Depression Amongst IDP’s in Borno State

First I would like to start by stating out what depression is; Depression according to psychotherapy and psychiatry depression is a state of mind producing long-term lowering of enjoyment of life or inability to visualize a happy future. It could also be a period of unhappiness or low morale which last longer than several weeks and may include ideation of self-inflicted injury or suicide.

IDP’s as we all know stands for internally displaced people; these particular groups of people have in one way or the other lost the joy of having a shelter of their own due to natural or man-made disasters.

This article is pin pointed at the IDP’s of Borno; therefore, it would be more about IDP’s who were pushed into that state by the Boko Haram Insurgents.

Boko haram insurgents have been a great menace to the state the geographical zone and the country at large. They portray characters similar to that of barbarians and everything they do is inhuman and ungodly.

Depression amongst IDP’s is inevitable because as a child you need your parents, you need an environment that suits you and you need the basic amenities that will help you in your day to day life. But most IDP’s watched their parents get killed in front of them and the causes of death were mostly amputation (i.e. they saw their parents being cut to pieces). Most of the IDP’s can’t afford to eat properly due to the unavailability of foodstuff; some of the IDP’s don’t have proper clothing because almost their houses and personal belongings were burnt down to ashes. IDP’s start wondering about in search for safety and survival and in this process they go through hard times. The experience is unimaginably inexplicable and their state of mind is in excruciating pain, it’s safe to say they are in an excruciating dilemma. 

Lack of food, Lack of shelter, Lack of guardians and lack of guidance causes an unsure state; they are left to choose between right and wrong and most of them turn to violence while others join the insurgents themselves.

That excruciating dilemma causes all sorts of suicidal thoughts because as we know man is a slave to his emotions and it is only human to be sad when things refuse to go your way.

That feeling of being forsaken by God kicks in and you assume maybe this world is not fair and just. Suicide becomes the order of the day because you feel death is a better feeling than life, while who don’t have the heart to commit suicide turn to violence and other illegal activities.

 

 

Emmanuel Haruna Dlakwa (Consultant Bukar Mandara Foundation).

Twitter:@ehddyyung

Facebook:Emmanuel Haruna Dlakwa

Day 58: My National Conference Exploits (Devolution of Power)

Monday 14th July 2014 

Conference resumed sitting at 09:18m, presided over by the chairman. 

Votes and processings of the previous day was read, amended and adopted as amended.

The deputy chairman called on a delegate Mr. John Dara who had sent a note to speak, to name the two states proposed for creation from the southwest and south-south  (remember I told you that 2 of the states out of the 18 ridiculous states proposed to be created were not named?). Check day 53 of my exploits if you haven't read it already. Dara mentioned that one for the south south will be called Oil River state and that of the South West - Ode state.

I informed you that the chairman called for a meeting of the 50 wise men, chairpersons, co-chairpersons and deputy chairpersons of committees on yesterday's post,  right? The Chairman on Thursday called the meeting due to the lack of consensus on the matter as the special committee that assigned itself to find a solution could not come up with one. So the Chairman called on the wise men and chairpersons who had, in the past found wise solutions to both our unwise and wise problems. The meeting was scheduled for Friday but due to a lack of quorum, the meeting did not hold.

So on Monday - 14th July 2014, the Chairman of the conference announced that he will meet with the Wise men and the chairpersons and deputy chairpersons and co chairpersons today.

The conference took a short break while the meeting went on.

As a deputy chairperson of one of the committees, I was part of the meeting and I would say it was an eye opener; oh my days! 

We had a long and heated debate over the matter. Some even lied over issues; grown men lie too? That shouldn't be strange, should it? 

Some however made brilliant recommendations, they earned my respect.

Anyway the meeting actually came up with the following resolution: 

Having critically examined the issues in contention, Conference recognizes the need to:

a)    Review the percentage of revenue to states producing oil (and other resources)

b)   Reconstruct and rehabilitate areas affected by crisis of insurgency and internal conflicts; and

c)    Diversify the Nigerian economy by fast tracking the development of the solid minerals sector;

The Conference also noted that assigning percentages for the increase in derivation principle, and setting up Special Intervention Funds to address issues of reconstruction and rehabilitation of areas ravaged by insurgency and internal conflicts as well as Solid Minerals development, require some technical details and considerations.

