As the Committee proceedings of the on-going National Conference entered
the second day, the Assistant Secretary, Media and Communications,
Akpandem James on Wednesday cleared the air on reports that journalists
were barred from covering committee proceedings.
A cross section of the media reported that the Conference barred
journalists from covering Committee proceedings.
But Mr. James, who addressed journalists at the National Judicial
Institute (NJI) venue, said the leadership at no time gave any order for
the media to be restricted from covering any aspect of the Conference.
Out of the 20 Standing Committees, Mr. James said only the Committee on
Devolution of Power initially barred journalists from covering its
deliberations.
He explained that the leadership of the Committee thought committee
sessions were restricted and therefore were not open to direct media
coverage.
He said: “You cannot say that journalists were barred from covering
activities of Conference Committees if only one out of the 20 Committees
misunderstood the fact that the sittings were supposed to be open to the
media.
“I have just gone in to inform the one of the Co-chairmen of the
Committee, that reporters should be allowed to cover every aspects of the
Committee’s work and he immediately agreed that they should come in.”
While enjoining Journalists covering the Conference to always refer issues
they have to his office for prompt attention, Mr James noted that it was
hasty of some reporters to conclude that journalists were being barred
from covering Committee proceedings, when the matter only involved a
single committee.
When journalists were allowed to access the Committee, its Co-Chairman,
Obong Victor Attah advise them to be fair and objective in reporting
activites of the Conference; pointing to a particular report in one of the
newspapers that morning that there was a disagreement between him and the
Co-Chairman of the Committee, Alhaji Ibrahim Commassie.
He admonished: “Please let us act with absolute responsibility. Record
what you want to record, but please do it with absolute sense of
responsibility and with the understanding that what you do will engender
unity and peace in Nigeria.
The Committee which started its sitting on Tuesday has started debate on
resource control.
Many of the delegates were in agreement on the need for resource control
but wished that its implementation be delayed to enable all parts of the
country to be ready to embrace it.
Having attended three subsequent Conferences, Senator Jack Tilley Gyado,
said every time the issue of resource control comes on the table, people
become apprehensive.
He said “a lot of marriages breakdown due to lack of money and how it is
spent. I must align myself with the contributions of Ibrahim Mantu.
“With 13 per cent being given the South-South, with the NDDC, Ministry of
Niger Delta, the SURE-P, the Amnesty and normal allocations to the states,
I advise we make haste slowly in asking for more to be given. I believe
that the timing of the request is wrong although the request is good.”
Chief Ayo Adebanjo said he is privileged to be part of those who started
the agitation for resource control in the country during which Western
Region used 50 per cent of its resources to carry our massive development
of the region. He said that it was the military that decided on the 50 per
cent and 13 per cent derivation formulae, adding that the nation has a new
opportunity to right the wrongs of the past.
He said, “it was after the military coup of 1966 that the military imposed
this system on us and it has been causing trouble ever since.”
The Committee on Environment has set up four sub committees. These include
Climate Change; Pollution and Gas Flaring; Deforestation, Drought and Bush
Burning; and Waste Management/Mining. The sub-Committees have since
resumed work and will submit their various reports to the Committee based
on the dateline set by the Conference Secretariat.