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From: Tope Olaiya <estyyolly@yahoo.com>
Date: Wed, 9 Oct 2013 06:32:06 -0700 (PDT)
To: ayo_olukotun@yahoo.com<ayo_olukotun@yahoo.com>
ReplyTo: Tope Olaiya <estyyolly@yahoo.com>
Subject: AWO FOUNDATION'S TALKSHOP ON THE NATIONAL CONFERENCE
AWO FOUNDATION'S TALKSHOP ON THE NATIONAL CONFERENCE
AYO OLUKOTUN
Today, we no longer have a federation in Nigeria. A central government which we still wrongly call a federal government controls virtually all power and all resources in our country, dispenses periodic doles to beggar state governments, dictates what local governments we may or may not have in our states. Prof. Banji Akintoye (paper at the Awo foundation seminar on Monday 7th October, 2013).
Nigeria may be poorly governed but the magnificence of its human assets exemplified by world class technocrats and policy experts is beyond debate. The star collection of scholars and civil society actors that gathered on Monday at the Obafemi Awolowo Foundation center to brainstorm on the national conference would have done any nation on earth proud. There was Prof. Bolaji Akinyemi, former Foreign Affairs Minister and Chair of the Executive Seminar; Prof. Itse Sagay, a well known human rights activist and scholar; Prof. Bolaji Aluko, currently vice chancellor of the federal university at Otuoke; Mrs. Ayo Obe, former President of the civil liberty organization; Prof. Bukar Bukarambe, of the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs; Prof. Akin Oyebode, former vice chancellor of Ekiti State University, Prof. Princewill Alozie and several others.
Convened at the behest of Dr. Tokunbo Awolowo Dosunmu, Executive Director of the foundation whose intellect refreshingly evokes her illustrious father, the seminar which lasted all of the working hours of Monday wrestled with issues such as: Is there a need for a national conference at this time; what lessons can be teased out around the globe from similarly contentious nation states, what outcomes can be expected from a national conference and crucially what should the architecture of the conference be in terms of representation and design? Awolowo Dosunmu alluding to the difficulty of the conference project had warned that: "intentions, even the best of them do not necessarily guarantee success in any endeavour". She went on to say "that despite many years of persistent and strident clamour for a national dialogue; Mr. President's announcement have still evoked cynicism in some quarters". Picking up the gauntlet, the seminar spent some time debating the timing of Jonathan's turnaround from opposition to the conference idea to its embrace and the setting up of a committee chaired by Senator Femi Okurounmu to advise on modalities for organizing the conference. Ayo Obe, quoting the Holy Book had wondered whether a healthy fruit can proceed from a diseased tree thereby putting on the table the issue of whether there was a hidden agenda to the timing of what is ordinarily a sound proposition.
After heated discussion on this point, and thanks to the judicious mien of the chairman, participants including representatives of the Arewa forum, Alhaji Yerima Shetimma and that of Ohaneze, Dr. Chris Asoluka were brought round to seeing that there is an opportunity for civil society to seize the agenda, hidden or transparent and turn it into a productive exercise worth the nation's time. True and as Prof. Bukarambe and Dr. Tunde Oseni eloquently submitted, a national conference will not solve all the nation's problems; worse still it may create the illusion that it is a magic wand to be waved at our many dysfunctions. It is also true nonetheless as this columnist argued last week that we cannot make much progress under the current lopsided, inequitable and over centralized auspices.
The subsequent modification of the composition of the Okurounmu committee appears to have addressed the fear raised at the seminar by Prof. Diji Aina, former Vice Chancellor of Adeleke University, Ede about the skewed character of the committee in respect of age and consequent marginalization of the young who as the conference communiqué observed will be the ones to live with the outcome of the conference. Both Profs. Sagay and Akintoye quoted in the open statement emphasized that to continue with the current political structure which fuels corruption and do-or-die politics is to reinforce the idea of Nigeria as a disaster waiting to happen. Clearly then, hardly anyone disputes the need to redesign and to engineer afresh what passes for federalism in Nigeria. A related point made by Profs. Aluko, Oyebode and others is the need for what can be described as a people's constitution as opposed to the 1999 constitution which is clearly a holdover of the years of dictatorship.