Conference therefore recommends that Government should set up a Technical Committee to determine the appropriate percentages on the three issues and advise government accordingly.

The report of the Committee on Devolution of Power, after adopting the above recommendations which substituted all recommendations relating to Revenue Sharing, Derivation Principle, Solid Minerals Development Fund and the proposed National Intervention Fund, was adopted as amended.

The chairman then announced that following the adoption of the last Report of the conference, plenary would be adjourned till 4th August 2014 when delegates would resume for the consideration of the Draft Report of the conference. 

We then adjourned at 3:09pm to resume on Monday 4th August 2014 at 9am. 

Eventually Though, the date of resumption  was extended till 11th August 2014.

See you then...

On Twitter: @Yadomah...

Day 57: My National Conference Exploits (Devolution of Power)

Thursday 10th  July 2014 

Conference resumed sitting at 09:20am.

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

Motion of Urgent National Importance:

A delegate moved a motion, drawing the attention of the conference to the death of Barr. Bamidele Aturu, a Human Right activist. He urged the conference to observe a minute's silence in honour of the deceased and also commiserate with his family.

The Chairman ruled against the former prayer as the deceased was not a delegate to the conference, but approved the latter prayer to send a letter of condolence to the family of the deceased.

Another delegate also informed the conference that Delegate Dr Abdu Bulama has been sworn in as a Minister of the  Federal Republic of Nigeria. He urged the conference to congratulate the newly sworn in minster. The Chairman ruled that conference will congratulate the delegate when official communication is received by conference.

The Deputy Chairman informed the conference that the members of the group finding reconciliation over the matter of derivation are yet to iron out the grey areas of the report read by Professor Gambari Yesterday - You can find the detail of the report on my last post. Conference then gave the consensus group an hour to go and iron out and reconcile the grey areas while the conference adjourned temporally at 10:30 to resume at 11:30.

However, a debate was opened on the floor of the house on the issue.

Some said they are unaware of the existence of 

any group  like the special committee, because it is not one of the standing committees of the conference; it is rather a  self-appointed committee and will not represent the views of the larger house. 

Others said the Conference had agreed from the onset that only the recommendations of the Standing Committees would be thrown up for approval or rejection. Anything other than that is not going to be acceptable to most.

Another said since the leadership have already made provision for ballot boxes "we will not on this matter agree to a voice vote". We must vote! 

The chairman of the conference rebuked all the agitations and explained that, this is not the first time such groups would be intervening in contentious matters.

So we took the hour break while we waited for the  consensus group to come up with their report. 

On resumption at 11:30, the Consensus Group was yet to come up with any resolution on the issue of derivation, so the conference resolved to adopt proposed amendments and additional recommendations  to the report of the Committee on Devolution of Powers, leaving out those amendments bordering on Derivation Principle and Revenue Sharing Formula until the Consensus Group come with their report.

Some of the recommendations made by the committee and additional recommendations adopted included:

- Granting public holidays should be moved from the Exclusive to the Concurrent Legislative List. This would give states the latitude to declare holidays reflective of the values of their own people.

- Management of prison services be retained in the Exclusive Legislative List as specified in the 1999 Constitution. The same was done to fishing and fisheries other than those in rivers, lakes, waterways, ponds and other inland waters within Nigeria.

- Insurance, stamp duties and formation, annulment and dissolution of marriages other than marriages under Islamic Law and Customary Law including matrimonial causes were also retained in the Exclusive legislative list.

Moved from Concurrent to the Exclusive Legislative List included:

- The first item on the Concurrent Legislative List which deals with allocation of revenue and division of public revenue between states and federation, between states and states and between states and local governments.

-The merger of Items 6, 15, and 24 which all relate to banks, banking, exchange control, bills of exchange, currency, coinage, legal tender and promissory notes, was also approved and adopted for placement in the Exclusive Legislative List.

- Taxation of income, profits and capital gains; trade and commerce were left in the Exclusive legislative list while other aspects of Trade and Commerce particularly, registration of business was moved to the Concurrent List.

