National Conference: "Where to Belong"...

Hi Friends, I hope you all are having a smooth weekend? Mine is as rough as anything though.

Well, I just thought I should share with you the thematic areas/committees that all delegates will split into in the coming weeks.

Here are the committees and subcommittees;

NATIONAL CONFERENCE 2014
THEMATIC AREAS

1. COMMITTTEE ON DEVOLUTION OF POWER
-Fiscal federalism
-Revenue sharing
-Resource control
-Sharing formula
-Policing
-Local Government Administration
-Role of traditional rulers and institutions in governance. 

2. COMMITTEE ON POLITICAL RESTRUCTURING AND FORMS OF GOVERNMENT
-Federalism 
-Regionalism
-State Creation
-Geopolitical zones
-Forms and Content of Government
Presidential
Parliamentary
-Legislature
Bicameral
Unicameral legislature
(Part-time/Full-time)

3. COMMITTEE ON NATIONAL SECURITY
-Armed Forces
Civilian oversight of the security sector
Review of the Armed Forces Act
-Reform of the Nigerian Customs
-Road Safety Corps
-Terrorism/Counter-Terrorism
-Armed Robbery
-Kidnapping
-Small Arms Proliferation
-Communal Violence
-Election Violence
-Illegal oil theft and smuggling
-Sea Piracy
-Organized/Trans - National Crime
Money Laundering
Human Trafficking
Drug Trafficking
Terrorism Financing
-Cyber Crime


4. COMMITTEE ON ENVRIRONMENT
-Meteorology and climate change
-Illegal Mining Activities
-Pollution
-Gas Flaring
-Protection of Biodiversity
-Afforestation and Reforestation
-Flooding/Gully Erosion
-Environmental Degradation
Oil Spillage and Desertification
-Drought
-Waste management/Disposal
Hazardous/toxic Waste
-Bush Burning
-Natural Disaster

5. COMMITTEE ON POLITICS AND GOVERNANCE
-Immunity clause
-Good Governance and democratization
Deepening democracy, democratic culture and orientation
Mechanism for a more inclusive participatory democracy
National Ethics
-Minority rights/ethnic nationalities
-Corruption
Anti Corruption Agencies
Corruption and National Development
-Constitutional Amendment
-Freedom of information

6. COMMITTEE ON LAW, JUDICIARY, HUMAN RIGHT AND LEGAL REFORM
-Law and order
-Judiciary
Immunity of judicial officers
Review of judicial institutions
Increase in the number of supreme court justices
Increase in the number of divisions of the court of appeal
Technology in administration of justice
Professional development of judicial officers
-Sharia and customary legal systems
-Delays in administration of justice
-Independence of the judiciary
Funding of the judiciary
Appointing of judicial officers
-Access to justice
-Alternative justice - ADR, Mediation, Conciliation etc
-Specialised Court/ tribunals
-Condition of service of judicial officers


-Prison Reforms
Rehabilitation
Reformation
Reintegration
Sentencing and Death penalty
-Justiciability of the fundamental objectives and directive principles of state policy; 
Chapter 2 of the constitution
-Jurisdiction of industrial court

7. COMMITTEE ON SOCIAL WELFARE
-Health 
Universal Health Care Coverage
Primary Healthcare
Emphasis on Preventive Health.
-Education
Restructuring of curricullum
Investment in Education
National education policy
Return of missionary and private schools to original owners
Nomadic education
Institutionalizing Almajiri education system
-Housing
Affordable Housing
-Social Security
Rights of Senior citizens
Unemployed Nigerians
Pension and Gratuity
-Gender
Status of married women
State of Origin
State of Marriage
Afirmative Action
Political Participation
Discrimination
Childs Rights Law
Childs right Law implementation
Disability rights/Welfare

8.COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION
-Roads
-Railway
-Aviation
-Maritime
-National Inland Water Ways
-Shipping and Shipment

9. COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND DEVELOPMENT
-Information, Communication and Technology
Media/ Social network
-Science and technology education
-Investment in research and development
-Promotion and improvement of indegenious technical innovations
-Space and nuclear regime
-Capacity building and training for scientist
-Medical technology
-Biodiversity
-Fabrication of buildings e.t.c

10. COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE
-Food Security
-Food storage, processing and packaging industries
-Grazing reserves/ ranching and Industrial Cattle feeds
-Water Resources
-National agricultural policy
-Agricultural subsidy
-Mechanized agriculture
-Land acquisition, traditional institutions and agriculture
Irrigation

11. COMMITTEE ON CIVIL SOCIETY AND SPORTS. 
-Capacity building and CSOs
-Youth Empowerment 
-Unemployment
-Minimum Wage
-Trade Unionism and Industrial Action
-National Youth Service Corps
-Investment in sports
-Legal Regime in Sports.

12. COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SERVICE
-Federal Character 
-Civil Service Structure 
-Remuneration of public Officers and Civil servants
-State of the civil service

13. COMMITTEE ON ELECTORAL MATTERS.
- Political parties and electoral process
-Methods of elections
-Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)
-Local government elections
-Regulation of campaign 
-Campaign financing and expenditure ceiling.           
-State Electoral Bodies
-Electoral offences
-Independence and autonomy of Independent National Electoral Commisison. (INEC)
-Delineation of constituencies
-Conduct of free and fair elections
-The role of security agencies in elections 
- Diaspora Voting


14.COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN. POLICY AND DIASPORA MATTERS
-Prisoner Exchange 
-Extradition 
-Promotion of culture and tourism, investment in tourism.
-Cultural exchange 
-Nigeria and International peacekeeping operations
-Review of Technical Aid Corps program
-Promotion of peace, human rights, justice and racial equality within the international system 
-Nigeria-Centric foreign policy -Security and well being of NIgerians at Home and Abroad 
-Afrocentricism 
-Promoting Economic Community of West African States  (ECOWAS)regime 
-Non alignment 
- Economic diplomacy
-Domestication of treaties
-Mutual Legal Assistance 
-Univeral Jurisdiction
-Role/ participation international Orgaization. 

15. COMMITTEE ON LAND TENURE MATTERS AND NATIONAL BOUNDARY
-Review of the land use act
-Traditional land holding rights
-Establishment and manning of boundaries
-Adjustment of boundaries

16. COMMITTEE ON TRDE AND INVESTMENT
-Patent, copyright, trademarks, trade or business name, industrial designs and merchandize marks
-Bio-piracy and traditional knowledge
-Foreign direct investments
-Export processing zone
Industries
-Protectionism and quality control
-Oil and other mineral resources exploration and management.
-Trade agreement
-Bilateral/ multilateral

17.  ENERGY:
-Solar Energy
-Nuclear Energy 
-Wind Energy
-Hydro Energy
-Thermal Energy

18.   RELIGION
-State and Religion
-Sponsorship and Public Funding of Pilgrimage
-Restoring National Ethics, Culture, Morals and Core Values.

19. COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC FINANCE AND REVENUE GENERATION
-Domestic and external debt
-Tax Administration
-Tax contribution
-Internally generated revenue
-Externally generated Revenue
-Regulation of external borrowing by states and local government

20. COMMITTTEE ON IMMIGRATION
-Movement of goods, person and services
-Citizenship and nationality
-Integrated national database
-Immigration and internal security
-Dual Citizenship of Nigerians in Diaspora
Residency
-Indigeneity and residency (indigene/settlers dichotomy)
-Refugee and Asylum
-Census
-Border patrol


How would the delegates split into these various committees right?

Here is your answer: each delegate is to select three (3) committees of interest and of the three(3) selected, the secretariat would push you to one that best fits your profile. How would the secretariat do that you may ask right? Well, we were given forms to fill our professional and personal informations so it could serve as a guide.

Well I selected 

1.Committee on Environment
2.Committee on Politics and Governance
3.Committee on Social Welfare

I don't know to which I will be thrown into but the good news is that irrespective of the committee one belong, one can push his/her submissions to any commiittee of interests.

So if you have any contribution(s) to make on any, you can mail me on: Engageyadomah@gmail.com

Thank you......

On Twitter:@Yadomah

Day 10: My National Conference Exploits...

Yesterday (Thursday, 3rd April 2014) was just like any other day.

We started by saying the opening prayer. Proceedings of the previous day were checked, corrected and adopted. After that we took the journey for 3 minutes speech

And here are what some of your delegates said. They so much love to be called ‘Distinguish’ that they queried the Chairman for calling them delegates, so I might be in great trouble if one of them read my Blog where I often address them as 'delegates'. But you have my back, don't you?

A ‘Distinguish delegate’ said "You know why Nigeria is this backward? because our civil service has failed. We profess that countries like Singapore are now ahead of us, I will tell you why, they made sure only the best get into their civil service. Malaysia focused on science, technology and Engineering. We can do same".

Another delegate said "the speech of the president surpasses that of Martin Luther King Jnr. Obama is no match o....

"We need to empower and educate our youths. We need to get our Youths jobs, we can't allow them die fighting to get jobs"

"If I divorce my wife for 20, 30 years and you snatch and marry her and then you couldn’t control her, you should return her to me not blame me for not being able to control her. Those that are blaming the military for the woes of this country should return her to us" an Army delegate asserted.

"The speech by Mr Presidents is just another speech by a president, I am one of the critics of this conference and that's why when my name was submitted, it was removed but I somehow got here. Even children unborn know the problem of Nigeria, because the nourishment they get during pregnancy has changed now. We know the problem of Nigeria, we don't need to spend public funds, our problem will be solved when we have one man one vote - good electoral system when the vote of an individual counts".

