₦airaland Forum

It would be recalled that during the last attempt to grant autonomy to state assemblies, the NGF kicked against the idea and it was dropped, making it possible for governors to remote control their speakers and the members.

It is not clear how democratically-elected governors are opposed to autonomy for the third tier of government and their legislature when the reverse is the case at the Federal level.

The presentation of the collated report was suspended last January following a disagreement between the committee members and some leaders of the House over certain items on the agenda.

Reps to present report next week
The collated report of the peoples’ public sessions on the review of the 1999 Constitution conducted by the House in the 360 federal constituencies in the country is due for public presentation on Thursday, April 18, 2013.

A statement issued and signed by the Clerk of the adhoc committee, Chinedu Akubueze, said the presentation was earlier due to hold on Thursday, January 31, 2013, but was postponed to allow members more time to verify that the results reflected the voting in their various constituencies.

The statement read: “Collated results of the sessions which held on November 10, 2012, will be presented at the House of Representatives and presided over by speaker of the House, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal.

“The results will show the voting pattern on all the issues itemized in the template for voting by Nigerians during the sessions at the various federal constituencies.

“The public presentation is in keeping with the promise made by the Deputy Speaker/Chairman of the Committee, Emeka Ihedioha, that the House will make the process of the public sessions, and, indeed, the entire constitution amendment transparent, inclusive and accountable to the Nigerian people.”

The event, which will hold at Conference Room 231 of the House of Representatives New Building, is expected to be attended by the Chairman, Nigerian Governors’ Forum, representing state governors; Chairman, Conference of Speakers of State Legislatures, representing speakers of State Houses of Assembly; and President, Nigerian Bar Association, NBA.

Others include President, Association of Local Governments of Nigeria, ALGON; President, Nigerian Labour Congress, NLC; President, Trade Union Congress, TUC; President, Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU; President, Nigerian Union of Teachers, NUT; President, National Council of Women Societies, NCWS; and President, National Union of Local Government Employees, NULGE; President, Nigerian Union of Journalists, NUJ; President, National Association of Nigerian Students, NANS.

Source

ABUJA—Indication emerged Thursday that the House of Representatives has dumped the clamour for the creation of new states in the country.

The House has also distanced itself from the request for a six-year single tenure for the President and governors, sticking to the provision of the 1999 Constitution of two terms of four years each.

These formed the highlights of the report of the Constitution Review Committee, headed by the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives counterpart, Emeka Ihedioha, which is due for presentation next week.

Vanguard learnt from competent sources that the committee, however, recommended full autonomy for the 774 LGAs and the 36 Houses of Assembly in the country.

It was gathered that the committee decided to jettison the creation of new states following the pressure mounted by some Northern governors and political leaders that they did not want new states at the moment.

Pressure from Northern governors

One of the northern governors recently described the move by the National Assembly for new states as a waste of time and resources and asked the members to discontinue with the exercise.

The outspoken governor had also accused the lawmakers of trying to weaken the north with new states, a development that drew criticisms from the House, which described his utterances as unbecoming of his position.

It was learnt that although almost all the states endorsed state creation during the nationwide collation of opinions, the issue was later ‘shut down’ to calm frayed nerves.

A lawmaker, who is familiar with the development, said, “The issue of state creation generated a lot of controversy and we have decided to dump the matter in the interest of peace.

“We don’t want a situation where the good work done by the committee to be rubbished as a result of controversial items. We have therefore endorsed autonomy for the local governments and the various state houses of assembly, something we believe, will bring about stability and progress in the states.

It was not, however, clear if state governors, who were not comfortable with any form of autonomy for the local governments and their Houses of Assembly, would allow the matter to scale through when it is reverted for voting in their respected states.

For any of the items approved by the constitution review committee to become law, 24 out of the 36 Houses of Assemblies must concur.

Already, the Nigerian Governors’ Forum, NGF, is opposed to local government autonomy, on the grounds that the third tier of government is part and parcel of the respective states, with whom they maintain joint accounts.

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patriot4: As a southerner I have two solutions to boko haram:
1) we let JTF do its job
2) We divide the country into two, with locals voting on the side they want to join.

tomakint: I thought he said we all should stick with Yoruba, Igbo an Hausa!

tomakint: You are still not getting the 'koko of the matter' the new mod wants a uniform spelling of some terms especially as they trigger hates amidst us in the hands of chronic bigots here, and my question to you is, what is so difficult with sticking with 'Yoruba and Igbo' when referring to those terms in your post? There is no confusion there, except for nutcases here!

tomakint: But why are you making things so convoluted for yourself and others who think along your line of reasoning? The new Mod insists no more 'Yooba, Yoruba, Ibo, Heebo and other derogatory terms some incorrigible bigots and tribalists coined for their pungent remarks here' what is so difficult to stick with a uniform 'Yoruba and Igbo' spelling on Nairaland? If you get life ban and probably your IP address gets blocked you start whinning as usual! Stick with simple instructions and move on! Stop (alongside your folks who are in your shoes) being a nutcase

"....Unfortunately, some of the Igbos were raised outside the Eastern part of the country. They are the ones that would argue that Ibo is the right pronounciation and spelling, rather than Igbo. Well, i wont blame them. Few of our fathers who had their formal education during colonial era wrongly still write as they were taught by the whiteman. Some are still victims of mental colonization. Ibo maynot be an issue outside Nairaland, but it has become one in Nairaland, deliberately used to instigate tribal war in Politics section. For the sake of peace,please use your Ibo outside Politics section. Likewise, dont address anyother tribe with an offensive name, claiming you read it in a book or you found it on google.... "




I thought they claimed you tribalists in this section are intellectuals? Whats difficult in understanding the above quote?


