The Federal Executive Council on Wednesday approved the main report of the 2014 National Conference at a meeting presided over by President Goodluck Jonathan.
Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator Pius Anyim and the Minster of Culture, Tourism and National Orientation, Chief Edem Duke, briefed State House correspondents of the meeting’s outcome.
Anyim described the council’s approval as the first leg of concrete steps aimed at implementing the conference report.
He recalled that apart from the report, the national conference recommended to government on how to implement those recommendations and resolutions.
He explained that what FEC did at the Wednesday meeting was to approve that those modalities be adopted in implementing the report.
Anyim said recommendations and resolutions that require constitution amendment and enactment of new laws would be forwarded to the National Assembly for promulgation into law.
He said the Attorney-General of the Federation, Muhammed Adoke (SAN), has been asked to compile, vet and make such recommendations available to the President for onward transmission to the National Assembly for enactment into law.
He added that agencies’ policy matters in the report shall be referred to the affected agencies and the tier of government concerned, whether federal, states or local governments, for action.
The SGF said, “On other matters that require legal issues, for instance, where it concerns constitutional amendment, it is not really the responsibility of the National Assembly alone.
“They have to work with the state assemblies in bringing effect to this.
“So, today, we are taking steps towards implementing the resolutions of the national conference and we believe that the vision of Mr. President in setting up the conference and the wonderful work done by eminent Nigerians who attended the conference in producing the report, the resolutions and recommendations, would be given consideration.
“We also believe our country will benefit immensely from the work of this conference.”
Anyim said while the process leading to the implementation of the report might not end during the life time of the present administration, a bold step forward had been taken with the approval.
Jonathan had in September 2014, shortly after the end of the conference, approved the composition of a Presidential Committee to study and draw up the implementation strategy.
The National Conference came to a peaceful end today, as delegates agreed to a change in the draft constitution, through majority voice vote.
The ability of the conference to end in peace was sequel to the series of meetings the Chairman of the Conference, Justice Idris Kutigi, held with many zonal leaders at the National Judicial Institute, venue of the conference on Wednesday.
Members agreed to a minor amendment to the the third volume of the conference report by replacing the ‘draft constitution’ to read ‘Resolutions of the conference as draft amendments to 1999 constitution’.
Northern delegates who had insisted that the leadership of the national conference should withdraw the contentious ‘draft constitution’ also towed the line of the other delegates to adopt the recommendations of the conference.
The motion for the amendment was moved by Maina Waziri.
A former Minster of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, Chief Richard Akinjide (SAN) moved the motion for the adoption of the conference report and was seconded by Yadomah Mandara.
The conference, which began on March 17, 2014 will be formally declared closed by President Goodluck Jonathan on Thursday, August 21, 2014.
There are plans to kill the final report of the National Conference.
Northern delegates met at a highbrow hotel in Abuja at the weekend to ensure that the report does not see the light of day.
The conference, which ended abruptly last week, is to review and adopt its report on August 4, preparatory for presentation to President Goodluck Jonathan.
A former Senator, a woman, “is the arrow head” of the conferees who met and resolved to “seek the understanding” of senators and House of Representatives members from the North to scuttle the report.
The senator, a source said, is “peeved that the South would gain some mileage if the report of the conference is implemented as proposed”.
Part of the strategies adopted at the meeting, the source said, is to “aggressively pursue enlistment of support of Northern members of the National Assembly to scrutinise the report to ensure that portions considered to be against the interest of the North are blocked from being ratified.”
The meeting, said to have been held on Friday, was said to have lasted till the early Saturday.
Delegates who attended the meeting were mandated to use the opportunity of the annual recess of the National Assembly to reach out to the lawmakers.
Although the conference made some landmark resolutions, it failed to agree on derivation and revenue sharing formula.
The conference advised the federal government to set up a technical committee to resolve the issues.
Local government administration, state police, derivation principle, land tenure, state creation, pilgrimage and alleged new constitution almost broke the conference.
