There is no gainsaying the fact that Nigeria as it is, is not sustainable. And to address the teething problems facing the country, opinion leaders had at one time or the other advocated for the convocation of a national conference. This has been clamoured for by eminent Nigerians for decades and it has always been seen as the best way to chart a way forward for the country as it would address the critical issues bedevilling the growth and development of the country. Though previous administrations had at one time or the other toed this line, the reports never saw the light of day.

Last year, another national conference was convened. In this election season, it is important to revisit this important document and identify the key recommendations that would go a long way in addressing the challenges of the country.

What does Nigeria stands to gain if the national confab Is implemented? Before this question is answered, it is important to look at key recommendations made.

KEY RECOMMENDATIONS...
State creation: the national confab recommended the creation of 18 additional states. Among them are Apa, Edu,Kainji, Katagum, Savannah, Amana,Gurara, Ghari, Etiti (South East zone), Aba,Adada, Njaba-Anim, Anioma, Orashi,Ogoja, Ijebu and New Oyo, ose.

In the past, state creation was done based on political reasons. People without cultural affinities were joined together. The main reason for unending rivalries and conflicts. If this is properly implemented, people with a common history and binding ties would form a state. For example, the ijebus will have their own state, same goes for other regions of the country. Since they see themselves as one. There will be less conflict and they will be able to chart a collective path to development.

Presentation of the annual budget, revenue sharing and type of legislature
At present, the Federal Governmentgets 52.68 per cent of all revenue accruing to the federation. The state governments get 26.72 percent, while the local government councils get 20.6 per cent. What this shows is that there is too much money at the federal level while all ths state of the federation gets a meagre 26.72 percent.

From the confab report, The sharing formula is to be:Federal Government (42.5 percent), State governments (35 percent) and Local governments (22.5per cent). What this means is that there will be more money available to the states and local governments.

Fighting Corruption
As a way of addressing graft, there should be complete abolition of the concept of plea bargain by accused public functionaries and
also agreed for the establishment of special courts, for instance, anti-corruption courts to handle cases involving corrupt practices.
Also in the report, henceforth,anybody arraigned before thecourt by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Independent Commission on Corrupt Practices(ICPC) and by any law enforcement agencies, the accused person is
regarded as guilty. This is unlikethe present situation where the suspect is regarded as innocent until he or she is proven not guilty.
Now the suspect is regarded as guilty until he proves himself innocent.

Pensions and associated gratuities for political officeholders
Payment of pension, severance, life insurance for legislators at all levels be cancelled, same would apply to governors and their deputies, just as lawmakers, governors and their deputies will now receive salaries and allowances commensurate to the functions they perform.


On religious group and pilgrim sponsorship
Henceforth, there will be no sponsoring of both Christian and Muslim pilgrimages to the holy lands. The conference also recommended that churches and mosques will now pay taxes to the Federal Government.

Legislature
2014 National Conference: Bi-cameral
legislature, but all elected members of the
legislative arms of all the tiers of
government should serve on part-time basis

Power Sharing/Rotation
Recommended that the presidential power should rotate between the North and the South and among the six geo- political zones while the governorship will rotate among the three senatorial districts in a state.

Immunity Clause
The immunity clause should be removed if the offences attract criminal charges to encourage accountability by those managing the economy.

To change Nigeria, we have to first do a structural change of the system. If you want change and you still want the status quo to continue. Then, I don't really know what to say to you..


Sources:www.premiumtimesng.com/opinion/167070-key-national-conference-recommendations-you-need-to-know.html

www.ngrguardiannews.com/2015/02/key-confab-recommendations/

Implement it now abeg, anyway am sure GEJ would implement it in his second term.

This author is not well-informed about constitutionalism or the workings of the state. The confab report if implemented fully will entrench and enhance true federalism which had for decades remains elusive.

At best states within the federation will develop at its own pace without recourse to the central government and above all the right to self determination. As at today, the federation remains a forced union and that was the reason we had the 1967-1970 massacre (civil war if you care) which could have been avoided had true federalism been practiced.

This is a great idea. It can only be implemented if Gej wins Second Term because the Confab will place all Region in the same Level which Northerners wouldn't pray for.

