Date: Wednesday, October 16, 2013 9:59 AM
Subject: Fwd: AWE ENDORSES THE NIGERIAN CONFAB
LET US MEET AND TALK:
AFRICAN WRITERS ENDOWMENT WELCOMES
THE NIGERIAN NATIONAL CONFERENCE
Princeton, New Jersey: October 15, 2013: During his National Day message to his compatriots, the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, surprised many by announcing that his government would organize a National Conference to enable Nigerians reevaluate, discuss and negotiate the nomenclatures of their continued relationship. He proceeded with dispatch in naming a committee to work out suggestions for the modalities of such a confab and demanded that the committee report back to him in a month. The African Writers Endowment (AWE), Inc. wants to be on record as supporting this call for a national conference for Nigeria and we do so without reservations.
We recognize the concerns about the obvious turn around on the part of the constitutional authorities in the country (the Presidency and the Legislature in particular) on this important national desire. We also hear the whaling of partisans who think this is a move in the political interest of President Jonathan. Sometimes the national interest and the interests of politicians can indeed align and we see no problem in that, as long as the national interest is attained. It is particularly remarkable that a President who had reportedly embarked on national transformation as the mantra for his administration appears to have been transformed himself on the need for a national conference.
No dialogue in pursuit of a more perfect union for African peoples can ever be a waste. If nothing else, we will get to hear each other again and perhaps understand each others' pains and aspirations afresh, including but not limited to the consequential issues of true federalism, states’ or regions’ rights and the rotation of central (presidential) powers in a manner that engenders trust and mutual respect for the constituent blocks in the nation. Therefore, President Goodluck Jonathan ought to be commended for coming around to the idea of a national dialogue that will hopefully be structured, systematic and consequential.
We are convinced that even if it is not referred to as a sovereign conference, the ripples of a national gathering may have consequences far beyond what the most skilled of puppeteers might script. We also see no reason why the understandings reached during the national conference organized by President Olusegun Obasanjo, and the recommendations made by the Justice Uwaise Electoral Reform Committee cannot be part of the discussions in the current conference and form part of an on-going consensus on the matters addressed.
We at AWE are biased in a Pan-African light. This means that we support efforts to create closer and more productive relationships between African peoples on the continent and all over the world. And we submit that all the constituent groups in Nigeria are African peoples and will always be African peoples. We are also biased in favor of the freedoms of assembly, association, speech, and religion (which includes the freedom to choose not to associate, not to speak, and not to worship at all). We already know one thing going in: All the constituent segments of present-day Nigeria will continue to be related somehow as neighbors. Thus, we remain confident that a Nigerian National Conference, even under a President Jonathan who may seek re-election, will ultimately result in a managed manifestation of these ideals in the world’s citadel of African civilizations. Our confidence is based on what we believe to be the capacity of the people and their representatives to fashion out a more perfect, Africa-centered relationship.
Respectfully submitted by:
African Writers Endowment, Inc.
P. O. Box 3295, Princeton, New Jersey 08543
Dr. Ugorji Okechukwu Ugorji
Executive Director
Email: Africanwriters@gmail.com
(609) 851-9484
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