As disagreement simmered, some Northern delegates were pointedly accused of working to break the conference.
Northern delegates were particularly uncomfortable with the resolution to have local government administration transferred from the exclusive legislative list to the concurrent legislate list.
They also bickered over the recommendation to empower states that desire it to create their own police.
Part of their argument was that most Northern states cannot afford to fund state police.
Some of the Northern delegates also expressed concerns over the resolution to create additional 18 states, with a special one for the southeast zone.
The most contested conference report was the Devolution of Power report. Its committee was co-chaired by former Akwa Ibom Governor Obong Victor Attah and former Inspector General of Police Alhaji Ibrahim Coomasie.
Coomasie, leader of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), led Northern delegates to the conference.
Most of the recommendations made by the Committee on Devolution of Power were adopted by the conferees but derivation principle was contentious.
To resolve the issue, the conference secretariat allowed time for mediation by leaders of the six geo-political zones which resolved that the derivation benchmark be raised to “not less than 18 percent”.
The leaders also proposed that five per cent of the Consolidated revenue fund should be set aside for reconstruction of insurgency ravaged North east geo-political zone, with a proviso that the fund be made open to every state where terrorists caused destruction, beginning with the Northeast.
Northern delegates opposed the generalization of the fund and insisted that the five per cent insurgency fund should be specifically Northeast, Northwest and Northcentral geo-political zones.
Southeast and southwest delegates said that the fund should take care of every state where terrorism had occurred.
ABUJA—THE planned showdown between southern and northern delegates at the ongoing National Conference over reshaping the power configuration in the country, turned into an anti-climax, yesterday, after conference chairman, Justice Idris Kutigi ruled against reversion of positions adopted last week.
The planned confrontation followed the mobilisation by Northern delegates for a repeal of the conference’s position on the creation of new states and local governments as a way of balancing the superiority enjoyed by the North.
The stage for battle was set as the conference resumed, yesterday, after the opening prayers when Alhaji Muhammad Maigari Dingyadi, a delegate from Sokoto State raised objections to the procedures used in adopting the resolution on the creation of new states. According to him, the procedures were full of errors.
While he was still on his feet that the decision on local governments was faulty, the hall was enveloped in shouts “No, no,’ ‘name the page properly.’
With their voices almost being drowned out, some northern delegates hinted on crippling the conference by walking out if their position on state creation and local governments were not met, insisting that the only thing the conference could do was to set the criteria for state creation and not to announce those that should be created.
In his contribution, a delegate on the platform of Elder statesmen category, Abdullahi Ohoimah called for the creation of another state from the Central Zone. He said that the zone was cheated in the list produced last Thursday. A delegate representing North Central Zone, John Dara explained that the proposed Kainji State is composed of emirates from Niger and Kebbi, with the bulk of the new state in Niger, which explains why the proposed state is in the North Central. He added that there will be no additional state from the North Central.
In his contribution, a delegate representing the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, Comrade Issa Aremu kicked against the proposal for new states, saying that the present ones were not viable, not implementable and would make a mockery of the conference if approved at the end of the day.
There were shouts of “Point of Order” which forced Aremu to stop.
Oduduwa State
Also in his contribution, a delegate on the platform of National Council of Traditional Rulers of Nigeria and the Alayemore of Ido Osun, Oba Aderemi Adedapo, made a strong case for the creation of Oduduwa State with capital in Ile Ife as one of the three to be created out of the Southwest.
Noting that the demand for Oduduwa State has been on for more than 30 years, he said the proposed state would have a total population of 1.7 million besides the rich cultural legacy of the people.
According to him, the Council of Obas in Yoruba land commenced the campaign for the creation of the state 30 years ago. He said Oduduwa means a lot to the people of South West zone and the proposed Oduduwa State has a total of 1. 7 million people with land mass of 8,000 square kilometres.