- The Committee also recommended that regulations of political parties be retained in the Exclusive Legislative List as specified in the 1999 Constitution as amended. Pensions, gratuities and other-like benefits payable out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund or any other public funds of the federation are to be split between the Exclusive and Concurrent Legislative Lists.

- Retirees previously employed by the Federal Government are entitled to payment of their benefits by the Federal Government while state governments shall have exclusive jurisdiction over the pension matters of their own employees and retirees.

- Retention of Traffic on Federal Trunk roads in the Exclusive Legislative List as specified in the 1999 constitution.

- Granting public holidays should be moved from the Exclusive to the Concurrent Legislative List. This would give states the latitude to declare holidays reflective of the values of their own people.

- Management of prison services be retained in the Exclusive Legislative List as specified in the 1999 Constitution. The same was done to fishing and fisheries other than those in rivers, lakes, waterways, ponds and other inland waters within Nigeria.

- Insurance, stamp duties and formation, annulment and dissolution of marriages other than marriages under Islamic Law and Customary Law including matrimonial causes were also retained in the Exclusive legislative list.

Moved from Concurrent to the Exclusive Legislative List are:

- The first item on the Concurrent Legislative List which deals with allocation of revenue and division of public revenue between states and federation, between states and states and between states and local governments.

-The merger of Items 6, 15, and 24 which all relate to banks, banking, exchange control, bills of exchange, currency, coinage, legal tender and promissory notes, was also approved and adopted for placement in the Exclusive Legislative List.

- Taxation of income, profits and capital gains; trade and commerce was left in the Exclusive legislative list while other aspects of Trade and Commerce particularly, registration of business was moved to the Concurrent List.

- The Committee also recommended that regulations of political parties be retained in the Exclusive Legislative List as specified in the 1999 Constitution as amended. Pensions, gratuities and other-like benefits payable out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund or any other public funds of the federation are to be split between the Exclusive and Concurrent Legislative Lists.

- Retirees previously employed by the Federal Government are entitled to payment of their benefits by the Federal Government while state governments shall have exclusive jurisdiction over the pension matters of their own employees and retirees.

- Retention of Traffic on Federal Trunk Roads in the Exclusive Legislative List as specified in the 1999 constitution.

Well finally members of the special committee comprising of leaders of the six geopolitical zones appeared and  a members of the special committee, Chief Raymond Dokpesi brought the report of the special committee to the Deputy Chairman of the conferene. 

A memeber of the special committee, Alhaji Ibrahim Coomasie, immediately stood up and informed the chairman that he was involved in the discussions of the committee and up to this evening they have not reached an agreement and therefore "any report submitted to you is null and void,” he announced.

Chief Olu Falae stood up to read the report submitted to the management by Chief Raymond Dokpesi which was termed null and void by Alhaji Commasie amidst boos and shouts by a number  of delegates who do not even want to listen to the report.

Falae said the committee came with the following resolution: 

- Principle of derivation shall be constantly reflected in any approved formula as being not less than 18% of the revenue accruing to the Federation Account directly from any natural resources.

- Not less than 50% of the total derivation fund accruable to a mineral bearing state shall be due and payable to the host communities within the state where the resources are derived in accordance with the production quota contributed by such communities.

- There shall be established a Solid Mineral Development Fund which is currently 3% but which would be increased to 5% of the revenue accruing to the Federation Account.

- A National Intervention Fund which would be 5% of annual revenue accruing to the account of the Federal Government for the stabilization, rehabilitation and reconstruction of areas affected by terrorism and insurgency, starting with the North east, and then any other part of the country affected.

Faced with obvious rowdiness from a cross-section of the delegates who variously disagreed with the presentations by both Coomasie and Falae; and applause from another section that seemed to also variously agree with the two presentations. 

Since obviously the special committee was unable to come up with an agreeable resolution the chairman, after a brief consultation with the principal officers, announced that the leadership of the Conference would meet with selected delegates referred to as the 50 Wise Men, co- chairmen, chairmen and deputy chairmen of the twenty committees of the conference at 11 am on Friday, 11th July 2014 for further consultation on the matter relating to Revenue Allocation which was deferred till Monday. 

