Efforts by the Federal Government to bring its citizens together and
\ndiscuss the fundamental terms of their coexistence will cost a whooping N7
\nBillion<\/p>\n
Indeed, the Federal Government yesterday released the modalities of the
\nthree months national conference where such conditions would be mutually
\nnegotiated.<\/p>\n
A total of 492 delegates are to be nominated for the national conference.
\nOut of this, President Goodluck Jonathan is likely to choose 181.<\/p>\n
The Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) Anyim Pius
\nAnyim, disclosed this yesterday in Abuja during a media briefing.<\/p>\n
According to him, out of the 27 clusters of stakeholders outlined in the
\nproposed composition of the conference, the President has power over six
\ncategories including the nomination of the chairperson, deputy
\nchairperson and the secretary.<\/p>\n
The SGF said that the government had to implement the report of the
\nadvisory committee immediately because of \u201cthe calls by Nigerians from
\nall walks of life for us to proceed with the report of the committee
\nwith uttermost urgency, so that the nation can be through with the
\ndialogue well ahead of the approaching political season.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said that before taking the decision to accept the recommendations
\nfor immediate implementation, the government held extensive
\ndeliberations.<\/p>\n
Such discussions came before even deciding that the \u201cofficial name for
\nthe conversation shall be the national conference\u201d, shall hold in the
\nFederal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, \u201cshall tentatively last for
\nthree months and shall discuss any subject matter, except the
\nindivisibility and indissolubility of Nigeria as a nation, therefore the
\nunity of Nigeria is non-negotiable.\u201d<\/p>\n
Others are that a secretariat would manage and run the affairs of the
\nconference and that \u201cdecisions at the conference shall be by consensus,
\nbut where it is not achievable, it shall be by 75 per cent majority. The
\nnational conference shall advise the government on the legal framework,
\nlegal procedures and options for integrating the decisions and outcomes
\nof the national conference into the constitution and laws of the
\ncountry.\u201d<\/p>\n
Anyim said that that the nomination of delegates would start on January
\n30, 2014 and end on February 20, 2014 and the inauguration of the
\nconference would follow soon after the delegates list is concluded.<\/p>\n
He stated that the government sought guidance and explanations where
\nnecessary from the advisory committee in the quest to expeditiously
\nconsider the proposal.<\/p>\n
The categorisation indicates that three persons would come from each of
\nthe 36 states and one from the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), based on
\nsenatorial districts, \u201cat least one of whom shall be a woman\u201d, making
\nthe second tier of government the highest contributor of representatives
\nwith a total of 109 delegates to be nominated by the states governors.<\/p>\n
But \u201cwhere the state governor fails to nominate, the president shall
\nnominate the required number from the state.\u201d<\/p>\n
Next to the states are the socio-political\/cultural and ethnic
\nnationality groups, where 15 persons would be selected for each
\ngeopolitical zone. These \u201cshould reflect ethnic and religious
\ndiversities\u201d, and the 90 delegates would be nominated by \u2018stakeholders.\u2019<\/p>\n
The president would nominate 37 elder statesmen, one from each of the 36
\nstates and FCT, while 24 delegates shall represent the civil society
\norganisations across the country, who would be nominated by stakeholders
\nwithin the sector across the country.<\/p>\n
The Federal Government would as well nominate 20 others, at least six
\nshall be women, six persons not currently serving the bench from the
\njudiciary arm of government, in addition to six \u201coutstanding youths and
\nrole models\u201d, one each from the six geo-political zones.<\/p>\n
Other categories include 13 delegates from the professional bodies,
\neight from Nigerians in the diaspora, two each from political parties
\nthat have representation at the National Assembly that include the
\nPeople\u2019s Democratic Party (PDP), All Progressives Congress (APC), All
\nProgressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Accord Party and Labour Party.<\/p>\n
Also included are two representatives each from the Newspaper
\nProprietors Association of Nigeria, the Nigerian Guild of Editors, the
\nBroadcast Organisation of Nigeria, the Nigerian Union of Journalists,
\nthe organised private sector, all to be nominated by stakeholders in
\nthe various groups.<\/p>\n
Women group is also given 24 slots. These are 12 for the National
\nCouncil for Women Society for their pivotal role in women development
\nand six for the Market Women Association. The other six are to be
\nshared by the International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA), the
\nNigerian Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ) and the Women in
\nManagement and Business (WINBIZ).<\/p>\n
Other interest groups to be represented at the conference include
\ntraditional rulers, two each from the geopolitical zones plus one from
\nAbuja, bringing the number to 13 delegates from the interest group. A
\ntotal of 18 from retired military and security personnel, that is six
\neach from the military, police and the state security and the National
\nIntelligence Agency (NIA), would all be nominated by stakeholders.<\/p>\n
With a representation of 24 delegates expected to reflect gender and
\ngeopolitical balance, the Nigeria Labour Congress and the Trade Union
\nCongress are expected to send 12 nominees each. The National
\nAssociation of Nigerian Students and the National Youth Council of
\nNigeria would send six delegates each to represent the geopolitical
\nzones.<\/p>\n
Others include Christian and Muslim leaders, people living with
\ndisabilities, former governors, senators\u2019 forum, House of
\nRepresentatives Forum, Association of Former Speakers and Former Local
\nCouncil Chairmen. Each of the clusters would send six delegates, one
\neach from the geopolitical zones as nominated by the stakeholders.<\/p>\n
The composition also reflects that the national academies have five
\nslots, one each for the Academies of Science, Engineering, Education,
\nLetters and Social Sciences.<\/p>\n
Anyim said that at the end, the national conference shall advise the
\ngovernment on the legal framework, legal procedure and options for
\nintegrating their decisions and outcome in the constitution or any law
\nof the country. The idea is that the conference would advise government
\non the next step after the conference.<\/p>\n
According to him, even though the situation of the president coming to
\nnominate for a governor is a probability, \u201cwhy we made that provision is
\nsuch that the president will be at liberty to be in touch with the
\ngovernor, where any governor has a little difficulty the president will
\nassist the governor to resolve the difficulty, but we don\u2019t think that
\nthe situation will arise, but we simply provided such that every person
\nshould know that if you had any difficulty you can seek the help of the
\npresident particularly the governor.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to Anyim, the nomination power of the Federal Government is
\nto make appropriate corrections in representation where the need arises.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Federal Government would exercise their own rights of nominations
\nafter all other nominations have been collated, so that if there is any
\nimbalance, then the government can by their nomination try to balance
\nthat power, so there won\u2019t be a problem of one dominant ethnic
\nnationality taking advantage of the minority within the state.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Efforts by the Federal Government to bring its citizens together and discuss the fundamental terms of their coexistence will cost a whooping N7 Billion Indeed, the Federal Government yesterday released…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22189,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22168","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n