Day 52: My National Conference Exploits (Political Restructuring and Forms of Governance)

Wednesday 2nd July 2014….

Conference resumed sitting at 09:15am presided over by the chairman.

Votes and proceedings of the previous day were read, amended and adopted as amended.

Announcement;

The Chairman introduced a new delegate Sen. Igbeke Alphonus , who replaced the late Prof Dora Akunyili.

Delegates began deliberation on the report of the Committee on Political Restructuring and Forms of Governance which was presented by their co-chairmen – General Ike Nwachukwu and Hon. Mohammed Kumalia  yesterday Tuesday 1st July 2014.

There was an Intensive debate on the Report.

The mandate of the committee as explained by the co –chairman was primarily to examine the extant structure and forms of governments in the context of the peculiar circumstances of Nigeria’s diverse and multi-ethnic setting.

It also included examination of Nigeria’s attendant challenges and the need to lay a solid foundation for an all-inclusive and cost-effective system of government which would serve the best interest of Nigeria and Nigerians.

Regarding creation of new states, the committee approved the creation of additional state for the South East geo-political zone, to place it on the same level with other zones.

The committee however stated that other states that need state creation must be based on merit and backed by the viability of the proposed state in terms of economic potential, human, natural and material resources as well as minimum land and water mass.

The envisaged state according to the committee must have cultural and historical antecedent, with strong cultural affinity amongst its population while the component should be contiguous.

My 3 minutes speech:

The problem of Nigeria is not only with the structure of Government but with the structurers of the structures too.

The problem of Nigeria is not Nigeria but Nigerians.

We can't talk about reduction of cost of Governance without reduction of the take home of political office holders; lawmakers in Nigeria for instance earn tens times the salary of their US counterparts; they earn more than what the US president earns.  

There are other  estacodes and allowances that should be cut down if we truly want to reduce the cost of Governance. So many jobs can be created with such allowances.

I will share with you some of the main recommendations of the committee in my next post and my opinion on the creation of states.

The Committee’s recommendations are to be adopted by delegates the following day.

We adjourned at 3:36pm to resume the following day at 9am.

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