We adjourned early that day at 2:15 pm, to resume on Monday 14th July 2014 at 9:00am. 

On Twitter: @Yadomah 

Day 56: My National Conference Exploits (Devolution of Power)

Wednesday, 9th July 2014.....

Conference resumed sitting at 9:24 am after saying the national prayer.

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

The early hours of the day was devoted for discussing the modalities for implementation of conference report. Most delegates were of the opinion that the report of the conference should be categorized into three; 

- The policy issues - which need immediate implementation,

- The legislative and 

- Constitutional. 

Some suggested the need for a referendum, others argued that the constitution does not recognize a referendum. 

Some delegates and I suggested the need for uploading the report of the conference online so Nigerians could have access to the report of the conference online. 

After the recommendation was made by a delegate another said; what's the point uploading it on internet - Internet people will cut it and misquote it.

Someone even went as far as saying are we worshiping the internet? Why must we put it online? 

When I stood up to make my speech I reaffirmed the need for uploading the reports of the conference on the internet.

Also I told them no recommendation is more equal than the other but some recommendations are more equal than the other especially that of - National Security.

They should make it top on the priority of implementation.

Finally on that day, conference took decision on the Land Use Act - I was a member of the special committee that was tasked with the mandate of coming up with a consensus that will be approved and accepted by the majority.

It was a month of side meeting and negotiation and getting resource persons to discuss on the issue. 

Finally we brought these findings and resolution to the floor and the house accepted it.

Most of the resource persons we invited even those that want the act  removed from the constitution don't want it removed completely.

While does that from the onset don't want act removed argued that;

 

Allowing the Act to go would give chance for oligarchs to take over lands which the Land Use Act has democratized with the government as the intervening body. Since land is not a renewable commodity, it must not be left at the mercy of land speculators; and that removing it from the constitution would be discriminatory and unjust to the poor.

 

Removing the Act from the constitution again they argued would  create dichotomy; describing the suggestion as a grand design for the rich to buy land at cheap prices, a situation that would lead to crisis that cannot be managed.

The resource person that argued for its removal however argued that. 

 

The Land Use Act should remain a law but must be removed from the constitution to make it easy for amendment.

 

They argued that at present, amending the Act through the constitution has become too cumbersome. 

 

They complained that government have taken peoples land and have refused to pay compensation; and that since the promulgation of the Act, access to land has remained a major problem, thus hindering economic development.

 

They also stated that the power of compulsory acquisition vested on state governors has been, in most cases, used arbitrarily without the payment of adequate compensation to land owners.

 

The committee noted that both sides of the argument were convincing; but those that want it removed actually don't want it removed completely. And their main argument was the issue of amendment, and those that don't want it removed however have no objection to amendment of the act. If the act is not removed completely from the constitution then it will still be cumbersome to amend, so we decided to suggest some amendments to the act, to take care of the difficulties it pose. That made the committee come up with the following amendments. Which was adopted by the conference; 

The Act would be retained in the constitution while certain amendments would be carried out in certain sections of the Act.

 

Enable land owners to determine the price and value of their land. Government to negotiate with land owners and not compensate them.

 

 Customary right of occupancy in Section 21 of the Act be amended to read “Customary Right of Occupancy should have the same status as statutory Right of Occupancy, and should also be extended to urban land”.

 

Section 7 of the Act which deals with the restriction on rights of persons under the age of 21 to be granted statutory right of occupancy should be amended to read “restriction of persons under the age of 18”. This, it was argued, is because the Child Rights Act stipulates that a person attains adulthood at the age of 18.

 

With the decision on the issue of the Land Use Act, the report of the Committee on Land Tenure Matters and National Boundary was formally adopted, as amended.

Yesterday I informed you that conference deferred voting of recommendations due to the appeal made by General Ike Nwachukwu and Hon Mohammed Kumalia in view of the consensus ongoing by a special committee comprising of leaders of geopolitical zones and delegates from the different zones, on the matter of derivation.

 

The Committee on Devolution of Power had in its report recommended that due to the sharp division created during discussions on the issue and based on the capacity of such division to destabilize the Conference and even the nation, the status quo (13%) be maintained.

