Opinion: Why a Sovereign National Conference is what Nigeria needs

by Chukwumerie Uduchukwu

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Critics arguing that this policy is ill-timed should note that this is the best time to organize such because it will be better to discuss the fate of our unholy marriage in this era of various challenges. Also it is shocking for some people to say that Nigerians cannot dictate to government.

It is encouraging and commendable that President Goodluck Jonathan finally bow to the wishes of Nigerians to covey a National Conference. This is because the nation is not currently practicing genuine federalism; rather the nation is under the bondage of unholy and forceful marriage initiated by her colonial master in 1914. Due to this unholy unity called amalgamation, Nigeria have been faced with critical challenges ranging from fight for power among various tribes and religions, corruption, tribalism, discrimination, insecurity and lack of trust on the government by the citizens. Therefore having witnessed these challenges, it is obvious that our unholy unity is questionable therefore a national conference is needed.

For a nation to be a true federal state, all the component units have to come together and state why they need to federate, if they finally agree to unite, these component units also have to agree on the principles that will guide their togetherness as a federal state. This mutual agreement will certainly go a long way in ensuring peace and stability in the polity. But in the case of Nigeria, the nation was forced to unite by the British authorities in order to satisfy their selfish interest of exploitation. These however have long-tem consequences which Nigeria is currently facing. It is a fact that from the period of amalgamation to independence and post-independence era, Nigeria had witnessed various ethnic and religious crises that catalyzed the various military coups in the country. It is a well known fact that it is difficult for people of different norms and background to be together in peace without misunderstanding and hatred. Even husbands and
wives encounter various misunderstanding due to variance in their parental background and principles. That is why a man and a woman must agree to become one before they are addressed as husband and wife.

If all the component units that made up the federation of Nigeria willingly agreed to get united in 1914, the nation should not have witnessed most of the crises facing her currently. However, since the nation had already got involved in this forceful marriage we addressed as federation, we have no alternative than conveying a national conference to determine how our unity shall continue. Since the announcement by President Jonathan during his October 1 national broadcast that his government shall inaugurate a committee that will be headed by Femi Okuronmu to establish modalities for a national dialogue among other things, many interest groups, politicians and private individuals have been airing their views on the plan of the Goodluck Jonathan led federal government. While some argued in support of the plan, others argue against it saying that it is ill-timed, while some said that even if the country must hold a national dialogue, it must be a national
conference and not a sovereign National conference because according to set of these critics, Nigerian people shall not instruct a legal institution which is government on how to carry out it’s activities and programmes.

The truth is that if the nation must witness a lasting and true peace, unity and progress, a sovereign national conference is needed now. Critics arguing that this policy is ill-timed should note that this is the best time to organize such because it will be better to discuss the fate of our unholy marriage in this era of various challenges. Also it is shocking for some people to say that Nigerians cannot dictate to government. If democracy which we claim to practice is the government of the people, by the people and for the people, it simply means that the life of democracy lies with the wishes of the people whom the government is serving. Nigerians should understand that as long as democracy is concerned, the government remains the servant of the people because it’s powers lies with the people. So for the nation to achieve lasting peace, progress and unity, the Nigerian people must decide the fate of their federation. The people must decide how our
unity should survive or be sustained.

Moreover, for the proposed conference to achieve it’s purpose, the Femi Okurounmu led Committee should ensure that all Nigerians are carried along and the influence of politicians and selfish elite should be avoided. All the pressure groups, communities, religions, rural dwellers, students and youths should be equally represented at the conference. Also there should be no ‘No-Go-Area’ in the agenda of the conference. Nigerians should be left to air their view on the country Nigeria. The people should determine if they are satisfied with our forceful marriage or whether they need the divorce of the unholy marriage. Also if the people expressed satisfaction with our unity as a nation, they should stipulate the system of government to be adopted in the nation and the principles that should guide their governance. The people should also determine the method that will produce the general result of the conference. Also the simple-majority method should
be adopted in determining the outcome of the conference. This is because if absolute-majority method is employed, it will certainly lead to difficulties in determining the wishes of Nigerians and that will certainly lead to unnecessary politicking that will certainly make the conference to be influenced by selfish politicians and elite.

The government is the servant of the people so it should leave the people to determine how it serves them. Also, the decisions of the conference delegates shall be final and should not be subjected to approval by the two chambers of the national assembly. The national assembly should only be mandated to inject the decisions of the conference into the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as an amendment without further vote by the lawmakers. However, if the national assembly refuses to do the wishes of the people to inject the decisions of the conference into the constitution as an amendment within 21 days, the conference decisions shall override the powers of the national assembly. Also the decisions of the conference shall override any court ruling. These steps will certainly go a long way in preventing the outcome of the conference from the selfish influence of politicians and greedy members of the elite class.

Finally, the government and Nigerians should give the committee and the conference an unbiased support to achieve the aim of initiating them.

May God bless Nigeria

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Op-ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija.

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