The 2014 National Conference Report, popularly referred to as the 2014 confab report, continues to be hailed to this day as the stepping stone that would finally resolve the country’s fractious divide and ensure her unity. Yet, the report has not been implemented to the chagrin of many Nigerians, who continue to agitate and insist that the report’s implementation is the key to the true existence of the much-bandied “One Nigeria”.
Nigeria as a political entity came into existence following the British colonial government’s amalgamation of the Northern and Southern Protectorates on January 1, 1914. However, unlike other political unions, the constituent units or nations that constitute Nigeria did not voluntarily agree to become part of the country. Rather, the nations were forcefully incorporated into becoming members of the country.
This forced incorporation of nations into statehood has left a lot of questions unanswered as indigenes of some of those nations have expressed their fears of being marginalised in the Nigerian entity. These fears were expressed at the 1953 Constitutional Conference about Nigeria in London, the British capital. Although the 1953 conference was not the first conference organised by the colonial government for Nigeria, it became the foundation of national conferences by Nigerians to negotiate the state of their existence and unity in the country.
So, what is a national confab? Why were the 2014 confab and the others held? More importantly, why has the 2014 confab report not been implemented?
Table of Content hide 1Meaning of national conference (confab) 2Why confabs are organised in Nigeria 2.1To accommodate the needs of the divergent background of individuals 2.2To deter the dominance of one group over others 2.3To ensure political unity 2.4To bring the government closer to the people 3Key resolutions of the 2014 confab 4Why the 2014 confab report has not been implemented 4.1Lack of/short time to implement 4.2ECOWAS protocol on constitutional reforms 4.3Political misgivings and defection 5Should the 2014 confab be implemented?Meaning of national conference (confab)
According to the 2014 confab report, a National Conference is a formal platform for dialogue by constituent units of the nation convened by the national government of a country to discuss issues or problems that inhibit national progress or challenge national cohesion. A confab is convened to proffer appropriate solutions that will assist in moving the country forward and help the constituent units to prosper.
A confab involves the participation of civil society organizations, workers’ unions, political parties, professional associations, religious denominations, as well as government representatives. These elected/selected representatives discuss and chart new ways forward, which is expected to lead to higher levels of mutual trust, understanding, and integration in nation-building.
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The history of the national conference in Nigeria, as earlier mentioned, can be traced to the 1953 constitutional conference in London. Although the minority groups brought up the subject matter of marginalisation, Oliver Lyttleton, the Colonial Secretary, declined the demand.
Buoyed by the adoption of federalism in 1954, minority groups reiterated their request at the 1957 Constitutional Conference. It was at the 1957 Constitutional Conference that the Colonial Secretary appointed a Commission headed by Henry Willinks to discern the facts of the claims made and proffer solutions to the issue. The committee got to work, and after about a year, it produced its report: the 1958 Willinks Commission Report. The Willinks Report was, however, not considered for drafting the 1960 independence constitution.
Other constitutional and national conferences were held in subsequent years. They include the 1977 Constituent Assembly under the military regime of Murtala Muhammed, the 1990 Constituent Assembly under the military regime of Ibrahim Babangida, the National Political Reforms Conference (NPRC) under the civilian administration of President Olusegun Obasanjo from February to July 2005, and the National Conference from March to July 2014 under the administration of Goodluck Jonathan.
Why confabs are organised in Nigeria
There are several reasons why national conferences are organised in Nigeria. They include:
To accommodate the needs of the divergent background of individuals
Nigeria, as explained earlier, was created by an amalgamation of northern and southern protectorates by Lord Frederick Lugard in 1914. As a result of this merger or “marriage of inconvenience”, as some Nigerians have described it, Nigeria, as it is presently constituted, is a heterogeneous country.
Because of the country’s linguistic, ethnic, religious, and geographic diversity, the nationalists pushed for the country to adopt a federal system of government. Therefore, the national conference is an avenue for all component units of the country to express their position at intervals on the state of their existence and needs in the Nigerian state.
To deter the dominance of one group over others
In a multi-ethnic country like Nigeria, the fear of one ethnic or religious group dominating others is frequently expressed by minority groups in the country. Therefore, in a bid to avoid the concentration of power in the hands of a single ethnic or religious authority, ethnic and tribal minorities or religious adherents have an opportunity to demand inclusivity in the country’s affairs through the national conference.
This has been one of the major reasons that various groups in the country have continued to demand the convening of a national conference to address the fault lines permeating the country.
To ensure political unity
Nigeria is a country that is populated by people of different political, socio-cultural, geographical, religious, and linguistic inclinations. While the various constituent units want to ensure their identity and existence are not banished, it is also necessary to ensure that there is harmony and unity among these sets of people.
A national conference enables the people of the country to discuss various ways that the union of the nation can be strengthened and national cohesion achieved by their collective actions and decisions, such as the adoption of a quota system, as it is currently done.