"Nobody will remember what we say here in few years but what we do by addressing the key concerns of Nigerians".

"Some of them here talk like they are very religious while they throw weekend parties, buy private jets yet come here and talk about ethnicity, religious divide among other things"

Delegate representing Muslim Group said "Religious representatives should come together and discuss to end the difficulties that we are facing; it's not only based on religion that we clash. We agree pilgrimage sponsorship should be stopped, both to mecca and Jerusalem and if our Christian brother want biblical laws inserted into the constitution, why not? We have no problem with that"

“Representatives of people with disability protested about calling them people with special challenges. He also lamented that, the more violence happen, the more they increase in number”..

"Some of the people that were part of the problem in the 60's and 70's still come here and blame the government. Why are we like that"?

"As we disagree, which we must, we would split to various committees soon, but we should please disagree with decorum"

Well, we went for lunch break by 2pm, after lunch I saw a group of men, one military and the others in their suits staring at me, they were actually staring at my tag, I was wondering what are they up to…then I overheard them saying "Kai!! Wai wannan da tag? sai dai na mamanta ko?" meaning I am probably wearing my mothers tag. I haf tire.

After lunch we continued the 3 minutes speech journey......

The first speaker started with us "For the young ones here that want to outcast the over 65 men, you should know that the elders can see what you can't see"

"We need an education task fund in this country. As a young person, I have created job for my friends and myself, if I can do it, other youths can do it, we need mentorship and entrepreneurship skills aquisation centers in this country. Said a youth.

"The situation in the Northeast is very pathetic, market squares, churches and mosques have been burnt, and we find it difficult going home -  there is poverty, jobless-ness, and illiteracy in the lands. These boys that terrorize us are between the age of 14, 16 & 25, the FG should create jobs. Imagine the president given N3billion to Movie Industry - Nollywood, just when hundreds die in cold blood.”

"We want a total overhaul of our economy; we only have a filling station economy. We need to major in the agric sector as well"

"Nigeria is the only country that doesn't have a transport bank. We should explore that’.

"When will you children get to positions if you don't retire and leave the position you are? Some of the youths too are unemployable. I once told a girl to write me a list and I was calling out the names she should write, when I said Nasir she told me "I can't write Hausa names – how poor can our National Integration be?"

"Most of the ex-convicts are here after eating our money, they still come here and talk. Irony!"

"The major problem with this country is, we the politician don’t give up when we lose election"

"It is Bakasi yesterday, boko haram today, who knows what next?"

"The president didn't include eduction in his speech yet the major problem we have in this country is in our Educational system. Almajiri school is a way of depriving the children of the poor and subjigating them to perpetual poverty - upgrade the Almajiri students to normal schools"

"Let's give this system of governance 15 more years" said an old man oops a delegate.

"Before, we don’t admonish people because they have money but people that love the masses and are making positive impacts, but today if you have money that is it",

"I am still in my 50's and my fathers and grand fathers are still in office so you the young ones should cooperate with us" said a distinguished delegate.

Another delegate said "It's funny, I know the presidents’ speech was probably written by his admin assistant, yet people are praising it"?

"When I was coming to this conference, I don't know if it is a constitutional conference or what exactly. The president has sent a message to the house of assembly to accept the resolutions made here, well this is a good one"

"The young ones here know that if they praise the government, they will get ministerial and other appointments. It is not good the way we are going about this, we must tell the truth. Please let us display morals, let us not be drum beaters and point to him -president where he is wrong" said a distinguish.

Well, there was a deliberation on the food that was served during lunchtime, someone moved the motion that the food doesn't go round, so the secretariat should take note’.

LOL! ‘Some shut him down saying very soon the papers will carry "delegates fighting for food"

"We are not here to eat food please"

A delegate read out order three (3)(a) of the  rules of procedure of the conference and it reads; " No Delegate shall miss sittings without prior authorization, then he added "But Mr Chairman I noticed most of the people especially from the other wing are absent, probably because they have finished their speech or they just decided not to attend sittings, we are here to listen and understand each other Mr Chairman this has to be checked".

Some minutes after 6pm, motion was moved for the adjournment of sitting till Monday. Why Monday right? Sittings are normally from Monday to Thursday, 10am - 6pm. Friday according to our procedure was set aside for administrative works.

Well, we stopped at "I" the 3 minute journey is not yet over.

See you on Monday.

On Twitter: @Yadomah

Day 9: My National Conference Exploits...

Yesterday (2nd April 2014). Well, I won't say it went well or not, because I was so disappointed and disgusted by the utterances of some born again, saints that milk our nation dry. 

At a point I couldn't even keep record of what some of them were saying because it doesn't make sense at all, but as I promised my friends here, I will share with you my experiences. I will try as much as possible not to be frustrated out of keeping up.