 

This it said was to avoid upsetting “the existing peace and equilibrium in the polity,” which it described as a product of years of political engineering and craftsmanship by the founding fathers of the Nigerian nation.

 

However, tempers started rising during the debate on the report some delegates insisted on increase between 25% and 50%, other said nothing more than the position of the Committee on Devolution of Power would be acceptable.

 

Egos were massaged... 

The special committee that appealed yesterday came with their resolutions; Professor Ibrahim Gambari presented the report of the special committee.

He announced the committee has resolved that; 

- Derivation fund be increased from 13% to 18%;

-He also announced a 5% federal revenue allocation for solid mineral development - Which is part if the report of the committee.

- And another 5% for Stabilisation, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction of affected places in North East, North West and North Central.

 

He said the decision was reached after two straight days and several hours of meeting and negotiation between all the interest groups which extended beyond the leadership of the six geo-political zones.

 

"The decision of the group was guided by the belief that there would be no winners and there would be no losers; and that the only winner would be the Nigerian nation".

 

“We have reached agreement whereby no one will be completely unhappy,”.

 

As soon as Professor Gambari ended his presentation, murmurs and point of orders followed, many hands went up for re-opening of debate on the issue. Some delegates applauded the decision of the special committee.

 

Conference Deputy Chairman, after consultation with the Conference Chairman, announced that voting on the recommendations of the Committee on Devolution of Power would hold the following day- Thursday during which a decision would also be taken on the  Report of the special committee read by Prof Gambari.

We then adjourned at 2:55 pm to resume the following day at 9am.

 

On Twitter:@Yadomah...

Day 55: My National Conference Exploits (Devolution of Power)

Tuesday, 8th July 2014...

Conference resumed sitting at 09:10am, presided over by the chairman.

Votes and proceedings of Monday 7th July were read, amended and adopted as amended.

Conference concluded deliberation on the committee on devolution of power. 

Normally after the deliberation the principal officers take 15 minutes break and come back for the adoption of recommendations. On that day, on their return to take their seat, delegates rose on their feet to applaud them. The chairman was bewildered, surprise was written all over his face - he thanked delegates for the encouragement and support.

It was time for the deputy chairman to take over and begin reading recommendations for adoption; 

Delegate General Ike Nwachukwu (Rtd) appealed to the chairman of the conference to grant leaders of the six (6) geo-political zones time to conclude an ongoing consensus building among delegates on derivation principle. This appeal was seconded by Hon. Mohammed Umara Kumalia. 

The Chairman approved the appeal and consequently differed voting on the proposed amendments and additional recommendations to the report of the committee on devolution of power till the following day.

We adjourned at 12:57 that day - because of the appeal to resume at 9:00am the following day. 

On Twitter: @Yadomah

Day 54: My National Conference Exploits (Devolution of Power)..

Monday, 7th July 2014

Conference resumed sitting at 09:28 am.

Votes and proceedings of Thursday 3rd July 2014 were read, amended and adopted as amended.

The last committee (Committee on Devolution of Power presented their report. The co-chairmen of the committee - Obong Victor Attah and Alhaji Ibrahim Commasie, IGP (rtd), presented the report of the committee to the conference. 

The report of the committee focused principally on devolving power from the centre to the federating units; and the issue of resources.

Critically examined in the report, were the issues of resource control, derivation principle, revenue sharing and the development and exploitation of mineral resources nationwide.

The report also examined 68 items cited in the Second Schedule, Part One of the 1999 Constitution which deal with the Exclusive Legislative List; and 30 items contained in Part Two of the Fourth Schedule that deal with the Concurrent Legislative List.

Most delegates from the South, particularly, the South South and South East said derivation should be increased from the present 13 percent to between 21.5 and 50 per cent, others suggested that  it should be reduced further from where it is now.

Resource control was the most debated aspect of the report.

Those who canvassed the view that states should control their resources said they did so in the spirit of devolution of power which allows the states to only pay or make appropriate financial contributions to the Federal Government.

Others argued that mineral resources in Nigeria are owned in law by the Federal Government as contained in Section 44(3) of the 1999 Constitution, as amended.