Oba Adedapo’s intervention was only one of the few times that the meeting removed itself from a shouting match as northern and southern delegates squabbled over the issues debated last Thursday.
Erstwhile Nigerian diplomat Professor Ibrahim Gambari helped calm passions, yesterday, when he called for decorum in the plenary, warning against abuse of voice vote in the conference especially on issues that affect unity and security of the country.
Professor Gambari, who reminded delegates of efforts made by some elders of the conference to reconcile decisions of the conference to ensure transparency and accountability, stressed that steps must be taken to take the conference to its conclusion, hinting that “all northern delegates are committed to the progress and success of this conference”.
According to him, Northern Elders met with the leadership of the Conference to complain of abuse of voice vote, especially on very serious issues, adding that at the end of the meeting which he termed very constructive, there were promises from the management that corrections would be made as well as reconcile where there were conflicts.
We’re no slaves to anyone — Clark
But comments by Gambari did not go down well with a delegate under the Elder Statesmen category and South-South leader, Chief Edwin Clark.
In his reaction, Chief Clark reiterated his warning that no part of the country should think it was in any way superior to others, even as no one was inferior to the other. He added that it was sad and unfortunate that the Northern Elders could meet with the management without carrying along other leaders and elders especially from the South South zone. He said: ”It was sad that issues are now being raised almost when we are at the end of the conference. We have considered 19 reports and we have just one to go and issues are now being raised”.
Explaining that delegates consulted among themselves to have pre-conference meetings of an 18-man committee to resolve contentious issues before coming to the conference, Chief Clark, who specifically named Professor Auwalu Yadudu as gate-crashing into the meeting of the delegates and despite being welcomed, moved to discredit the conference because his point of view was not accepted.
He said that the pre-conference meetings were approved by leaders of the geo-political zones, noting that it was wrong for any group to send a delegation to leadership of the conference in the bid to seek reversal of decisions taken. He opined that the best such aggrieved persons could do was to liaise with delegates from other zones to see how compromise could be reached for the good of all, just as he appealed to delegates to be more united in the interest of Nigeria and progress of the country.
Chief Clark said: “Let me say this, this country called Nigeria which was amalgamated North and South was made up of equal citizens. That is, we all belong to a country where we are all equal. Nobody is superior to the other. That was the basis of our coming together. If I know any moment that you are superior in this country and I am inferior, then I do not argue with you.
“We came to this conference in order to have harmonization, consensus and some of us came out and consulted our fellow leaders. Can we have a meeting, a pre-conference meeting? This was up to last week. I consulted Alhaji Gambo Jimeta, I consulted with Alhaji Coomassie, I consulted with Jerry Gana, and we met Olu Falae, Jerry Gana, Gen Ike Nwachukwu and others, and we set up an 18-man committee to meet and resolve issues before we come to the floor. They met once in AIT conference room. After that, there are people who believe they know so much. Some of us here also have children who went to some of the best universities in the world, and no one should come to flaunt his professorship to others here.
“Professor Yadudu, who was not selected by the North, came there and objected to everything. He wrote a letter to Dokpesi that they have withdrawn, that no surrender. So we said; can we meet so that we can resolve issues? Then we came to the open here, it is very unfair. Who defines important matters and who defines matters that are not important? Nobody!”
Following his speech, delegates urged the leadership of the conference to stop entertaining private delegates from the zones.
Soon after Chief Clark, a delegate representing Kebbi State and former Minister of Defence, Dr. Haliru Bello Mohammed in his contribution called for the sustenance of voice vote and consensus in deciding the final report. However, his assertion that some decisions earlier taken should be suspended until further consensus was reached was followed by shouts of ‘no, no, no’.
Reiterating his point, he said: “I propose we allow time instead of saying these decisions are sacrosanct”, and again, chants of ‘no, no, no’ filled the hall.
Confab: Delegates back increase in derivation
Meanwhile, majority of delegates, yesterday, gave heed to an increase in the minimum level of derivation proceeds accruable to mineral producing areas of the country.