I did a lot of psyching and listening and looking closely, I have seen a lot from expression to body language but I won't be hasty of making conclusion.

Conference started at 10am after the opening prayer was said like every other day, the proceedings of the previous day was read, corrected and adopted and the 3-minute session continued...

Here are some of the submissions.

The first speaker said "We should stop playing politics with the issues of insecurity and issues bothering us. They have moved from stealing to looting to mass looting. We should form a truth and forgiveness committee in this conference so that people of this magnitude that stole from us and are amongst us in this conference will return their loot so we could quietly forgive them"

"Yesterday, two pastors said the 1999 constitution is an Islamic constitution. I felt very sorry to hear this from learned men. The constitution was based on common law, Christian common law, Islamic law and the customary law. But they singled Islamic and customary laws saying there's a problem with these laws". A speaker pointed out.

"There is no part of the North that has not been affected by insecurity, we should provide security for our country - Nigeria"  

"Well, an Old Youth - NANS member, said he is 36 and that he has since at the age of 24 slept in prisons fighting for the masses, so it's time things start working for Nigeria" 

"Before, other tribes from other states go to other part and get elected, like someone from Borno was elected by in Benue state. Another Yoruba man was recently elected in Kano and they sang for him "Skiru ya ci zabe shi ma dan kano ne" meaning Skiru has won election he is a Kano person too. This is the type of integration we want to be seeing in this nation".

"The Ruler-followership issues is our problem. The problem of Nigeria is that there is a serious disconnect between the citizens and the leaders. As a mother and a woman, we carry pregnancy for months not for our children to be slaughtered. If we want to protest, we get prevented. But whosoever is involved in killing our children should stop".  A woman leader proclaimed. 

"With due respect to the president, I have gone through page to page of his speech but have not seen anywhere he spoke about the recent insecurity facing the country, life is not worth a penny to him apparently. Even yesterday, there was bombing in Borno and we have been told that the security and welfare is the primary responsibility of any government. We have to wake up! Don't know what happened to our securities - SSS have been turned to prison service warders, they have abandoned their responsibilities, they have taken over VIO and Road Safety. That is why the security has been politicized. A total overhaul and retraining of the police, army and SSS is needed" said a delegate

"We have to be careful, it is already on the papers that religion tears conference."

"I am disturbed that the President didn't assure the people of this country that the submission on the conference will be implemented. I am appealing to the president to make history."

"In the North west,  people from other part of the country have won elections - a Yoruba man won election in shinkafi, a speaker earlier spoke about his 35 years in Lagos yet he is still not considered an indigene, why? and of recent, my people in the Southern part of the country are redeployed - they should learn to accommodate please"

"Diverting the wealth of our people to develop other parts has to stop. We can't deal with that anymore."

"We have subsidy billionaire and sure-p billionaire, the president should go beyond this conference. He can change what he can, without waiting for this conference. He can start by sacking any minister that doesn't keep up." A speaker submitted.

"We cannot move forward if untouchable are not touched, everyday people are slaughtered, we cant continue this way. We can only move forward as a nation if something is done about the security lapse".


A royal chief added that "The current generation are born in the computer age, they are not patient, they need change and if they don't get it soon the may turn violent" 

"It is unfortunate that if you meet some of these men in private, you will hear brilliant contributions but when they come to plenary they only spew bigotry"

"During the 2005 conference I told them that issues of corruption deserves capital punishment and immunity clause be removed and they said mine is a military mind".

"We the minorities of the north will present our submission when committee work begins, we are tired" a speaker lamented.

"In the north the Christians are a minority and the government should find solution without infringing the majority Muslim, so also in the south where Muslims are the minority, the government should look for a solution without infringing on the Christians rights. I am the only Igbo Muslim here and we igbo muslims feel greatly marginalized". 

"This president will rule this country today and always". The unity of this country is genuine for we the Igbo. I want what is happening here in Abuja to be replicated in other parts of the country."

After lunch, the deputy chairman had to preside over the conference because the Chairman didn't show up. He later showed up and the deputy chairman made jest of him saying "I had to assure them that you have not been kidnapped by the conference liberation group" and we cheered.

"We need rural health provision, there is nothing to show for health in this country. Millions of dollars are spent abroad yearly. The Medical and mental fitness of leaders should be checked, they should present their mental and medical certificate before they swear an oath to office".

"Our land contributes immensely to the account of this country, yet we only have a dilapidated police post to show for. It's like the more you give to the nation the less you enjoy, we don't need to take up arms to be recognised please"

"We are not here to make this country disintegrate, yet, we can't paint a house whose pillars are collapsing or plant flowers in a house that is being destroyed. This federation is collapsing we have to fight injustice"

"Nigeria is bleeding and is on her knees with no sign it want to stand up".