Section 44(3) states that: “Not withstanding the foregoing provisions of this section, the entire property in and control of all minerals, mineral oil and natural gas in, under or upon any land in Nigeria or in, under or upon the territorial waters and the Exclusive Economic Zone of Nigeria shall vest in the Government of the Federation and shall be managed in such manner as may be prescribed by the National Assembly.”

In its report, which is still subject to ratification by the Conference, the Committee said that after prolonged heated discussion on resource control, it unanimously agreed that the issue of derivation should rather be discussed instead of resource control.

It said its decision was informed by the emotive nature of the issue, which in the Committee’s view was capable of destabilizing the country.

On derivation, the Committee said some delegates were of the view that derivation should be increased either in a quantum or gradual manner; while others were opposed to any form of increase.

Instead, it said some members had proposed the reintroduction of the off-shore/on-shore dichotomy in derivation payments; at the same time, others stood against it.

It reported that even the abolition of intervention measures such as the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, Niger Delta Development Commission and the Amnesty Programme if the derivation formula will be increased were robustly discussed.

After long debates which spanned four days on the issue, the report indicated that a consensus was reached on the issue to the effect that the status quo be maintained in order to avoid upsetting the existing peace and equilibrium in the polity which it described as a product of years of political engineering and craftsmanship.

On fiscal federalism which basically deals with how revenues are generated and distributed among the federating units in the federation, the Committee concluded that the powers conferred on the Federal Government to keep custody of and determine the terms and manner of fund allocation from the Federation Account negate the principles of fiscal federalism.

The Committee highlighted what it called imbalance in favour of the Federal Government in the sharing formula and maintained that the imbalance has adversely affected the performance of the federating units. It therefore asked for a review.

It recommended that the powers of the Federal Government under Section 162(3) of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, to prescribe the terms and manner of sharing national revenue should be exercised through the Revenue Mobilization, Allocation and Fiscal Commission.

The Committee said RMAFC shall at the same time consult the federal and state governments before presenting a draft Bill on the matter to the National Assembly for enactment into law.

On vertical revenue sharing, which deals with how revenue is disbursed to federating units, the Committee emphasized the need for equilibrium between the central government and the federating units comprising states and local government.

It carried out examination of specific development challenges of states and local governments and concluded that to a great extent, rapid economic and social development could be achieved in the country if the percentage of revenues allocated to states and local governments were reviewed upwards.

The committee recommended that the sharing formula for funds accruing to the Federation Account among the three tiers of government should be: Federal Government 42.5% instead of the present 52.68%; State Government 35% instead of the current 26.72%; and the Local Government 22.5% to replace the current 20.60%.

The committee further recommended that the percentage given to population and equity of states in the existing sharing formula be reduced while that assigned to social development factor should be increased to a higher percentage to ensure accelerated development of all parts of the country. 

The proposed sharing formula by the committee is based on: diminished emphasis on principles of equality of states and population; increased emphasis on social development factor; and internally generated revenue.

On Mines and Minerals including oil fields, oil mining, geological surveys and natural gas, the committee recommends that they should be retained on the Exclusive Legislative List as specified in the 1999 Constitution but should be amended to read thus:

“The governments of states where the mining activities take place shall be involved in matters relating thereto; (and that) the government of the federation shall create a special fund to develope mines and minerals in states where such resources are undeveloped”

According to the committee, the overriding need to bring all other mineral resources of the country, hitherto undeveloped, into the mainstream development by activating National Strategic Plan for exploitation of minerals to boost their contribution to Gross Domestic Product(GDP), were considered in making this recommendation. 

Still on mineral development, the Committee recommends a constitutional provision for the establishment of a Special Fund for the development of mineral resources in the country.

It further proposed that 4.5% of the total revenue accruing to the federation should be devoted to this special fund when established.

In addition, the Committee wants the Special Fund to be in the form of a Venture Capital Fund and that a competent body should be established to administer the Fund according to the guidelines that shall be specified by the National Assembly.

Delegates deliberated extensively on these recommendations made by the committee, especially that of derivation formula. Further deliberation and voting on the proposed amendments and additional recommendation to the report were deferred till the following day.

