Modalities For National Conference

NIGERIA’s effort to bring its citizens together and discuss the fundamental terms of their coexistence is set to become a reality.

Indeed, the Federal Government yesterday released the modalities of the national conference where such conditions would be mutually negotiated.

A total of 492 delegates are to be nominated for the national conference. Out of this, President Goodluck Jonathan is likely to choose 181.

The Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) Anyim Pius Anyim, disclosed this yesterday in Abuja during a media briefing.        

According to him, out of the 27 clusters of stakeholders outlined in the proposed composition of the conference, the President has power over six categories including the nomination of the chairperson, deputy chairperson and the secretary.

The SGF said that the government had to implement the report of the advisory committee immediately because of “the calls by Nigerians from all walks of life for us to proceed with the report of the committee with uttermost urgency, so that the nation can be through with the dialogue well ahead of the approaching political season.” He said that before taking the decision to accept the recommendations for immediate implementation, the government held extensive deliberations.

  Such discussions came before even deciding that the “official name for the conversation shall be the national conference”, shall hold in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, “shall tentatively last for three months and shall discuss any subject matter, except the indivisibility and indissolubility of Nigeria as a nation, therefore the unity of Nigeria is non-negotiable.”

Others are that a secretariat would manage and run the affairs of the conference and that “decisions at the conference shall be by consensus, but where it is not achievable, it shall be by 75 per cent majority. The national conference shall advise the government on the legal framework, legal procedures and options for integrating the decisions and outcomes of the national conference into the constitution and laws of the country.”

 Anyim said that that the nomination of delegates would start on January 30, 2014 and end on February 20, 2014 and the inauguration of the conference would follow soon after the delegates list is concluded.

He stated that the government sought guidance and explanations where necessary from the advisory committee in the quest to expeditiously consider the proposal.

The categorisation indicates that three persons would come from each of the 36 states and one from the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), based on senatorial districts, “at least one of whom shall be a woman”, making the second tier of government the highest contributor of representatives with a total of 109 delegates to be nominated by the states governors.

But “where the state governor fails to nominate, the president shall nominate the required number from the state.”

Next to the states are the socio-political/cultural and ethnic nationality groups, where 15 persons would be selected for each geopolitical zone. These “should reflect ethnic and religious diversities”, and the 90 delegates would be nominated by ‘stakeholders.’

The president would nominate 37 elder statesmen, one from each of the 36 states and FCT, while 24 delegates shall represent the civil society organisations across the country, who would be nominated by stakeholders within the sector across the country.

 The Federal Government would as well nominate 20 others, at least six shall be women, six persons not currently serving the bench from the judiciary arm of government, in addition to six “outstanding youths and role models”, one each from the six geo-political zones.

Other categories include 13 delegates from the professional bodies, eight from Nigerians in the diaspora, two each from political parties that have representation at the National Assembly that  include the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), All Progressives Congress (APC), All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Accord Party and Labour Party.

Also included are two representatives each from the Newspaper Proprietors Association of Nigeria, the Nigerian Guild of Editors, the Broadcast Organisation of Nigeria, the Nigerian Union of Journalists, the organised private sector, all to be nominated by stakeholders in the various groups.

Women group is also given 24 slots. These are 12 for the National Council for Women Society for their pivotal role in women development and six for the Market Women Association. The other six are to be shared by the International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA), the Nigerian Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ) and the Women in Management and Business (WINBIZ).

Other interest groups to be represented at the conference include traditional rulers, two each from the geopolitical zones plus one from Abuja, bringing the number to 13 delegates from the interest group.   A total of 18 from retired military and security personnel, that is six each from the military, police and the state security and the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), would all be nominated by stakeholders.

With a representation of 24 delegates expected to reflect gender and geopolitical balance, the Nigeria Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress are expected to send 12 nominees each. The National Association of Nigerian Students and the National Youth Council of Nigeria would send six delegates each to represent the geopolitical zones. Others include Christian and Muslim leaders, people living with disabilities, former governors, senators’ forum, House of Representatives Forum, Association of Former Speakers and Former Local Council Chairmen. Each of the clusters would send six delegates, one each from the geopolitical zones as nominated by the stakeholders.

The composition also reflects that the national academies have five slots, one each for the Academies of Science, Engineering, Education, Letters and Social Sciences.

Anyim said that at the end, the national conference shall advise the government on the legal framework, legal procedure and options for integrating their decisions and outcome in the constitution or any law of the country. The idea is that the conference would advise government on the next step after the conference.

According to him, even though the situation of the president coming to nominate for a governor is a probability, “why we made that provision is such that the president will be at liberty to be in touch with the governor, where any governor has a little difficulty the president will assist the governor to resolve the difficulty, but we don’t think that the situation will arise, but we simply provided such that every person should know that if you had any difficulty you can seek the help of the president particularly the governor.”

According to Anyim, the  nomination power of the Federal Government is to make appropriate corrections in representation where the need arises.

“The Federal Government would exercise their own rights of nominations after all other nominations have been collated, so that if there is any imbalance, then the government can by their nomination try to balance that power, so there won’t be a problem of one dominant ethnic nationality taking advantage of the minority within the state