_____________________________________________________________
Monday Quarterbacking: On the Political and Religious Restructuring of Nigeria
by
Mobolaji E. Aluko, PhD
Monday, April 28, 2014
____________________________________________________________
My People:
This okaying of one additional state in the SE is a recurring decimal and a red herring....and I am NOT in agreement with the Confab Committee which is recommending the states as the federating unit of a new Nigeria.
My suggestions are as follows::
(1) Leave the states alone for now, and don't make them the federating units.
(2) Make the geo-political zones the federating units (not the states). they are fewer and easier to handle from the center, more economically viable as a unit, etc.. I suggest one more geo-zone in the South and one more in the North to make a total of eight geo-zones. In any case, there should always be equal number of geo-zones in North and South - six (current), eight (my suggestion),ten (possibly), but not more than twelve (close to the twelve original "states"), but as they increase, it becomes increasingly difficult to have the same equal number in the North and South).
(3) Allow the geo-political zones to increase (or decrease) the number of states within them as they see fit.
(4) Allow the states to increase (or decrease) the local governments as they see fit.
(5) Statutory allocations should be made only to federating units, but competitive funding based on federal priorities to states and local governments should be instituted.
As to religious "re-structuring" of Nigeria, I support a number of steps along the lines of Diaspora delegate Obaje - see below.
And there you have it.
Bolaji Aluko
Virtual Delegate
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: SHOW YOUR FAITH BY YOUR CHARACTER - memo to Committee on
Religion By Dr Obaje Singapore
From: Dr Obaje <ugane07@yahoo.com>
Date: Tue, April 22, 2014 5:33 pm
To: "....>
Subject: SHOW YOUR FAITH BY YOUR CHARACTER - memo to Committee on
Religion By Dr Obaje Singapore
From: Dr Obaje <ugane07@yahoo.com>
Date: Tue, April 22, 2014 5:33 pm
To: "....>
Dear Co-chairmen of the Committee on Religion,
Kindly accept my apology for my inability to attend committee meetings this week due to some urgent corporate matters requiring my attention in Singapore. I have formally informed the secretariat about the trip.
As part of my contributions to the deliberations of the Committee, I therefore wish to submit the memo below to the Committee. I will be grateful if you could help circulate this to other members of the Committee.
Thank you for your cooperation and understanding
Yours faithfully,
Dr Jonathan Obaje, Singapore
Representing Diaspora-Asia.
Tel: +65-96722797
Email: info@drobaje.com
-----------
SHOW YOUR FAITH BY YOUR CHARACTER
The 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (chapter IV section 38) has made adequate provisions for the Rights of Citizen to religion. This should be upheld without amendment.
However, there is currently no legal provisions for the Protection of Citizen Against Religious Crimes and no legal provision for the Enforcement of the Citizen Rights to Protection Against Religious Crimes in our constitution.
Religion has therefore become a decoy for the perpetuation of crimes against individuals and the society. We have allowed religion to become the breeding ground for mediocre and fraudster. We have thus lost most of our moral values and the essence of religion.
Religion has to be protected from being hijacked by criminals who hide under religion to commit crimes against gullible innocent citizen. The guiding principle of religion should be "SHOW YOUR FAITH BY YOUR CHARACTER" One act of goodness can reveal more about God than a thousand sermons.
Religion should not be for the orators and the eloquent. CHARACTER and ACTIONS should be the proof of FAITH.
The following should therefore be made Religion Crimes punishable by law:
1. Mounting of loud speakers on churches, mosques and temples which disturb personal and public peace of other citizens who may not subscribe to the particular religion should be prohibited and punishable by law. The noise pollution and health hazards created by this growing trend can no longer be tolerated. Every citizen deserves to be protected by the law in this regards.
2. Religious buildings located in any community with population density of more than 1,000 persons per square kilometer should be sound-prove such that nobody outside the building can hear any sound from inside the building.
3. The broadcast of religion programs on public media should be prohibited. Provisions should be made for licensing of exclusive Religious channels.
4. Religious prayers at official and public functions should be prohibited. Only the National pledge can be recited at official and public functions. Public functions, in this case, is any gathering of a group of persons not for religious activities and in which there is one or more persons who may not subscribe to the religion in which the prayer is being conducted.
5. Obstructions to traffic by any religious group should be prohibited by law. This shall include, but not limited to, setting up road block, parking of vehicles on roads near religious buildings, centers, or activities. This should attract heavy fines or jail terms for key officials.
6. Religious organizations, groups, centers, churches, mosques or temples must keep proper register of auditable membership. Any religious organization, group, center, church, mosque or temple with membership of 100 persons and above should be properly registered with CAC within 12 months of attaining membership of 100 persons.
7. The accounts and finances of all registered religious organizations, groups, centers, churches, mosques or temples must be audited annually by a special religion account auditors. The head of the auditors to any registered religious organization, group, center, church, mosque or temple shall be from a different religion.
