President Goodluck Jonathan on
Wednesday forwarded the 2014
National Conference to the Senate for
necessary legislative action. Jonathan in a memo addressed to the
Senate President, David Mark, entitled:
“Approval for the implementation of
the recommendations and resolutions
of the National Conference 2014,”
outlined the actions the National Executive Council had taken on the
confab report. The memo was read on the floor of the
Senate by Mark. The controversial confab which was
headed by retired Justice Idris Kutigi
sat for over three months. The report was submitted to President
Jonathan on August 21, 2014. Jonathan said he was submitting the
report to the Senate for consideration
and legislative action. The memo reads in part, “May I draw
the attention of the Senate of the
Federal Republic of Nigeria to the
enclosed report of the National
Conference, 2014 which was
deliberated upon and approved for implementation by the Federal
Executive Council at its meeting of
March 18, 2014. “Your Excellency may recall that the
National Conference was inaugurated
on of March 17, 2014, with the
mandate to among other things: (A) Discuss any issue about Nigeria
with particular emphasis on finding
solutions to the problems of national
unity and development. (B) Come up with strategies to
strengthen rather than weaken
Nigeria’s unity and enhance a
participatory and inclusive democratic
system of government. (C) Recognise the need to move the
country forward and de-emphasise
the narrow interest that defines our
fault lines. (D) Spell out the modalities for the
implementation of these
recommendations and resolutions. (E) Suggest any constitutional
arrangement they consider best for
Nigeria. “Although, the national conference
was not given any no go areas, it was
enjoined to refrain from discussing the
breakup of the country. “Distinguished senators are invited to
note that at the end of the conference,
a report was submitted with
recommendations and resolutions
covering the following thematic areas: “Agriculture and Water Resources,
Citizenship, immigration and related
matters, civil society organisations,
labour, youths and sports, devolution
of power, economy, trade and
investment, energy, environment, foreign policy and diaspora matters,
law, judiciary, human rights and legal
reform. “Land tenure matters and national
boundaries, national security, political
restructuring and forms of
government, political parties and
electoral matters, policies and
governance, public finance, public service, social sector, religion, science
technology and development and
transportation. “The recommendation of the
conference on the implementation
modalities of the resolutions are
contained in Chapter six of the report. “The resolutions are classified into
three broad categories, constitutional,
legal and policy issues. “The report further indicates the
nature of the actions to be taken, the
objectives to be achieved and the
agency that needs to take the actions.”
http://thenationonlineng.net/new/jonathan-forwards-confab-report-to-senate/

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