At the ceremony, the president indicated that at the ended of this jamboree whose membership was mainly selected by him and his cronies, Nigerians would legitimize whatever the outcome may be through referendum.
I guess the president is very much aware of the fact that the constitution that is operating today does not have that provision, and if his body language is anything to go by, what Mr. President probably meant was that he would as a matter of urgency prepare a bill soonest to the National Assembly tat would give legislative legitimacy to the biased conference and subsequently create possibly through amendment channels that would be followed to do a referendum with the outcome of a conference which I believe is abintio predetermined.
I am one of those Nigerian who sincerely believe that the president has the powers to assemble group of Nigerians at intervals to discuss on issues pertaining to the unity and stability of the nation among many other things. Such assemblies are only advisory to the executive and even legislative arm of government to the extent that they come up wit viable issues that should either be part of national policy or even grand norm.
The recent conference in my view is an example of such assembly but mustn’t be dragged into terrains that are indicative pecuniary interests. There are questions of legitimacy and legality of the assembly being asked by very well informed citizens across the country already some subsisting in courts of law.
A great number of these agitations are based on the fact that the conference is neither a constitutional creation nor initiated by enabling legislation by the National Assembly. The argument went on to insist that under the law and current circumstances it was illegal for the president to commence the conference and commitment of expenditure while the 2014 appropriation is yet to be passed by the National Assembly.
Certainly a proposal of about N7 billion for the said conference is yet to be approved by the legislature and already funds have been committed by the government. The question being asked is where is the president getting the funding from?
Could this be a clear expression of the impunity that Nigerians are talking about? The debate of late is that corruption per say is not the problem with Nigeria but impunity. Yes! The impunity with which corruption is committed and left to go unattended to is the issue.
Aside form the debate as to the legality or otherwise of the conference, the contention here is that the president does not have the powers to simply call referendum on matters that are arrived at by a group of assembly that lack any basis in law or the constitution. At best the outcome of the conference could serve the purpose of advise to the executive and if Nigerians or the president feels strongly about any recommendation whether major or minor, he could depending on the nature of the issue either come up with policy or propose through the established process constitutional amendment to include or remove or modify any provision that is seen as either lacking or impeding on the smooth running of the Nigerian federation.
To try any attempt at calling for referendum when it does exist and not within our laws would only spell doom to the already fragile federation more so when such attempt is proposed to come through blackmail of the legislature so that the constitution is amended to accommodate it just because the president desires to get what he wants.
The conference will be reasonable only to the extent that it comes up wit reasonable advises that would inform next line of action. Already a cross section of Nigerians are querying the nature and composition of the conference. It is lopsided and biased against certain real interest.
The method of selection of the delegates itself clearly shows that all geo-political appointees and federal government delegations are of the PDP extraction and as such cannot claim to be full representatives of the Nigerian people. By the way, they all are appointees and as such lack the aura of true representation.
I agree totally with ModibboKawu who argued that the type of conference that Nigeria needs at this material time is on how to make government responsible. The citizens are possibly irresponsible because the leadership has failed to live up to expectation and this is true.
Any conference that is not intended at coming up with resolutions against hunger, poverty, illiteracy and misgoveranace is a share waste of time and purely one of those strategies adopted by the ruling class over time to cover up for its failures.
I share the belief that this just like others before it may as well be a mere platform for either diversion or a forum to give stipends to a select few from among the millions of us. Conferences before this that were more properly constituted have done far less and that is why we are where we are today.
The task of changing Nigeria into a better society is far more than this cosmetic show of elitism that the government of President Jonathan has foisted on Nigerians. As I said in the beginning, I do believe that the president has the powers to call for such a conference but the extent of the powers of the conference and meaning of its outcome can at best be advisory. God save Nigeria.