"Corruption is not regional or ethnic. After this conference we will still meet poverty and corruption in our various states, no conference can single handedly change this nation" 

"Last week I almost went to the secretariat to get my seat changed to the exit door side because of the heat in the house but I am glad things are calm now. But I am sure in the coming weeks when critical matters are raised I fear we will experience the same heat". 

"When I hear some comments of some leaders, I don't know if I should laugh or cry, if yesterday's men are complaining about yesterday, what then did they do during their time? We have ministers and senators here complaining, what did they do during their time? When I saw the former minister speaking I thought he was an activist, when he was an education minister he threw party when children were on strike. Religion is your private business, give the youth their right, give them education. I don't care about your religion, I don't care what religion the president is". 

A point of order was called by a delegate and was read; "no delegate should insult another delegate". If this is allowed Mr Chairman, delegates will be insulting delegates that looted"

Many delegates shouted "Didn't they loot" is "it a lie"? the chairman upheld the point of order and allowed the speaker to continue.


"Immunity clause should be removed" another delegate said and someone shouted "a lot of them here would have been death by now" 

"We have passed the first acid test on the issue of consensus, let's continue that way".

"When I schooled in the North, we played together with my Northern friends, ate together and slept on same bed, no difference. It is only of recent that I began to see the difference"

"What is the role of traditional rulers since the military came to being? we have been reduced to nothing, no activities"

"Our judiciary is failing us, everywhere the judiciary is the last resort of the poor man but in this country the reverse is the case"

"We murdered regional government which were more effective, the regional government was murdered under the military and also the parliamentary". 

"People are poor in the middle of plenty. We have kidnappers, robbers, terrorist and the worst, the pen criminals, lets warn the president and remind him that he still has a year to turn the country around. He should create employment and not extort from youths. A minister just earned millions from youths from recruitment. Let's tell the IMF and world bank we are a free people." 

At 5:55 pm the deputy chairman on behalf of the chairman addressed the house, he said to have noticed so many of the speakers because of anger and need to express their innermost feeling are using indicting words like genocide - genocide is an international crime and we might invoke them to check us. He explained that he was part of a 7 month terrorism check programme and what he saw, he wish nobody in the hall ever see it - "I wept more than I did when I was a child" he said, it was a terrible experience. I understand the pain and anger but there are other words we can use to express them. I am not belittling what is happening" he concluded.

Well gradually, we are seeing things in the conference...

We have gradually moved to Alphabet "G" and my name is "M" so I still have a long wait, but I will keep updating you..

On Twitter: @Yadomah

Day 8: My National Conference Exploits...

Alright yesterday (1st April 2014) started off pretty well.

Deliberation started at exactly 10am.

A delegate sent down her name, saying she has an engagement somewhere, craving the indulgence of the chairman to call her before she steps out to make her 3 minutes speech. The Chairman pleaded on her behalf but the house vehemently disagreed saying so many people will misuse such submission and this is how the day started.

Here are some of the comments from delegates...the 3-minutes speech.

"In Nigeria, we have beautiful and honest ideas, and presentations but implementation is the problem"

"The immigration stampede is still fresh in our minds and we can't forget"

"I come from oil producing area. Our oil has been claimed by other states". 

"Many elderly people in service don't want to go away - retire, in turn blocking chances for our younger ones"

"In Nigeria, we are in degeneration yet we call it progress and from generation to generation we are moving backward"

"Apologise to the Youths who are oblivious of how they came into this mess due to the negligence of the elders. As for the elders here, no apologise to them as they are part and parcel of those who threw us into this problem"

"The constitution hasn't done justice to people with disabilities, children and women, this has to be checked"

"A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in - Greek proverb". ..

"We need to form an enabling environment for our Youths, the elders will pass sooner or later. Where are the elders of yesterday? The youths are coming up".

"In the Southwest we have kidnapping, Southeast they don't go home for christmas because of kidnapping, North East; terrorism, North Central; settler issues, the whole country is in turmoil, how do we manage that"?

An Elder statesman lamented "We have heard the warning from our Younger people that we are old. The young people should know that God made the world for the young and the elderly, so they should not throw us away while we tolerate them". 

"There's too much power at the centre, to the extend that things to be done by local and state government are done by federal government"

"Civil service can't make recruitment without reference to the government, most systems in the country are finding difficulties creating jobs. One vital thing that brings problem in this country is the immunity clause. This clause must be removed from our constitution".

"Nigerians are passionate people and let's channel this passion to making our country better".

"We are not being fair to the president if we only praise his speech, we need to talk about those parts he missed, I didn't hear him talk about attitudinal change, accountability, transparency. There's a consensus about the conference but there should also be consensus that this conference will not be an obstacle for the 2015 election".

"Nigeria has never been short of good letters, but the implementation. It's time to go beyond lamentation. The president said we have weathered the storm for too long but the question is when will the storm be over"?