8. All funds or monies donated or accrued must be properly declared and lodged into the bank account of the religious entity within a week of receiving such monies or funds. Misused of funds donated or accrued to religious organizations, groups, centers, churches, mosques or temples should be made a serious crime. Salaries and allowances of staff of registered religious organizations, groups, centers, churches, mosques or temples should be decided by all registered members and made public.
9. Government sponsorship of religion activities should be prohibited. Nigerian government and it's agents should withdraw from all national and international religious organizations forthwith.
10. No religious center, church, mosque or temples shall be located on the premises of a government or public institution. Individual or group of individuals shall however be allowed to perform their private religious rights within the premises of a government or public institution to the extent that the rights of other citizens are not compromised, trampled or violated.
11. Speeches, sermons, preachings and teachings which make derogatory statement about other religions should be prohibited and punishable by law. Religious organizations, groups, centers, churches, mosques or temples should be allowed earn their relevance and respect by making positive contributions to the community and society and not by verbal condemnation of other religions.
Finally, no multi-cultural, multi-ethnic, multi-religious society or nation like Nigeria has ever risen to greatness without a legal framework to protect citizens' rights to religion and the laws to punish misuse of religion. And Nigeria cannot aspire to greatness without protecting its moral values from religious criminals.
These proposals will be very difficult to accept for those who concentrate their minds on the past and the present Nigeria. However, if we can begin to envision a New Nigeria in which peace and security is guaranteed, in which economic prosperity, self actualization is guaranteed for every citizen. If we can visualize Nigeria as the model of a developed economy for African, a beehive of tourists, a global leader in many areas of human endeavor, then it will be easy to accept these legislative recommendations as a necessary prerequisite for the actualization of our National Dream.
Thank you.
Dr Jonathan Obaje
Singapore, representing Diaspora-Asia
Member of the Committee on Religion
_____________________________________________
On Sat, Apr 26, 2014 at 9:31 PM, vincentotuonye <vincentotuonye@msn.com> wrote:
--Ekwueme:Gen. Ike Nwachukwu is not there in 1994/95 when then political conference agreed that additional state be created in the SE. Same thing in 2004/2005 during Obj when another political conference agreed to a new state for the SE before Obj scuttled everything with his 3rd term agenda.E. U. Obi, apparently you have not been following the National Political Conference. The right idea is to reduce the number of states and revert to regions - 6 regions. But from deliberations going on right now, the SW are the only people pushing it. Northern delegates are against it. That is why I stated some things in bold in that news clip.Vin OtuonyeFrom my Android phone on T-Mobile. The first nationwide 4G network.
-------- Original message --------
From: africanherald@aol.com
Date: 04/26/2014 9:09 PM (GMT-05:00)
To: vincentotuonye@msn.com,nigerianworldforum@yahoogroups.com,africanworldforum@googlegroups.com,okonkwonetworks@googlegroups.com,orausa@yahoogroups.com,orluatlanta@yahoogroups.com,ndiigbo-atlanta@yahoogroups.com,imostatecongress@yahoogroups.com
Cc: WorldIgboCongress@yahoogroups.com,ICANDFW_FORUM@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Confab panel okay one more state for SE, Guardian
Thanks to Gen. Ike Nwachukwu, Chairman. That is why we have to be careful when we criticize. His dual "citizenship" has paid off, don't you think?Take careNwachukwu-----Original Message-----
From: Vin Otuonye <vincentotuonye@msn.com>
To: NWF <nigerianworldforum@yahoogroups.com>; africanworldforum <africanworldforum@googlegroups.com>; okonkwonetworks <okonkwonetworks@googlegroups.com>; Orlu nu na America <orausa@yahoogroups.com>; orluatlanta <orluatlanta@yahoogroups.com>; IgboAtlanta <ndiigbo-atlanta@yahoogroups.com>; Imo Congress <imostatecongress@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Sat, Apr 26, 2014 3:44 pm
Subject: Confab panel okay one more state for SE, Guardian
Friday, April 25, 2014 Confab panel okays one more state for South-EastWritten by terhemba daka and karls tsokar, AbujaCategory: National
Committee on Religion denies undermining Christians
/Confab-delegates-in-plenary[1].jpg
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AGITATION by the people of the South-East for creation of an additional state in the area to put them at par with other zones of the federation received huge support when, Thursday, the demand received the unanimous backing from members of the National Conference Committee on Political Reforms and Forms of Government.Members of the committee who took turns to make submissions on the contentious matter unanimously agreed that there was need for creation of one more state in the region in the interest of justice and fair-play and to give the people of the South-East a sense of belonging.In another development, the Secretariat of the National Conference has denied reports credited to an official of Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) which tends to give the impression of an attempt to undermine Christians in the National Conference.A statement issued Thursday and signed by Assistant Secretary, Media and Communications, Akpandem James, said first, it was not correct as claimed by the CAN official that the Committee on Religion is made up of 12 Muslims and eight Christians. "That is not correct. The committee has 21 members - 11 Muslims and 10 Christians", Akpandem wrote.He also said it would be mischievous for anybody or group to insinuate or accuse the Chairman or the leadership of the Conference of working out a script to undermine the interest