At least we IGBOS will have equal state with others, the same allocation!!!!!!

Kola4uniadgog

First of all, i have to say that The confab implementation should happen without Goodluck Ebele Jonathan as President, else it makes absolutely no meaning. I will explain later, but read the full text of my contribution first

1. On some aspects of the confab, especially on the case of corruption, it is unacceptable to legally put the weight of the law on the accused, that was the system that military tribunals used many years ago and we criticized them for it, one should remain innocent until proven guilty, to avoid witch-hunting. With the level of technology advancement in place today, it is not very difficult to catch offenders. For instance, in the case of former speaker Bankole, it was discovered that he technically avoided direct indictment by not appending his signatures to most of the fraudulent withdrawals made, but on whose authority were those withdrawals made? were his signatures forged? if he delegated someone else to do the job for him, then catch the person and let him be the star witness, or pay for the crime. On the other hand, public office laws should be amended to ensure proper documentation of project work etc. If an outgoing government decides to steal and destroy evidence, it should also constitute crime, again the staff who worked with all these corrupt people should be brought to book, so that everyone realizes they are held accountable too for the dirty deals they do for their ogas (Confess that he made you do it on his behalf or go to jail on his behalf if that makes you happy). This will also encourage witness protection programs. Futhermore, handlers who execute dirty deals can be witnesses too. Even in the US, some corrupt people are free and others are serving jail terms for them, but the government still puts head on ground to gather evidence, open whistle blowing channels etc to nail them. All these is done with tax payers money. If you absolve responsibilities from government, they will have a lot of idle money to embezzle

2. On the issue of state creation, while i think we may have need for more states, still, have we implemented the constitutional autonomy for local governments? States are merely administrative headquarters for all the local governments combined, and if these local government councils are fully empowered, there may not be much need for new states. To me, the local governments should be getting more allocation than the states, so they can develop the rural communities and generate employment, directly negotiate with investors etc, while states mainly provide the security framework and administrative tasks such as issues bothering the creation of more local governments when communities feel they need autonomy etc.

3. On the issue of fighting corruption, this is where the federal government should be very active on. This is where some of their resources should be channeled to, because a society laden with huge corruption and lazy administration will never develop to its full potentials. These anti corruption agencies should have a watchful eye and presence even at the local and state governments, So federal government and even state governments have a very huge role to play on this one.

Regarding my initial statement about President Jonathan, he is a lazy president, weak and ineffective in management issues. Nigeria does not deserve a president like him who has absolutely no interest in fighting corruption and indiscipline, No interest in police reform and accountability. The EFCC is so compromised, weak and dancing along his weak lines. Even if the confab is fully implemented under Jonathan, nothing will still work because there is heavy unchecked corruption in the system

That is my opinion

psucc:
This author is not well-informed about constitutionalism or the workings of the state. The confab report if implemented fully will entrench and enhance true federalism which had for decades remains elusive.

At best states within the federation will develop at its own pace without recourse to the central government and above all the right to self determination. As at today, the federation remains a forced union and that was the reason we had the 1967-1970 massacre (civil war if you care) which could have been avoided had true federalism been practiced.

You have said it all bro...every region cannot develop at d same pace and even now development is lopsided. Texas, new york and the likes is not the same as idaho, nebraska or kentucky. Political federalism and fiscal federalism is the way forward. Na by force marriage we dey so

socialmediaman:
Kola4uniadgog

First of all, i have to say that The confab implementation should happen without Goodluck Ebele Jonathan as President, else it makes absolutely no meaning. I will explain later, but read the full text of my contribution first

