the moment. We must get the people to decide whether or not they want to continue as one nation. Do we want to stand on this Lord Luggard arrangement, and if yes, how? These are the salient questions. These are the basic things expected of the delegates to the National Conference to be discussing. But the first thing they said when the got there was that the major issue of unity is non-negotiable. Why then are they there? They lied against Mr. President that he said they should not discuss such things, whereas in the speech presented by the President at the inauguration of the conference he actually said: “The conference is sincere and fundamental undertaking aimed at realistically resolving the long-standing impediments to our cohesion and development as truly a truly united nation.” This shows the direction the conference should go.

“Again, when they got there, they sidelined the minorities by adopting 70 percent majority votes to arrive at any decision. By this they shut out people from the minority areas from having a say at the conference.

“All we want is regional autonomy. I am the secretary general of an association that is offering the minorities in Nigeria an alternative since they are not needed in the country. Ogoni people are not accommodated in the arrangement of this country. In refusing to address the long-standing pains of the ethnic nationalities and the majority is detecting to everybody by virtue of their number which carries the votes, it is simply telling others to look for an alternative to Nigeria.

“They evaded the only one question they should ask and continued to set up irrelevant communities. We keep insisting that the only question that should be asked is whether we have agreed to remain in this union, if yes, under what terms? They are wasting time discussing agric policy, minimum wage- are they trying to take the job of the National Assembly? The way it is, there will be no elections in 2015 under the current constitution. We have no constitution in the first place, so elections cannot be held without a credible constitution”.

 Impediments to conference success

Recently, Femi Okunrounmu, a former chairman, Presidential Advisory Committee on National Dialogue, and a delegate at the ongoing National Conference, said that going by the posturing of the North, the dialogue would amount to a waste of efforts and resources at the end of the day.

“Expectations from the conference were quite high. Many hoped that it would mark an upward turning point for our nation, but no sooner did it begin than it became obvious that not all delegates shared that hope. Very early in the conference, three categories of delegates emerged. People in the first category, consisting of delegates from the Southwest and to a lesser extent, the Southeast, were eagerly anticipating fundamental changes in the status quo, such as a return to regionalism and to the parliamentary form of democratic practice, and a substantial devolution of powers to the regions or zones,” he said. 

“The totality of the North’s position is that while they may accept some inconsequential amendments to the I999 Constitution, they are doggedly opposed to the writing of a new one. Not even with the President’s green light, as expressed in his conference inauguration address that a new Constitution could be recommended if the conference found it desirable! They were always quick to point out, at every opportunity, that the conference was not elected, that it lacked the powers to write a new Constitution and that all the outcomes of its deliberations must be forwarded to the National Assembly,” Okunrounmu said.

 Conference, a shattered dream?  

Repeatedly, Ben Nwabueze, a renowned constitutional lawyer and member of the 1979 Constituent Assembly, has insisted that the conference was an effort in futility.  

“Our aspirations are for a new, better and united Nigeria. Can this conference make us realise these aspirations? The answer is in understanding the nature and type of conference that was established and convened by the President. This is a conference that is not set up by any law enacted by the National Assembly, authorizing the convocation and prescribing the functions. The conference was established entirely by virtue of the President’s inherent powers under Section 5 of the 1999 Constitution. The conference cannot adopt a constitution binding on Nigerians as law. This conference established by the President has no power to adopt a constitution that will be binding on all Nigerians as the supreme law of the country. It can’t do that,” Nwabueze said.

Only time, which is not far from now, will tell.

Zebulon Agomuo