We adjourned at 3:43pm to resume the following day at 9:00am.

On Twitter: @Yadomah

Day 53: My National Conference Exploits (Political Restructuring and Forms of Governance)

Thursday, 3rd July 2014....

Conference resumed sitting at 09:14am, we said the opening prayer and kick started the day. 

The Chairman presided over the morning session. 

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

On that day debate continued on the report of the Committee on Political Restructuring and Forms of Government and was concluded that same day.

During the afternoon session presided over by the deputy chair, recommendations  made by the committee and additional recommendations from the floor were put to vote by the deputy chairman and the verdict of the vote was given by the chairman - this procedure started since we began deliberation on the reports of the critical and controversial committees. 

Some of the recommendations made by committee and additional recommendations made by delegates were:

- Henceforth, the office of the President of Nigeria shall rotate between the North and South and revolve among the geo-political zones.

- Office of state governors shall be rotated among the three senatorial districts of each state while that of the local government chairmen shall be rotated within the local government areas.

- Local government councils not democratically elected shall not be recognized by all authorities and persons and would not be entitled to any revenue allocation from the Federation Account or the Account of the State Government or exercise any function exercisable by local government councils.

- Where the President dies in office, is incapacitated, impeached or where he resigns, It was agreed that the Vice President shall operate in acting capacity for a period of 90 days, after which an election to the same office would be conducted.

Reason: Each zone is expected to run the full course of the constitutionally allowed tenure without undue disruption.

- Based on the adopted zoning formula, when a president leaves under any of the circumstances stated above, another president would be elected from the same zone where the previous one came from.

My major problem with zoning as a whole in Nigeria, is that one day we will be forced to elect a person just because he is from a particular zone not based on competence.

But we have to protect everyone's interest; right? 

- Modified Presidential System of Government; described as home-made model of government that combines the attributes of Parliamentary and Presidential systems was adopted. 

Reason: The concept is believed to have the potentials of entrenching the principle of Separation of Powers as practiced in the presidential system and promotion of co-operation and harmony between executive and the legislature as operated under the parliamentary system.

- The President elected under the new system shall exercise full responsibility for his government and shall select ministers, not more than 18 of them, from the six geo-political zones of the country.

 

-Henceforth, The Minister of Finance and no longer the President as presently obtained, that  would present the annual budget to the National Assembly. Under the new arrangement, both the President and the ministers would be expected to appear before the National Assembly to render account of their stewardship on a quarterly basis.

- Delegates  voted to retain the bicameral legislative system instead of the unicameral system proposed by the Committee.

- Delegates approved the scrapping of Joint State and Local Government Accounts; it is to be replaced with a State Revenue Mobilization, Allocation and Fiscal Commission. The body would be expected to have as members, representatives of local government areas and a chairman nominated by the state governor for confirmation by the state House of Assembly.

In addition to the functions conferred on the local government councils as specified in the Fourth Schedule of the 1999 Constitution as amended, a State House of Assembly may by law, confer other functions on the local government. 

- Financial autonomy to be conferred on State Houses of Assembly as a way of freeing them from direct control by the Executive.

- There shall be quarterly question time for the President and for ministers at the legislature to enhance accountability and transparency. 

- Constitution shall fix the tenures for local government councils.

- Local government should be politically and economically independent.

- Each state of the federation could have its own constitution which would be subservient to the Federal Constitution.

 -  Delegates adopted a proposal that Nigeria reverts to her old National Anthem, “which is a more credible symbol of unity, peace and prosperity.”

Instantly, delegates - the old ones and the middle aged ones, were up on their feet and in unison sang the first stanza of the old National Anthem - As for us, the younger people, we sat and watched them sing.

- The Federal Government was urged to set up a new commission to address the plight of indigenes of the Federal Capital Territory and the Local Content Act Provision should be extended to the original citizens of the Federal Capital as it relates to procurement within the territory.

- 13% of the entire revenue generated from the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) should be remitted to states whose lands were acquired for the FCT, to support them in handling the burden of population pressure on resource and infrastructure.

- Dividends for maintaining the host communities that were displaced for paltry compensation should be introduced. 

