Nigerians are still divided over the proprietary or otherwise of the proposed national conference. The leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) sees the exercise as a sham. The Arewa Consultative Forum, the apex northern socio-political group, is equally skeptical as to its essence.
Some Nigerians nurse the morbid fear the confab could be the catalyst to the eventual disintegration of the country. However, a greater majority of Nigerians and ethnic nationalities are positive about it.
Now is the most auspicious time for the dialogue because it could help resolve the nation's contradictions and certain foundational problems carried over since 1914. Even the Northern Elders Forum has expressed support for it, stating that "the country was in need of such a dialogue". President Goodluck Jonathan has taken a pragmatic approach to building the needed confidence of all stakeholders in the conference.
This is what his statement that the outcome of the conference would be subjected to the ratification of the National Assembly is all about. But the negative reactions that have greeted it is an indication that it was the wrong step to consider.
The statement has done serious damage to the credibility of the proposal. This has dampened the enthusiasm of many Nigerians. Making the outcome of the conference an input into the ongoing constitution amendment process is ill conceived.
For over a year now the National Assembly has been contending with the process of amending the 1999 Constitution. Those assigned with the responsibility have gone round the country. Immense resources have been wasted in the process.
And from all indications they will not succeed even in amending a single item in the 1999 constitution before 2015, when the tenure of this session would have lapsed. Nigerians have watched with discomfort how these senators and honorable members have discussed with so much emotion issues that border on ethno-religious or sectional interests. There are numerous examples to cite. There are besides uncountable number of critical bills lying before them for years for consideration, which they are yet to do.
The Petroleum Industry Bill is a very good example. In spite of the strategic importance of this bill, the National Assembly has allowed sectional interests to override the national one. With what Nigerians already know about the federal lawmakers, it will amount to a waste of time and resources to submit the outcome of the conference to them.
The palpable tension and geopolitical faultlines on the wall of the nation remain the most compelling imperative for the conference. It is reasoned that the conference should hold and its outcome known and legitimized before the 2015 general elections. This is the only thing that will arrest whatever crises that might erupt during and after the general elections. The division in the ruling PDP is traced to 2015.The Nigerian Governors' Forum election crisis is linked to 2015. The demand of the G7 governors is about who will rule Nigeria from 2015.
Thus, the temperament and geopolitical leanings of members of the National Assembly make it the most unlikely place to send the outcome of the proposed conference. Any attempt to see the National Assembly as the berthing point of the outcome of the conference will be the end of such journey. They will kill it the same way they have killed radical and progressive bills that could have moved the country forward. We have since the return to democracy been confronted with crisis of unemployment, decay in the education and health sectors, religious and ethnic bigotry, pervasive insecurity and mass poverty.
Which among these have reasonably engaged the attention of the federal lawmakers? The fact that NASS would not want to be a rubber stamp institution on issues already decided by the conferees, would be the reason the members would want to deliberate on all the issues decided upon.
How long, and how successful this will be is left to anybody's imagination. As the conference gathers more support, what Nigerians expect is that as soon as the modalities for its convocation are established, prompt presidential action must be taken on their actualization. This is the last opportunity to debate on the level and magnitude of injustice, poverty, impunity and insecurity in the country. It is an opportunity to examine how about 10 percent of the population controls up to 70 percent of the nation's wealth.
The crisis and tension in the country are the creation of the system we run. The system makes possible the rapacious corruption in the country and exploitation of the majority by the few. It is the reason why politics is given more prominence than governance. If Jonathan administration is serious with the national conference he should let its outcome be legalized by Nigerians through a referendum. The time frame for this to happen should be decided now and be strictly adhered to.