If then it is unanimously agreed that such a conference is imperative, how is it to be organized and how do we make it genuinely representative? These questions are obviously complicated by the large number of ethnic nations within the country counted differently by different analysts, the lack of an acceptable census as well as the fact that in a volatile political system such as ours, the imperfections in the structuring and organizational rubrics of the national conference can be used by its opponents to dismiss the entire exercise. Expectedly therefore, the seminar spent a good deal of time discussing and debating the issues of design and representation. The seminar came up with the suggestion of national conference delegates of not more than 400 members, 90% of whom will emerge by electoral colleges from ward, local governments, states and zonal levels on a non-partisan basis. The remaining 10% it was suggested would be nominees of professional bodies, trade unions, civil society organizations, which of course should include youths, children and women as well as pan Nigerian religious bodies.
The merit of this proposal it would seem lies in its recognition of nationalities across the federation bearing in mind that our nationalities are territorially based. An alternative conception of the national conference design and structuring but which did not gain sufficient support at the deliberations would be for the conference delegates to be constituted by professional groups and civil society actors thrown up by our nationalities either by election or selection. Obviously, there would be different ideas regarding the composition of the conference but the goal should be to ensure that the august body is not devoid of legitimacy and does not exclude any significant actor either in spatial or sociological terms. Important too are the suggestions made at the seminar for a time limit of not more than 9months, the jettisoning of the notorious "no go" areas and the need to subject the decisions of the conference to a national referendum. It is interesting that government forced by public opinion to demonstrate sincerity has adopted some of these suggestions.
The memory of earlier, failed or truncated conferences which were no more than the ploys of power mongers seeking to lend legitimacy to their private ambitions casts a long shadow over the proposed national conference. However, the reputation of several of the committee members and the resilience of Nigerian civil society may well prove to be the antidotes to manipulation and to conference as an elaborate diversion or political anesthesia. In other words, while skepticism is a required virtue in this and other instances, cynical dismissals of the idea or doomsday predictions may rob the nation of an opportunity to steer away from the bedeviling crisis forced upon us by prolonged sidestepping of the need to provide creative and redemptive answers to the national question.
Olukotun is Professor of Political Science and Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences and Entrepreneurial Studies, Lead City University, Ibadan
AYO OLUKOTUN
Today, we no longer have a federation in Nigeria. A central government which we still wrongly call a federal government controls virtually all power and all resources in our country, dispenses periodic doles to beggar state governments, dictates what local governments we may or may not have in our states. Prof. Banji Akintoye (paper at the Awo foundation seminar on Monday 7th October, 2013).
Nigeria may be poorly governed but the magnificence of its human assets exemplified by world class technocrats and policy experts is beyond debate. The star collection of scholars and civil society actors that gathered on Monday at the Obafemi Awolowo Foundation center to brainstorm on the national conference would have done any nation on earth proud. There was Prof. Bolaji Akinyemi, former Foreign Affairs Minister and Chair of the Executive Seminar; Prof. Itse Sagay, a well known human rights activist and scholar; Prof. Bolaji Aluko, currently vice chancellor of the federal university at Otuoke; Mrs. Ayo Obe, former President of the civil liberty organization; Prof. Bukar Bukarambe, of the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs; Prof. Akin Oyebode, former vice chancellor of Ekiti State University, Prof. Princewill Alozie and several others.
Convened at the behest of Dr. Tokunbo Awolowo Dosunmu, Executive Director of the foundation whose intellect refreshingly evokes her illustrious father, the seminar which lasted all of the working hours of Monday wrestled with issues such as: Is there a need for a national conference at this time; what lessons can be teased out around the globe from similarly contentious nation states, what outcomes can be expected from a national conference and crucially what should the architecture of the conference be in terms of representation and design? Awolowo Dosunmu alluding to the difficulty of the conference project had warned that: "intentions, even the best of them do not necessarily guarantee success in any endeavour". She went on to say "that despite many years of persistent and strident clamour for a national dialogue; Mr. President's announcement have still evoked cynicism in some quarters". Picking up the gauntlet, the seminar spent some time debating the timing of Jonathan's turnaround from opposition to the conference idea to its embrace and the setting up of a committee chaired by Senator Femi Okurounmu to advise on modalities for organizing the conference. Ayo Obe, quoting the Holy Book had wondered whether a healthy fruit can proceed from a diseased tree thereby putting on the table the issue of whether there was a hidden agenda to the timing of what is ordinarily a sound proposition.
