Ekwueme, Gbonigi, Clark set agenda for nationalnce conference

Nigeria Punch November 7, 2013 by Olusola Fabiyi. Some eminent Nigerians from the southern part of the country have set agenda for the proposed national conference. The group, which met under the aegis of Southern Nigerian Peoples Assembly, said the proposed conference should have a life span of nine months with each of the six geo-political zones producing 100 delegates. This was contained in a communique issued after the meeting of the group in Abuja on Wednesday. The communique was signed by a former Vice President, Dr. Alex Ekwueme; a former Minister of Information, Chief Edwin Clark, and a former Anglican Bishop of Akure Diocese, Rev. Emmanuel Gbonigi. In the communique, the group recommended that the issue of regional police should be discussed at the conference. The elders also warned against taking the outcome of the conference to the National Assembly, saying this should rather be subjected to a referendum with the conference producing a new constitution for the country. The leaders suggested that the referendum should take place between June 1 and June 30, 2014, while the preparation of the draft constitution should take place between May 1 and May 31, 2014. For the processing of the conference work, the group suggested that this should be done between December 1 and 30, this year while the work of the advisory committee should end on November 30. On the legitimacy of the conference, the Southern leaders called on President Goodluck Jonathan to, “invoke Section 14 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.” As regards duration, they said the “conference from the date of the inauguration of the advisory committee should be concluded with a new constitution in place within nine months.” The communiqué added that for the six geo-political zones, “representation should be on the basis of equity. The total number of delegates shall not be less than 600 persons with each of the geo-political zones represented by 100 delegates.” On the methodology of representation, the group said that since the ethnic nationalities in Nigeria have their socio-cultural organisations, “the true representatives of the ethnic nationalities should emerge from their socio-cultural organisations. “The delegates to the conference should be selected by the leadership of the socio-cultural organisations. In the selection, it is pertinent to ensure that all ethnic nationalities in each of the states are fairly represented.” Issues listed for discussion by the group include, “the unity and indivisibility of Nigeria, regional or state police, structure of the federation, true federalism (devolution of powers), fiscal federalism, status of the geo-political zones, form of government, resource control, local government issues, state creation, land tenure, status of Lagos, Port Harcourt and other historical cities, political and electoral process, revenue allocation, and federalised judiciary.” Others are “corruption, anti-corruption agencies, armed forces, single legislative list in the constitution, tri-cameral legislative system, role of traditional rulers, equal representation by geo-political zones and the federal character principle, indigene/settler relationship, Bakassi Peninsula, population and census, religion and secularism, tenure of government, among others.”v