"Why is it that anti corruption is not captured in the presidents' speech"?

"Those of you who have been ministers and senators in your 30's and 40's please take the back seat, it's time to give the youths a chance."

"I hope this conference will be the last one"

The president said he has no personal agenda "we believe him" another person shut him down "you believe him" [sic].

A lady representing people living with disability said "I always meet people with disabilities and ask them why do they beg? They in turn ask me, have you the graduates gotten jobs? she continued, I have sponsored 3 people to school yet they don't have jobs. We understand those without any disabilities are running helter skelter trying to fend for themselves too. We?" 

"Enabling environment should be created for women and children. Those terrorist are not old men and women, they are youths. We have created a time bomb already, it's time for us to spend time in defusing these bombs"

"There's no problem with our documents as a nation but our attitude".

"I find the speech un-presidential and a speech written by someone under pressure, there are some points where it pose threats, I am embarrassed." A delegate lamented.

"Thank you for the bags you gave us with document which the press carried as bag with money". LOL.

A traditional ruler said "Look at Abuja, there's no water, no electricity in some parts, yet it is the capital of Nigeria and we are saying we are great? Go to our villages they are the way they are since independence, no major improvement."

"When we pushed Ghanaian away with their Ghana Must Go, they went back and empowered their youths, in Ghana today, every Ghanian is a potential worker. We need to empower our youths".

After lunch a dramatic scene happened in the hallow chamber, the deputy chairman continued with the 3 minutes session and then called on Diepreye Alamieyeseigha to deliver his speech. He rose up and began his speech, the house protested that the deputy chairman should not go back as his name was called earlier in his absence and can not be favored. The deputy chairman told him to sit down then began explaining to the house that he lost his mother 2 days ago and we are all humans and should understand. He had to squeeze and come to the session now despite his grieve, the house reluctantly agreed to the deputy chairman and he was given the floor. Because of the boos, laughter and side talks, I couldn't grasp what he said but he commended the president immensely in a way no other did. After his speech a delegate shouted "Thank you madam". [sic] Oh well, this time na elder no respect him fellow elder o.

My seat mate a former minister whispered to me "that is why is good to be good in whatever you do"

Further comments by delegates

"The problems of this country is caused by people seated here and I am one of them" 

"The monies our people keep oversees should be brought back and revive our economy."

"We women are the bedrock of the problems as well the solutions. We have to train our children to be of good moral behaviours or they become wayward, we are the ones that yet push our husbands to do corrupt practices, we need to change."

A bishop said: "Islam has been mentioned to take dominance of the Nigerian constitution. He went on to mention the number of times Islam, Sharia & Grand Khadi were mentioned in the constitution and Christianity without such representation."

"A pastor complained that Christians were murdered in so many parts of the country and protested the dominance of Islam in the constitution. He also mentioned the number of times Islam, Sharia & Grand Khadi were mentioned in the constitution.

"It's obvious that we all know our problems but the truth is, are we going to change it? When we stand in front of camera we blame everyone but us, like there is something impressive about ourselves" said one of the last delegates that spoke.

Some 15 minutes to six, the votes and proceedings of the previous day was reviewed and adopted. At about 6:20pm we adjourned till the following day.

Well, 3-minutes session is not over, names are called in alphabetical order and we are still on "B".....

To be continued..

On Twitter: @Yadomah

Day 7: My National Conference Exploits....

Well yesterday (31st March 2014) was surprisingly calm at the hallow chamber. I was particularly impressed by the manner in which the delegates conducted themselves.

The Chairman announced the Death of Alhaji (Bar.) Hamma Misau AIG (Rtd), a minute silence was observed in his honour.

After that, votes and proceedings of 24th, 25th and 26th March were read and adopted.

And the main gist; the Chairman told us the outcome of the proceedings of their behind the scene meeting with the "50 wise men" as he put it. He said they have arrived at a conclusion that in the absence of consensus 70% instead of 75% (3/4) or (2/3) as earlier proposed and debated on will be used. The house agreed to the submission without protest this time.

Well after that, the work plan for the conference was adopted after much recommendations and suggestions were made on how to make it cooler, some were correcting the grammatical errors in the work plan among other unimportantly important things.

Then the structure of the committees were deliberated upon, so many complaints were made on how the committee of Education for example was lumped into another committee and also, no stand alone committee that will tackle the economic issues of Nigeria amongst other meaningful complains.

After that, there was a session for review of the speech of the President made during the inauguration of delegates. Each delegate will be given 3-minutes to make his/her submissions on general matters it seems but definitely not the presidents' speech.

Below are some of the submissions of the first set of people that spoke yesterday.

A speaker was worried about the outcome of the conference, said "it's not the conference but the Implementation of the resolutions. He said he was part of the 2005 conference and if their resolutions were implemented then, there'll be no need for us to be here today".