After heated discussion on this point, and thanks to the judicious mien of the chairman, participants including representatives of the Arewa forum, Alhaji Yerima Shetimma and that of Ohaneze, Dr. Chris Asoluka were brought round to seeing that there is an opportunity for civil society to seize the agenda, hidden or transparent and turn it into a productive exercise worth the nation's time. True and as Prof. Bukarambe and Dr. Tunde Oseni eloquently submitted, a national conference will not solve all the nation's problems; worse still it may create the illusion that it is a magic wand to be waved at our many dysfunctions. It is also true nonetheless as this columnist argued last week that we cannot make much progress under the current lopsided, inequitable and over centralized auspices.
The subsequent modification of the composition of the Okurounmu committee appears to have addressed the fear raised at the seminar by Prof. Diji Aina, former Vice Chancellor of Adeleke University, Ede about the skewed character of the committee in respect of age and consequent marginalization of the young who as the conference communiqué observed will be the ones to live with the outcome of the conference. Both Profs. Sagay and Akintoye quoted in the open statement emphasized that to continue with the current political structure which fuels corruption and do-or-die politics is to reinforce the idea of Nigeria as a disaster waiting to happen. Clearly then, hardly anyone disputes the need to redesign and to engineer afresh what passes for federalism in Nigeria. A related point made by Profs. Aluko, Oyebode and others is the need for what can be described as a people's constitution as opposed to the 1999 constitution which is clearly a holdover of the years of dictatorship.
If then it is unanimously agreed that such a conference is imperative, how is it to be organized and how do we make it genuinely representative? These questions are obviously complicated by the large number of ethnic nations within the country counted differently by different analysts, the lack of an acceptable census as well as the fact that in a volatile political system such as ours, the imperfections in the structuring and organizational rubrics of the national conference can be used by its opponents to dismiss the entire exercise. Expectedly therefore, the seminar spent a good deal of time discussing and debating the issues of design and representation. The seminar came up with the suggestion of national conference delegates of not more than 400 members, 90% of whom will emerge by electoral colleges from ward, local governments, states and zonal levels on a non-partisan basis. The remaining 10% it was suggested would be nominees of professional bodies, trade unions, civil society organizations, which of course should include youths, children and women as well as pan Nigerian religious bodies.
The merit of this proposal it would seem lies in its recognition of nationalities across the federation bearing in mind that our nationalities are territorially based. An alternative conception of the national conference design and structuring but which did not gain sufficient support at the deliberations would be for the conference delegates to be constituted by professional groups and civil society actors thrown up by our nationalities either by election or selection. Obviously, there would be different ideas regarding the composition of the conference but the goal should be to ensure that the august body is not devoid of legitimacy and does not exclude any significant actor either in spatial or sociological terms. Important too are the suggestions made at the seminar for a time limit of not more than 9months, the jettisoning of the notorious "no go" areas and the need to subject the decisions of the conference to a national referendum. It is interesting that government forced by public opinion to demonstrate sincerity has adopted some of these suggestions.
The memory of earlier, failed or truncated conferences which were no more than the ploys of power mongers seeking to lend legitimacy to their private ambitions casts a long shadow over the proposed national conference. However, the reputation of several of the committee members and the resilience of Nigerian civil society may well prove to be the antidotes to manipulation and to conference as an elaborate diversion or political anesthesia. In other words, while skepticism is a required virtue in this and other instances, cynical dismissals of the idea or doomsday predictions may rob the nation of an opportunity to steer away from the bedeviling crisis forced upon us by prolonged sidestepping of the need to provide creative and redemptive answers to the national question.
Olukotun is Professor of Political Science and Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences and Entrepreneurial Studies, Lead City University, Ibadan
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