of Christians in the dialogue body."The chairmanship of committees was shared equally between the North and the South; and those that were seen as contentious committees are co-chaired by a delegate from the North and South. The two co-chairmen of the committee on Religion could not have come from the North as CAN would have wished; and it would amount to peddling ignorance to think that a Christian from the South does not know what Christians in the North are facing, as Christendom is one body."It is unfortunate that a body like CAN, if it indeed authorised the statement, would make such frivolous and unfounded allegation against the Chairman of the Conference, Justice Idris Kutigi, to the effect that he picked Alhaji Nurudeen Lemu as the co-Chairman of the committee, because they are from the same state."The Political Reforms and Forms of Government Committee, however, submitted that every other region demanding the creation of more states would only get it on the basis of merit.The 30-member committee further submitted that without prejudice to states constituting the federating unit, those that wish to merge may do so in accordance with the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria subject to three conditions, namely:* That a majority of the two-thirds of all members in each of the Houses of Assembly of each of the states, in which such merger is proposed, support by resolution, the merger;* That a referendum is conducted in each of the states proposing to merge with 75 per cent of the eligible voters in each of those states approving of the merger; and* That each House of the National Assembly, by resolution passed by a simple majority of membership of each of the Houses, approve of the merger.Addressing journalists after the committee adjourned its sitting to 10.00 a.m. on Monday, the chairman, Gen. Ike Nwachukwu, said by supporting the creation of an additional state in the South-East, delegates have shown that everyone can have a win-win situation.He said: "I must thank my committee members for their maturity and ability to discern the needs of Nigerians to have more states based on merit, particularly the South-East, thereby bringing the zone at par with others.I want to indeed say to my colleagues that they have shown great understanding and they believe in a win-win option. That is the spirit we should maintain in this Conference."At the end of the day, we will be recommending that there should be equality of states in the various zones of the country, and then allowing the zones that have agitations across the country to decide which state should be created."Those who make the request for the creation of more states do so because they feel marginalised where they are," he said.Before arriving at the resolution ahead of the commencement of debates, the committee had proceeded on a five-minute coffee break following a motion by Dr. Abubakar Saddique Mohammed ostensibly to allow the delegates and members of the committee to confer with each other.At the resumption of session, Chief Gary Enwo-Igariwe while making a case for the South-East, pointed out that the zone which had only five states among the 36 in the country stood at a disadvantage which, according to him, was a great challenge to the people of the area."We don't want to be more than other zones; we just want to be like others. I appeal to this committee to strongly take into consideration the need to bring the South-East at par with other zones in this country."Senator Femi Okurounmu, in his argument, said there should be creation of more states to meet growing demands.He said there should be the same number of states in every zone in the spirit of fairness. He, however, warned delegates to be mindful in order to avoid the abuse of the process.Binta Masi Garba advocated for the creation of Amana State in the North. She also supported the creation of an additional state in the South-East in the spirit of fairness.Chief Benjamin Elue from Delta State, while supporting the call for the creation of an additional state in the South-East, begged delegates to consider the long agitation of the Igbo-speaking people in his state who want their own state. He said Anioma State should be carved out of the present Delta State in the interest of justice.Senator Ahmed Aruwa argued that it was outside the purview of the committee to create a state.He said the panel could only make recommendations and create an enabling environment for those agitating for more states to have their way. He said the South-East zone deserves an additional state based on merit.Yinka Odumakin said states have become tenants to the Federal Government. He said states must have the capacity to look inward and create its own revenue base instead of becoming slaves to the Federal Government. He said the practice where governors come to Abuja at the end of every month to collect salaries must be discouraged.Lawrence Agubuzu, a South-East delegate, said every region should get an additional state. He, however, argued that in the new arrangement, his region should be given two states. He said the creation of additional states in the six geo-political zones will create a better balance.Also fielding questions at the end of session, co-Chairman of the committee, Mohammed Ukara Kumalia, said in the interest of justice and fair-play, the South-East should be given an additional state. He said every other region agitating for more states must be given based on merit. He said this is needed in order to avoid abuse of the process.He said that genuine demands for the creation of states from all the other zones will be looked into and disclosed that decisions will be taken based on the merit of such demands looking at their viability, contiguity and a host of other factors that usually determine the creation of states.--Kumalia further disclosed that the committee will revisit the issue of local council creation next week, and specifically address other elements such as the mode of funding, among others
OkonkwoNetworks..........Building NIGERIA of our DREAM
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