Delegates speaking ahead of the consideration of the part of the report dealing with derivation scheduled for today, urged for an increase in minimum derivation, saying such was necessary to enable states in the Niger Delta adequately tackle challenges in the region occasioned by oil exploration.
That was, however, not without opposition from delegates primarily from the core northern states, who said that such measure would be amounting to giving much to the Niger Delta states at the expense of non oil producing states.
While most delegates from the South, particularly, the South South and South East said derivation should be increased from the present 13 percent to between 21.5 and 50 per cent, the delegates from the core north insisted that it should rather be reduced further from where it is now.
The committee co-chaired by Obong Victor Attah, former governor of Akwa Ibom State; and Alhaji Ibrahim Coomasie, the former Inspector General of Police, had after weeks of disagreements and inability of its members to shift positions, recommended that the existing 13 percent be maintained.
If accepted, president, governors and their deputies could be prosecuted for both criminal and civil offences while in office.
The National Conference finally voted on Thursday to strip the president, state governors and their deputies of immunity from prosecution in criminal and civil cases.
The Conference delegates voted overwhelmingly for the removal of the clause from the nation’s constitution while considering the report of the Committee on Economy, Trade and Investment.
Section 308 of the 1999 Constitution provides that no civil or criminal proceedings shall be instituted or continued against the President, Vice President, Governor and Deputy Governor.
The Committee chaired by Bola Shagaya representing Women in Business, WINBIZ, and Fola Adeola, an Ogun State delegate had recommend that the Immunity Clause be removed if the offences attract criminal charges to encourage accountability by those managing the economy.
However, while voting on the recommendation, the delegates amended it to include all cases.
The Conference had earlier taken a similar position while considering amendments proposed to the report of the Committee on Public Service.
Before it voted on the issue, the Conference asked the Secretariat to remind it of the decision it took while voting on the report of the Public Service Committee.
During the sitting of the 20 Committees in May the Committee on Politics and Governance had also recommended the removal of the clause. The report is yet to be considered and voted on.
The Conference also adopted a recommendation that the Federal Government should pay the N1 million debt owed to local contractors as a way of encouraging them.
It however rejected an amendment which would have compelled government to award all contracts of less than N10 billion to local contractors in other to grow them.
The Conference also rejected a proposal that women should be appointed Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria and heads of all major finance agencies that provide loans to farmers, investors and contractors.
It also rejected an amendment which has sought to compel political parties to name women as their vice presidential and deputy governorship candidates.
ABUJA—Even before the proposal for the creation of one more state for the South-East geo-political zone is tabled at plenary for discussion, the North has rejected the plan, saying the zone does not have the required landmass and population to warrant the new state.
The opposition of the North to the creation of more states in the country and particularly for the South-East, is contained in a 46-page document, prepared by the Arewa Consultative Forum, ACF, for all northern delegates to the ongoing National Conference.
The document, which is entitled “Key Issues before the Northern Delegates to the 2014 National Conference”, also described Northern Nigeria as the “backbone and strength of Nigeria” and has already been distributed to the northern delegates.
The ACF said it opposed the creation of more states in Nigeria because too many states have tended to convert them into what it called “mere cost or effort centres” at the expense of socio-economic development.
“It is against this backdrop that the ACF believes that the creation of any additional state at this point in time is counter-productive and therefore, should be kept on hold until the need can be justified in future.
“The argument that creation of states should be on the basis of equality irrespective of population and landmass is inconsistent with the elementary concept of justice, since injustice is not only when equals are treated unequally but also when unequals are treated equally”.
The northern group argued further that going by the population average per state, each of the 36 states of the federation could be assumed to have an average of 3,888,987 and a landmass of 27,327 square kilometre.