1. On some aspects of the confab, especially on the case of corruption, it is unacceptable to legally put the weight of the law on the accused, that was the system that military tribunals used many years ago and we criticized them for it, one should remain innocent until proven guilty, to avoid witch-hunting. With the level of technology advancement in place today, it is not very difficult to catch offenders. For instance, in the case of former speaker Bankole, it was discovered that he technically avoided direct indictment by not appending his signatures to most of the fraudulent withdrawals made, but on whose authority were those withdrawals made? were his signatures forged? if he delegated someone else to do the job for him, then catch the person and let him be the star witness, or pay for the crime. On the other hand, public office laws should be amended to ensure proper documentation of project work etc. If an outgoing government decides to steal and destroy evidence, it should also constitute crime, again the staff who worked with all these corrupt people should be brought to book, so that everyone realizes they are held accountable too for the dirty deals they do for their ogas (Confess that he made you do it on his behalf or go to jail on his behalf if that makes you happy). This will also encourage witness protection programs. Futhermore, handlers who execute dirty deals can be witnesses too. Even in the US, some corrupt people are free and others are serving jail terms for them, but the government still puts head on ground to gather evidence, open whistle blowing channels etc to nail them. All these is done with tax payers money. If you absolve responsibilities from government, they will have a lot of idle money to embezzle

2. On the issue of state creation, while i think we may have need for more states, still, have we implemented the constitutional autonomy for local governments? States are merely administrative headquarters for all the local governments combined, and if these local government councils are fully empowered, there may not be much need for new states. To me, the local governments should be getting more allocation than the states, so they can develop the rural communities and generate employment, directly negotiate with investors etc, while states mainly provide the security framework and administrative tasks such as issues bothering the creation of more local governments when communities feel they need autonomy etc.

3. On the issue of fighting corruption, this is where the federal government should be very active on. This is where some of their resources should be channeled to, because a society laden with huge corruption and lazy administration will never develop to its full potentials. These anti corruption agencies should have a watchful eye and presence even at the local and state governments, So federal government and even state governments have a very huge role to play on this one.

Regarding my initial statement about President Jonathan, he is a lazy president, weak and ineffective in management issues. Nigeria does not deserve a president like him who has absolutely no interest in fighting corruption and indiscipline, No interest in police reform and accountability. The EFCC is so compromised, weak and dancing along his weak lines. Even if the confab is fully implemented under Jonathan, nothing will still work because there is heavy unchecked corruption in the system

That is my opinion

Bro. U made lots of sense in your post. On the issue of state creation. I believe lots of mistakes has been made in the past. People who had notin together were joined together to form a state. The only positive thing this brings to the table is the creation of new jobs.

On the issue of corruption I believe we need strong institutions. The president of a country does not need to sanction that a person be prosecuted before that is done. If we have strong institutions, they will naturally do their job.

Though I agree jonathan is not taken a frontal approach to fighting corruption, I still believe his approach is the best. Prevention is better than cure. In the past, govt used anti-corruption to fight its enemies. It was merely a charade and political witch hunt. Even under obj. If there is incentive for people to steal and the system is not transparent. People will naturally steal. Cos govt was paying subsidy on petrol and kerosine, people exploited this to enrich themselves. Importers would connive with the customs and other agencies and supplies that were never brought into the country was documented and money paid for it. But if govt doesn't pay subsidy, the products will find their way to the market and there will be no incentive for people to shortchange the system. Everyone knows the nnpc is a very corrupt institution and it has always been like that. But the pib is a bill that will unbundle it and remove its super powers but that hasn't been passed into law.
If a system is not transparent and there are loopholes that allow people to steal, people will naturally steal.

Why do u think there is less corruption I developed societies, is it that they don't like money or the system is so transparent and there are no loopholes that would allow that to happen.

To effectively fight corruption, you have to first block the avenue for corruption. If you go about prosecuting people alone and the loopholes are still there, people will continue to steal.
Prosecuting cases in court is not an easy task as it provides that one has to prove a case beyond doubt, to what extent that can be done is a matter for another day. Fighting corruption is as complicated as I gets, even when the cases are very glaring, u may never get a conviction cos our politicians are smart and know how to escape justice, they will launder money through proxies and some of these tins may never be traced to them. Our conventional cases are overwhelmed with cases. Na adjournments galore. That is why I support special courts for corrupt cases. Paying lawyers to prosecute cases also gulp a lot of money. Do u even know how much SANs charge? Why not block the avenue for corruption instead of waiting for it to happen then you spend years in court prosecting a case that may eventually be thrown out.

The wheel of justice grinds slowly, not yet uhuru...

Vote GEJ for continuity!