Some are hidden, while the edited ones have been unhidden. The grace period on Ibo & Yoruba is on countdown.

berem: absolutely speechless!


OAM4J seems silent today.....I just wonder what is happening.

NO ATTACKS, FIGHTS, BULLYING, or INSULTS
Period! Nairaland is a discussion forum, where disagreements are bound to occur. However, members must agree to disagree at times. Fights and attacks must be resolved amicably or taken off the site. Failure to do so will result in hidden posts and bans. Bullying is strictly prohibited and will result in ban(s).

Katsumoto: You just proved my point that BH is merely a political ploy by Northern elders to wrestle power from GEJ. So the foot soldiers get their pardon and the Northern elders get Aso Rock.

Nigeria really is a sick place.

If you refer to people planting bombs as victims what do you call those who lost lives and limbs? This desire to have power at all cost is affecting your ability to reason.

BTW, JTF isn't doing sh.it in my name; I don't recall stating I was a stakeholder.

Katsumoto: What's the point of granting amnesty to a group that hasn't requested it?

What will be the terms of the amnesty?
1. Take cash, stop killing innocent people and give up its 'noble' demands
2. Give into their demands of stopping western education in the North or the whole of Nigeria
3. A combination of the other two options

Hard questions
1. Why are most Northerners, from Ndu_Chucks to IBB suddenly asking for amnesty?
2. Amnesty for MEND (even though I believe it wasn't properly structured) is not the same as amnesty for BH
3. Why can't the government use information from those captured to arrest the masterminds?
4. Is the government afraid of prosecuting the masterminds because they are allegedly PDP members?


So after this amnesty is granted,
1. what happens to the justice for the dead?
2. What stops Boko Haram from collecting cash and returning to its devastating activities after passage of time

Amnesty for a bunch of bloodsuckers who used religion to mask political objectives is wrong on all counts. If heads of securities agencies don't have the competency to stop BH, then they should make way for more competent officers or invite foreigners to assist them.

A camel presented to the French president as a gift has been killed and made into a stew.

The baby camel was given as a present to Francois Hollande in February by the government of Mali, a former French West African colony.

The animal was a token of gratitude for the French military helping fight Islamic terrorists.

Mr Hollande initially intended to have the camel vaccinated and transferred to a French zoo, according to The Telegraph.

But the complexity of the move coupled with "the rigours of the harsh French climate for a desert animal," led to the decision to leave the camel in the care of a family in Timbuktu.

Unfortunately the family killed and ate it.

France's defence minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said the family used the camel in a traditional tagine.

Apparently camel meat is very tender.

The Guardian reported Mali will give Hollande another camel, with a local government official in the country's north saying a replacement would be sent to France.

France bombs 20 sites in northern Mali
Timbuktu celebrates defeat of Islamic extremists
"As soon as we heard of this, we quickly replaced it with a bigger and better-looking camel," said the official, who asked not to be named because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

"The new camel will be sent to Paris. We are ashamed of what happened to the camel. It was a present that did not deserve this fate."

The first camel had proven a controversial gift, firstly when it misbehaved during the presentation ceremony.

Later a Timbuktu man claimed the camel had been stolen from him, after his house was destroyed in a French air raid.

OAM4J: Haven gone through the links supplied by our 2 senior members Dede1 and Dayokanu, I wish to still plead that we refer to Nigeria South Easterners as Igbo and South Westerners as Yoruba only.

But we will no longer hide or ban those who refer to Yoruba as Yoruba and Yooba, and Igbo as Ibo, Ebo, Iboe, Eboe, Eboans and Heebo

Other variation outside these proven ones will be removed and might warrant a ban if convinced its not a typographical error but a deliberate attempt at ethnic slur.

Unless Of course our oga at the top says another thing otherwise.


Thank you.

coogar: you have the intelligence of an unborn foetus....
when you start dashing amnesty to hoodlums and murderers, what stops another group called choko faram to spring up in sokoto to start their own bomb campaign? why is the reasoning of an average nigerian like you backwards?

coogar: it shall not be well with the ohaneze or any other group that supports any amnesty for boko haram. these idiotic old men continue to fail us with their choices and their greed. i am sure this man must have been paid handsomely to support boko haram's amnesty completely ignoring the hundreds of igbo men murdered in cold blood. i wonder why nigerians are not protesting this and yet they could protest oil subsidy removal. which is worse?

onyekabe: i have always said it you are boko haram

mikeansy: When it suits you, you claim Boko Haram does not respresent the North and yet you turn around to suggest an amnesty programme for Boko Haram must include a special economic programme for the North and a welfare state for the generality of Northern Youths. It seems to me that you need to make up your mind on whether you consider Boko Haram a bunch of freedom fighters representing Northern Interests or whether you consider Boko Haram terrorists and criminals?

Onlytruth: No, my friend ndu_chucks, the worst thing that can happen is to allow murderers to continue killing unarmed Nigerians.
War would be BY FAR a better option than to allow mass murderers overawe the nation.
War was declared against barely armed Eastern Nigeria, and 2 million people starved to death as part of war policy.
Maybe it is time to declare all out war in Northern Nigeria.
Nigeria should win, like she won against Biafra. What do you say about that? lol

Onlytruth: Good. At least now it can be withdrawn formally. The committee has only TWO weeks to complete its recommendations.
That time-line should never be extended even for ONE day.

mikeansy: if amnesty is granted to Boko Haram, Nigeria will become a failed state

more geopolitical zones may decide to create their own rebel group and armed struggle.

the poverty in the North is not unique to the North, there is poverty everywhere