Using its baseline land mass and average population for each of the states, ACF argued that the South-East with a total population of 16,381, 729 and a landmass of 33,664 square kilometres, presents each of the five states in the zone with a population of 3, 276,345 and a landmass of 33,664 square kilometres.
ACF, therefore, argued that the population per state in the South-East is far less than the national average by 612,642 while its landmass of 33,664 square kilometres is not up to 25 per cent of the National Average.
The group maintained that the total land mass of the South-East is just a little above the National Average per state.
On the other hand, the ACF boasted that its seven states in the North-West alone, boasts of a population of 35,786,994 and a land mass of 222,120 square kilometres, with an average population of 5,112,421, which it claimed is 1,223,434 higher than the national average.
Turning to the South-West, the northern group pointed out that the six states in the zone have a small population of 27,581,994, which amounts to 4,596,999 per state, which is 1,320,654 far higher than the South-East average.
But the ACF conceded that by land mass, the South-West with a figure of 78,774 square kilometres is 13,129 square kilometres or twice the South-East average.
The group argued that for any state to be created in the South-East, the South-West must have up to nine states first, if population were to be used as the deciding factor and as many as 12 more states if land mass were to be the deciding factor.
The north argued: “This proposition, which formed the cardinal position of the South-East since the 1994 Constitutional Conference, has been crafted to whittle down any political advantage the north could exercise in Nigeria despite its huge territorial size and large population.
“Yet, the concept of geo-political zones has no place in our constitution and it should remain so,” the group maintaine
Retired Chief Justice of Nigeria Idris Legbo Kutigi will chair the national conference billed to be inaugurated on Monday.
Retired Chief Justice of Nigeria Idris Legbo Kutigi
He will be assisted by former External Affairs Minister Prof. Bolaji Akinyemi.
Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) Anyim Pius Anyim announced the appointments last night.
Dr. Mrs. Valerie Azinge was named the secretary of the conference.
The statement announcing the appointments reads: “His Excellency, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, GCFR, President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, has approved the appointment of the Leadership of the National Conference as follows:
Honourable Justice Idris Legbo Kutigi-Chairman
Prof. Bolaji Akinyemi-Vice Chairman
Dr. (Mrs.) Valerie Azinge-Secretary”
“The appointees are to resume at Abuja on Wednesday, 5th March, 2014 and would be received on arrival by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation.”
Mrs. Azinge is the wife of the DG of the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies Prof. Epiphany Azinge.
Investigation by our correspondent showed that the President decided to choose Kutigi and Akinyemi because of their belief in the unity and stability of Nigeria.
A source said: “I can tell you that the pan-Nigeria attitude of Kutigi and Akinyemi earned them the appointments.
“Jonathan opted for them because he does not want any issue at the conference which could affect our corporate survival.
“Also, the preference for Kutigi was informed by his tough and principled stand on issues. He is not somebody you can sway by tribal or political persuasion.
“Since he left office, he seldom speaks truth to power. So, you can see that the government is really determined not to influence the conference.
“He is not a blind critic or a friend of the government. Kutigi has the opportunity to lead the conference to preserve our unity.”
Responding to a question, the source added: “The fact that Kutigi is a former Chief Justice of Nigeria would help address legal and constitutional issues at the conference.”
On the appointment of Akinyemi, the presidency source said: “He loves Nigeria with an uncommon passion and he is internationally exposed. He deserves such a post.
“He is also a patient Nigerian whose bridge building experience nationwide could assist in managing the tempo at the conference.”
It was learnt that the President decided to appoint a secretary from the South-East so that the conference can start on a national tripod from the onset. (0)
The conference, which ended abruptly last week, is to review and adopt its report on August 4, preparatory for presentation to President Goodluck Jonathan.
The planned confrontation followed the mobilisation by Northern delegates for a repeal of the conference’s position on the creation of new states and local governments as a way of balancing the superiority enjoyed by the North.
The National Conference finally voted on Thursday to strip the president, state governors and their deputies of immunity from prosecution in criminal and civil cases.
