- Title: NIGERIA: Conference to discuss country's future met with a mix of hope and apathy
- Date: 19th March 2014
- Summary: ABUJA, NIGERIA (MARCH 17, 2014) (REUTERS) VIEW OF NATIONAL CONFERENCE VENUE HALL VARIOUS OF DIGNITARIES SEATED NIGERIA'S PRESIDENT, GOODLUCK JONATHAN GIVING OPENING SPEECH AT CONFERENCE VARIOUS OF DIGNITARIES LISTENING BANNER READING NATIONAL CONFERENCE LAGOS, NIGERIA (MARCH 18, 2014) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF PEOPLE ON STREET (SOUNDBITE) (English) DEJI OREYEMI, LAGOS RESIDENT, SAYING: "If it's done rightly, it's a nice idea but right now we don't really feel this government is sincere enough, number one, the way they got members of the confab... old men... no youth you know, what is the future of Nigeria? They are going to debate the future of Nigeria with autocrats? We really feel these people are just going to just talk about looting. They are not going to talk about anything serious and nothing is going to change. That is really our concern. If you are going to talk about the future, we need the youths to participate more." PEOPLE WALKING (SOUNDBITE) (English) CHRISANTUS YILZAK, CIVIL SERVANT, SAYING: "We don't have to pre-empt the national confab for now, the reason is that let's see what the outcome will look like. We don't begin to know whether...... we don't anticipate failure but we proffer solution and since this is an issue that has to address the Nigerian nation, let's look at what the outcome will look like. To me I feel it's going to be something credible." VARIOUS OF ONYEKACHI UBANI, LEGAL ANALYST IN HIS OFFICE (SOUNDBITE) (English) ONYEKACHI UBANI, LEGAL ANALYST, SAYING: "We know that most of them that are there are people who created some of the problems of this nation, they created the problem, they have been there, they have being in position of authority in order to redirect this country for efficiency you know, they never did that, and you are bringing them now to be problem solvers, so I don't see the reality of them solving those problems because they created most of the problems in the first place." LAW BOOK ON THE DESK READING: "LAW AND PRACTICE OF ARBITRATION AND CONCILIATION IN NIGERIA" (SOUNDBITE) (English) ONYEKACHI UBANI, LEGAL PRACTITIONER, SAYING: "Whatever they decide in that confab should not go back to the national assembly, it should now be subjected to a referendum of the people and that will make a lot of meaning, a lot of the restructuring that they will suggest actually will come into play but the house that is there is a conservative house, they are a drain on our pipe and we have not seen them actually work in the interest of Nigeria and Nigerians are saying something has to be done even with tinkering with their structure in order to give Nigerian people the real legislative representative we all deserve." VARIOUS OF PEOPLE WALKING
- Embargoed: 3rd April 2014 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Nigeria
- Country: Nigeria
- Topics: International Relations,Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA2U47AEYHN9XFB7IKWGWG0CXJV
- Story Text: Nigeria's president, Goodluck Jonathan inaugurated on Monday a national conference in the country's capital Abuja, aimed at discussing the future of Nigeria as a single country.
The conference is expected to come up with recommendations that will help in sorting out problems confronting the West African country.
Issues to be tackled at the conference include resource control, revenue sharing, state police among others.
The conference is expected to last for about three months after which it may be subjected to the national assembly.
Nigeria, which recently marked 100 years since its creation as a single entity, has been plagued by regional and ethnic divisions for years. Rivalries between different regions continue to produce violence and instability.
Islamist sect Boko Haram has killed thousands since it launched an uprising in 2009 in a bid to carve out an Islamic state in the West African country of 170 million people, divided roughly equally between Christians and Muslims.
About 500 delegates have been selected from different ethnic regions and religious groups.
Many expect the debates to be heated especially when issues of resource control and possible tenure of elected officials are discussed.
On the streets, mixed reactions from Nigerians have trailed President Jonathan's decision to hold the conference.
"If it's done rightly, it's a nice idea but right now we don't really feel this government is sincere enough, number one, the way they got members of the confab... old men... no youth you know, what is the future of Nigeria? They are going to debate the future of Nigeria with autocrats? We really feel these people are just going to just talk about looting. They are not going to talk about anything serious and nothing is going to change. That is really our concern. If you are going to talk about the future, we need the youths to participate more," said Deji Oreyemi, a resident of Lagos.
"We don't have to preempt the national confab for now, the reason is that let's see what the outcome will look like. We don't begin to know whether...... we don't anticipate failure but we proffer solution and since this is an issue that has to address the Nigerian nation, let's look at what the outcome will look like. To me I feel it's going to be something credible," said said Chrisantus Yilzak, civil servant based in Lagos.
Legal analyst, Onyekachi Ubani says the conference is likely to yeild prejudiced decisions because it lacks fresh voices.
"We know that most of them that are there are people who created some of the problems of this nation, they created the problem, they have been there, they have being in position of authority in order to redirect this country for efficiency you know, they never did that, and you are bringing them now to be problem solvers, so I don't see the reality of them solving those problems because they created most of the problems in the first place" he said.
The outcome of the conference may also be put to a referendum, although that provision is not in the Nigerian constitution president Jonathan has called for the national assembly to amend the constitution to accommodate a referendum.
"Whatever they decide in that confab should not go back to the national assembly, it should now be subjected to a referendum of the people and that will make a lot of meaning, a lot of the restructuring that they will suggest actually will come into play but the house that is there is a conservative house, they are a drain on our pipe and we have not seen them actually work in the interest of Nigeria and Nigerians are saying something has to be done even with tinkering with their structure in order to give Nigerian people the real legislative representative we all deserve," he said.
The national conference comes ahead of a presidential election next year.
Elections are often violent periods in Nigeria and politicians have in the past paid armed groups to destabilise regions, which could allow Boko Haram the opportunity to extend its insurgency towards the nation's centre. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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