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.

Day 4: My National Conference Exploits

Alright yesterday (24th March 2014) started a little scary.

I woke up unconsciously concious, haven dreamt that there was something burning inside my cupboard, when I woke up - really there was something burning, not in my cupboard though but the electric extension wire in my room has actually began melting. Well that really dampened my mood for almost the whole day.

I left home at about 9am started the long journey to the venue of the national conference. 20 minutes to the time of the commencement of the conference which is scheduled to start at 10 am, I met a really mad traffic just close to the entrance of the venue. It took me 40 minutes to reach the gate of the venue- well service to nation has its cost.

On reaching the venue of the conference, there were parking spaces for elder statesmen and the other big men, as for we the other delegates, our parking space is some Kilometres away from the venue - what will poor man do?. After trekking miles from the parking lot to the venue, I was almost out of breath, then a long queue greeted me - "from vehicle queue to human queue" I wondered. I slowly and slowly made my way into the venue, some 40 minutes late all thanks to human and vehicle traffic.

On entering the hall, I was relieved that the proceedings were not fully started.

Then the matter of the day.

We spent the whole day delebrating on amending the procedures of the National conference 2014 shared to us.

Matters such as the traffic and congestion on the way to the venue of the national conference were deliberated on.

A particular place of interest that rose uproar was the issue of the use of three quarter majority of the house to decide on proposed decisions. Some were of the opinion that it should be two third because three fourth is unattainable. The chairman had to drop the matter to a later time for deliberation because a consensus was unable to be reached.

Another issue that provoked some of the members - delegates, was the recognition of some of the delegates by the chairman of the conference by their names, while the unknowns - poor we, are not dully recognised.

And another thing is that me and my fellow youths have to shout on top of their voices to be heard or seen.

The issue of break time which is 2pm-4pm was deliberated on extensively. "Some of the elders were of the view that the break time should be reduced by at least one hour for some may run back home, or sleep off after a meal and skip the afternoon session. A youth countered by saying "if they can't keep up, they should go back home and allow the young energetic blood to carry on.

At 2pm we went for lunch break, we were offered variety of meal to dine.

So many recommendations and solutions were reached on the issue of the procedures of the conference.

At 6:05 the session was adjourned till the following day.

I wrote this yesterday but I slept off in the middle of it so I adjourned publishing it till today.

Delebrating on General issues concerning Nigeria and Nigerians hasn't stared yet, still on issues concerning conference and delegates.

There's always another way..

As a delegate to the National Conference - the youngest of them all, i am humbled to be part of the process of making my country better, I am willing to make modest sacrifices so that my generation and generation yet unborn can live in better country.

The Federal Government has rationalized that delegates should be paid sitting allowances, in all honesty I am modestly comfortable and able to cater for my immediate needs. Some of my colleagues have indicated their intention not to receive the money which in itself is a pointer to the fact that we still have men and women with high redeeming qualities among us. However, I am not unmindful of the appalling poverty and great need that exists where I come from and the people I represent. We have a situation where widows and orphans have been abandoned by society, these are individuals made vulnerable by the insurgency. They have no idea how to pay the school fees of their children and wards, and how to eat at least once a day. We have a scenario where things we take for granted mean the world to others -physically challenged people who will never be able to afford wheel chairs and thousands of people who can't afford medical care because they are poor and have been injured by terrorists. I want them to consider my sitting allowance as a gift to them and humanity.

 
I do not do this for praise nor to look good in the eyes of the society, I am doing this because it is the right thing to do. I have received my first payment which is the sum of 1,460,000 naira yesterday evening (21st March 2014) from the National Conference. I hereby pledge to use my allowances as a seed grant and start a foundation that will cater for vulnerable women especially widows and children in Borno State, if you understand their hopeless and helpless state in Borno State and Northern Nigeria in general you will support me in this new drive to put a smile on their faces.

On Twitter: @Yadomah
 

Day 2: My National Conference Exploits.....

So today or was it yesterday? (18th March 2014) day two (2) of the National Conference, ended well? Or not? I can't say but it was a day full of activities.

There was a question and answer session by delegates. Someone said "some of the people delebrating on the problems of Nigeria at the National Conference are part of Nigeria's problem".

Another countered "We are the problem and also the solution" Is it that someone picked his sub by the forgone speaker?

Another protested on the use of Islamic citation by the chairman of the National Conference before reading out his speech.

Some aired their reservation especially with the seating arrangement - because of our cultures and respect for the elderly, a young person can't instruct an elderly man/woman to stand up he/she wants to step out and resolve some pressing issues and so on.

Then there was sharing of trolley boxes. Names were called one after the other, everyone stepped down and collected his, therein were six (6) working books for perusal and study.

So I walked out of the hall where boxes were shared and went to the secretariat to get a form to fill. I collected the form from an official, and started filling, then a drama began right in front of me without paying for a cinema fee.

A man was standing by the door, another came in with a box trolley - it resembled the one we were given books in.

One of the officials asked the man that strolled in with the trolley "where did you say you were representing sir"? "Nigerians in the diaspora" the man with the trolley replied, "which continent" the official demanded? "Europe" said the man. "Can I see your passport sir"? because the man standing by the door shares same name with you and he is representing Nigerians in America", the man with the box said with a laughter "O I am glad to see someone I share the same name with, I thought my name is rare"

"My name America, my name UK" interesting said trolley carrying man.

So basically the two guys were claiming one slot. Both of them were obviously above 40 years.

He presented his passport after much fumbling saying "I cannot impersonate anyone you know"?

Well I was not filling form again o.

The official glanced at the mans passport, it looked very new, no page was stamped, he - official instructed the man standing by the door to present his (passport), he did, his was fully stamped.

Now this became interesting, the man with trolley was asked to present his indifinate residence permit, he said he doesn't join the two together - his passport and other papers, saying he left it at the hotel he lodged, the official told him to sit, he said, "no let me go and come back later by then this thing is sorted out".

The lead actor disappeared from the scene of the movie.

I am still pained by that.

So you know the National conference was adjourned till Monday right?

See you on Monday.

On Twitter: @Yadomah