Another speaker drew our minds back to 1960 saying "the development and unity were in order, people were employed, agriculture was booming, but since the advent of oil, we all became lazy & wretchedly poor".

"The children we are talking about today are not the same as those of 50 years ago, these ones are of the digital age" said another speaker


Another speaker spoke on religion saying "whether we like it or not, religion is an emotive material. No religion preaches violence yet we experience violence. For that reason we must discuss frankly the issues of religion. Our children go to school but are not safe, he urged us to discuss this for the sake of ourselves and that of our children so that we will experience the peace hitherto known".

Another speaker said: "my fear is that some of the cogent view made here will not be accepted by the national assembly".

Power went off in the middle of someone's speech and another shouted - "corruption".

A speaker, speaking on religious tolerance said "he schooled in a catholic school where all his teachers were reverend fathers yet they tolerated him and accommodated him, he wants that sense of unity revived.


Another speaker said "the people of the North have to be mindful that we don't want to break up, what the Emir said the other day is not good and we should stick to the code of conduct". 

"We have to question our patriotism, most of our leaders rob us and go to Dubai and London to buy houses. Let's create an enabling environment for our children, grandchildren and generation yet unborn" said another delegate.


A traditional ruler said "We the traditional rulers want to be given roles, you don't know what we are facing in our palaces. The politicians run to us at night and during the day, afterwards they forget about us" he lamented.


"Ask a Northerners the best leader ever, they'll say Amadu Bello", ask a Yoruba man, he will say Awolowo. Ask an igbo man he will say Azikwe and Mike Opara. The question we should ask ourselves is which template did they use to lead? Self determination was their key. We can do that too".


One of the representative of the people living with disabilities, thanked the president for gathering people all over Nigeria. He said  after reading the presidents' speech, he notice he has in no where spoken about people living with disabilities roles in nation building, though disappointed, he tried to find something similar to that and he found the inclusiveness of everyone. He complained of the absence of people living with disabilities in position of power and hope that they should be inclusion of about 30% of people living with disability at government positions. 


Another speaker said, "they say power belongs to the people but can we really say that power belong to the people"? But Poverty has interchange power.

More like poverty belong to the people I muttered.

A female speaker said "Nigerians want to live in peace but the political elites due to their greed are using those things that divide us, like religion, against us. 

"For our royal fathers. We will be glad if they lessen involvement in politics and be more patriotic" another speaker said.

"When they talk about resource control, it is not resource control, it's resource ownership said a speaker. He added, let's look deep into it, if we don't want federalism let's look for something else.

This nation is built on lies said a speaker. He said "he doesn't even believe if Nigeria's population is truly 170million. I don't even believe that is accurate, you may not like this but I'll rather we sort the help of the UN to help get an accurate record and exact number of Nigerians. Some billions will be wasted on census soon, I wish we will use this money to get accurate record" he lamented.

Another speaker said "he had his fears about the conference, believed some of the delegate came with xenophobia, but when we reached at the 70% consensus, the xenophobia has gone today" he said.

A speaker was bitter why there's a committee on how to share the revenues but none for how to make revenue. We need to find ways to make more pie not just how to share it.

There was plenty wash on the Presidents' speech though - there'd be no need sharing those washes. Some were a perfect definition of boredom and you might just doze off reading them.

A speaker made his speech brief by saying "All of us are commending the president but I hope at the end of this conference we will be commended too for a successful and fruitful conference".

When it was time for closing some minutes after 6pm, a motion was moved for adjournment till the following day and it was seconded.

The Chairman said he is really impressed by the conduct of delegates today.


Well the 3 minutes session is still on, you will hear more, read this space......

On Twitter: @Yadomah

Day 6: My National Conference Exploits.....

Well! Well!! Well!!! Yesterday (26th March 2014) was very unproductive, I must confess.

One speaker, an Emir, a Head, and a Leader goofed beyond my imagination. Perhaps, I expected much. He stood up and said to the house that he doesn't care if Nigeria disintegrates. He is very close to Cameroon he can migrate. If you ask me, this is the height of insensibility - Ok I should be respectful to elders they say. I therefore have my reservations, but that statement by a supposedly elder statesman was uncalled for. I never expected anyone to utter such.

Anyway, after that speech.

The chairman asked the house if they'll be need for receiving memorandum from the general public. One delegate said it's going to be waste of time - I wondered what could be more time wasting than him uttering that.

A youth emphasised the need on getting a memorandum from the general public. "Your children are looking up to you to make a difference, and they'll need to send in their ideas". She also explained the importance of engaging the social media youth - the space-age of modern civilisation.

Another delegate spoke on the need to be cautious on the kind of memorandum the secretariat receives so as not to receive from Cameroon - obviously a sub on the earlier speaker, the Emir.

Majority of the house agreed on the need to receive memorandum from the general public and it was agreed upon, a duration of 2 weeks.