To bring the government closer to the people
A national conference helps brings the government closer to the people’s doorstep in their localities by having their representatives being in the room to partake in important national decisions. With the legislature – which is deemed to be the representative of the people – inactive whenever a confab is held, the various component units need to have their voices felt in such discussions.
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Key resolutions of the 2014 confab
The 2014 National Conference was inaugurated by Goodluck Jonathan, the then President of Nigeria, on 17 March 2014. The confab was convened following consistent calls for a national conference from various ethnic and tribal groups and professional bodies in the country.
The conference was chaired by Idris Legbo Kutigi, a retired Chief Justice of Nigeria, and was made up of 492 delegates. Asides from Kutigi, the six-member conference management team, also included Professor A. Bolaji Akinyemi, a former Minister of External Affairs, who served as the Deputy Chairman; and Dr. (Mrs.) Valerie-Janette Azinge as Secretary.
A litany of political, economic, sociocultural, technological, and legal matters was deliberated upon. After about four-and-the-half months, the conference made over 600 recommendations for the improvement of the Nigerian state.
Some of the key resolutions include:
- The creation of 18 new states (three per geo-political zone) and one new state for the South-East region to make the zone have an equal number of states with other zones
- A two-tier police system
- The devolution of more powers and revenues to states
- A ban on state funding of pilgrimages and religious matters
- Adoption of the ‘Modified Presidential System’: The president shall pick the vice president from the legislature, selects not more than 30 per cent of his ministers from outside the legislature and not more than 18 ministers from the six geo-political zones
- All elected members of the legislature in all the tiers of government should serve on a part-time basis
- The Presidency should rotate between the North and the South and among the six geo-political zones
- The governorship should rotate among the three senatorial districts in every state
- Reduce the cost of governance by reducing the number of political appointees and use the staff of ministries where necessary
- Removal of the immunity clause for offences that attract criminal charges
- Establishment of independent candidacy
- The local government to no longer be the third tier of government
- Set up Special Intervention Funds to deal with the issues of reconstruction and rehabilitation of areas destroyed by insurgency, internal conflicts, as well as solid minerals development
- Constitute a Technical Committee to determine the appropriate percentage to states for derivation/resource control
- The re-distribution of funds from the Federation Account among the three tiers of government: Federal Government – 42.5 per cent, state governments – 35 per cent, and local governments – 22.5 per cent
- Establishment of Special Courts to handle corruption cases
- Scrap the State Independent Electoral Commissions
- Amendment of the Land Tenure Act to take care of local concerns
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Why the 2014 confab report has not been implemented
There are various reasons why the 2014 confab report has not been implemented. They include:
Lack of/short time to implement
As earlier remarked, then-president Jonathan inaugurated the conference in March 2014, which was just about a year before the 2015 presidential election. The conference was hurriedly constituted despite the executive arm of government knowing it had barely 12 months to complete its tenure, even though Jonathan was contesting for re-election.
Even though the report was submitted in August 2014, there was no way that the resolutions/recommendations would have been implemented just six months before the general election. This is because the resolutions must be ratified by both chambers of the National Assembly and the state houses of Assembly, and it is a complex and protracted process.
In addition, certain resolutions needed constitutional amendments, and these amendments certainly occurred for more than six months, as evidenced by the ongoing constitutional amendment process. The 2014 confab was, ab initio, doomed to fail.
ECOWAS protocol on constitutional reforms
This is closely related to the immediate past reason. The protocol of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) on constitutional reforms states that no substantial modification shall be made to the electoral laws of member states in the last six months before elections.
This criterion, therefore, restricted the Jonathan administration from implementing the report. Jonathan recently alluded to this when he spoke at a public event concerning the 2014 confab report.
Political misgivings and defection
The way the conference was quickly organised raised quite many eyebrows across the country. Considering the limited time that the Jonathan administration had before squaring out against opponents in the presidential election, many Nigerians, particularly the opposition, felt that Jonathan was just playing politics with such an important matter to win re-election.
Jonathan’s case was not helped by the defection of close to 50 federal legislators from both the Senate and the House of Representatives, including Aminu Tambuwal, the House Speaker, from the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the burgeoning opposition, the All Progressives Congress (APC). This suddenly gave the APC a nominal majority in the House, a development which led the House into vetoing many bills sponsored or brought forward by the executive.
With all these developments, there was no way that the 2014 confab report could be implemented.
Should the 2014 confab be implemented?
Absolutely!
The recommendations of the 2014 confab are very germane, especially when the issues bedevilling Nigeria are evaluated.
Security, for instance, continues to be a thorny issue, and the need for community policing has become more important than ever. Also, with declining revenue and resources, there is an urgent need to cut the cost of governance. The issue of the land act is critical to resolving issues like the farmer-herder conflict, and an amendment to the act is, therefore, in order.
However, while there are genuine agitations by minority ethnic groups not to be marginalised, there are major concerns that the creation of new states may not be financially prudent. A lot of the 36 states are not financially buoyant, so it is quite surprising that there is a consideration for more states to be created.
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