- There shall be revenue sharing formula established by law in every state. 

- Referendum/Plebiscite shall be provided for by law.

- The official entourage of political office holders should be curtailed by 80%.

- The official vehicles of political office holders should be made in or assembled in Nigeria.

- State ad hoc electoral councils shall be expanded to include women and youth representatives. 

- As a way of improving the wellbeing of Nigerians, Conference called for adoption of fiscal federalism.

- Attempts by some delegates to increase the number of senators from the Federal Capital Territory from one to two was opposed and voted out.

- Constitution should be amended to allow for less onerous process for state creation - the hustle for state creation is real o! 

- On the creation of new states, Conference said such aspiration must be backed by the potential 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, must have cultural and historical antecedent, with strong cultural affinity amongst its population while the components should be contiguous.

- For any new state to be created such a new state must have a minimum population of one million persons - Given the absurdity of the demand for new states, when all of us are aware that the present states are largely unviable, why not just have 170 million states for the 170 million Nigerians? At least that might help underline the absurdity of the largely opportunistically driven, elite demand for ever newer number of states! (my opinion). 

-  Conference approved the creation of 18 more states especially one additional state for the South East zone, “in the spirit of reconciliation, equity and justice.”

The 18 states;

- Apa state from the present Benue state 

- Edu state from the present Niger state 

- Kainji state from the present Kebbi state 

- Katagun state from the present Bauchi state.

- Savannah State from the present Borno state.

- Amana state from the present Adamawa state.

- Gurara state from the present Kaduna state.

- Ghari state from the present Kano state.

-Etiti state from the present south east zone.

- Aba state from the present Abia state. 

- Adada state from the present Enugu state. 

- Njaba Anim state from the present Anambara and Imo states.

-  Anioma state from the present Delta state.

- Ogoja state from the present cross river state.

- Ijebu state from the present Ogun state.

- New Oyo state from the present Oyo state.

- That the third state to be created in the south south and south west  zone will be named later along with its state capital.

This I found really absurd and amusing to say the least; well I actually told them in my speech that what we need is a change in the state of affairs in this country and change of state of mind by some Nigerians, especially members of the elite, not more states.

The following day, Hassan Rilwan and myself, Yadoma Bukar Mandara, issued a press release that was published in most of the national dailies which reads:

The Nigeria of our dream is not Nigeria with more states but a Nigeria in good State. It was extremely embarrassing for us as delegates of the National Conference that approved the creation of 18 more states. What is happening in Nigeria? We understand the issues of marginalization in some states; we support innovative ways of solving it. Not creating more problems to solve a problem. Does state creation solve the issues of maginalization? What happens when others feel marginalized within the new states? Are we going to have to create even more states? Except we want to create states out of the over 300 ethnic groups in Nigeria. State creation as a solution is a short cut which is usually our way in Nigeria.

The only reason the elites want more states is to increase ease of access to power.  If that's the case, then rotation along zones would have solved that. What will solve marginalization are responsible leaders who will take special interest in the affairs of the minorities to see that they are adequately catered for. How did the Late Sardauna of blessed memory lead Northern Nigeria as a whole? He did it by making sure all had a sense of belonging which made the late Chief Sunday Awoniyi, a Yoruba and Christian in the North, to respect and remain loyal to him till he died. 

On one hand, we say we want to reduce cost of governance and on another we want to build 18 more government houses, create 18 more recurrent expenditure centres?

We the youth of this country reject the balkanisation of our country and urge our elders to please thread with restrain. Let us not make mistakes that will prove more difficult for our children to solve. Let us think out of the box and factually allow justice and selfless leadership take centre stage in our country.

Enough is Enough!

Though some of them argued that the new state will not need new revenues but the revenue of the old state, I still say I do not subscribe to the creation of more states.  Left to me there will be a merger of states instead since the creation of states has already served it's purpose.

Anyway back to the conference...

The report of the committee on Political Restructuring and Forms of Government was adopted as amended with some prospective governors of the newly recommended states to be created jubilating and grinning from ear to ear - wishes. 

The conference adjourned at 2:48pm to resume on Monday 7th July, 2014 at 09:00am. 

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