After all said and done, the Deputy Chairman called out names of some delegates who are to meet with the chairman behind the scene (in a particular order, similar to how leaders are hand-picked in the country) to deliberate on the 2/3 and 3/4 issue.

The sitting was adjourned around 11 am to 4pm.

After eating lunch, at about 2.30pm we - the Youths decided to meet and deliberate on some critical issues. In the middle of our discussion, Elder statesman - Josephine Anenih, elder statesman as she call herself or rather say as it is, came to where we were seated and said. "So you these people that complain we have expired what are you people discussing?" we told her we are discussing on issues that are in the interest of our mothers in the conference" she laughed and walked away.

We all were seated at the conference hall at 4pm - well not all but most of us, to hear the outcome of the meeting, the Chairman said a lot of progress has been made but they still needed to buy-in more time to reach a conclusion and iron out some points of departures.

The Chairman, apparently was not happy with the conduct of the house - as usual, shuddered " if you watch the repeat broadcast of yourself yesterday, you will be very ashamed, you embarrassed yourselves" [sic]. And he continued "We would not want a repeat of what happened yesterday".

The conference was adjourned till Monday.

I remain speechless.

It's very saddening to see that the house is divided along ethnic & religious primordial lines and even funnier that these set of people would be deliberating on the need for this division to be harmonized.
Or rather, how can a divided house talk about unity?

Indeed, we have come to a point where we really need to define our identity - Are you a Northern Muslim? A Northern Christian? A southern Muslim? Or a Southern Christian? Or a Nigerian Muslim or Nigerian Christian?

While we are still where we are..I will be pleased if this conference will channel its energy to redefine the Nigerians indigene based on ethnic, religion and regional line. We can not shy away from that. It's only hypocritical to be shying away from what actually is the bottom line of our problem as a Nation.

Until then, the solution to our woes remains an optical illusion.

See you on Monday.

On Twitter: @Yadomah

Day 5 : My National Conference Exploits..

Alright today (Mar 25th 2014), I arrived at the venue on time, no traffic on the way as it were the previous day - seem the agitation of some of the delegates has been considered and effected - I wish some issues bothering this nation are given this maximum assiduity.

That will be a story for another day though.

At the conference, deliberations on the procedures of the conference continued.

Well, what greeted us was a delegates' anger on page six(6) of Leadership Newspaper where it featured some old men and women of social ranks sleeping while discussions were ongoing. The man was really angry that delegates should be entitled to their privacy and the media should be very cautious. Another countered by saying "if they are old and unable to stay up for the duration of the conference, they should either walk out or give up the ship".

So many procedures were discarded, amended and some, left the way they were.

Like Order 9 (7) of the rules which reads “The Conference may grant approval to the representative of any media to attend the sitting of the Conference provided that if the media publishes a report of the proceedings which the Conference considers unfair, offensive and not a true reflection of what transpired, such permission may be revoked.”

It was reached to a conclusion that the media should in no way be gagged, they should be allowed to cover the events as it unfolds hence the clause "provided that if the media publishes a report of the proceedings which the Conference considers unfair, offensive and not a true reflection of what transpired, such permission may be revoked" was supported to be removed by majority of the delegates.

One of the Youths spoke on the need for the older generation to give way to the younger generation as the matter to be discussed here - at the National Conference is for the young and not the elderly. This provoked some of the elders which led to one saying "the youths have to be cautious of their choice of words and stick to the Nigerian culture of respect for elders". [Sic]

This went on and on, some picked up the microphone and talked to be captured on air, making points that are pointless and trying to pull relevance out of irrelevance.

Committees were set up, each delegate is to choose which committee he/she wants to belong.

Well, after concluding the amendment of the procedures, the Chairman demanded a delegate move the motion of adoption and closure of the amendment of procedures and move on to work plan. This didn't go well with those interested in the issue of 3/4 and 2/3 deciding a proposed decision, reminding the chairman that he actually passed yesterday to revisit it, so we can't adopt the amendment of the procedures without that section cleared.

There was serious screams and shouts. Well, I was scared that someone might collapse of High blood pressure by the way and manner, old and responsible men were shouting on top of their voices left me in awe and brings me closer to the rift I used to watch on the floor of NASS.

Some section were in support of three quarter, forming the majority as it is initially on the procedure, while some are of the opinion that it should be cut down to 2/3.

The debate became intense, shouts and screams in the hall. The Chairman had to re-adjourn the deliberation of this particular matter and states that it won't be relevant for now until in the next three weeks- when committees start bringing in their reports, and decided that we should move ahead to deliberating on the conference work plan.

There was tension in the room so the Chairman decided to adjourn the session till the following day for everyone to go and cool their nerves and tempers down.

We closed for the day at about 5:35pm, some 25 minutes to closing time.

If you ask me, that was 25 precious minutes wasted.