Despite its vast resources, Nigeria ranks among the most unequal countries in the world, according to the UN. The poverty in the north is in stark contrast to the more developed southern states. While in the oil-rich south-east, the residents of Delta and Akwa Ibom complain that all the wealth they generate flows up the pipeline to Abuja and Lagos.
Some 500 Nigerian
delegates have just finished five months of deliberations about the
political system and future of a country which has seen bitter conflicts
between its numerous ethnic, religious and linguistic groups. Analyst
Abdullahi Tasiu Abubakar looks back at what the National Conference
achieved.
As the Nigerian
government begins moves to implement the conference's resolutions, many
Nigerians are asking if the exercise was worthwhile.
Experts question the
viability of some of the decisions and the feasibility of their implemen
The delegates, drawn from all parts of the country and representing
diverse interests, debated issues ranging from the contentious
revenue-sharing formula to the divisive political structure of the
nation.
They passed more than
600 resolutions and produced a 10,335-page report, which has been
submitted to President Goodluck Jonathan, who promised to implement
them.
"We shall send the
relevant aspects of your recommendations to the Council of State and the
National Assembly for incorporation into the constitution," he told the
delegates' leaders.On our part, we shall act on those aspects required of us in the executive.''
'More united'
Their chairman, former
Chief Justice Idris Kutigi, said fears that the conference would lead to
the disintegration of the country had been dispelled.
"We have held a National Conference and we are more united today than ever," he said.
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President Jonathan (c) and conference chairman Justice Idris Kutigi (r) are pleased with the results
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Main recommendations from the National Conference:
- Scrapping the current system of 774 local authorities - this is intended to save money and reduce corruption. States would be able to set up their own local systems
- Creation of 18 new states - equally spread around the country. Also suggested that states wishing to merge can do so if certain conditions met
- Revenue allocation - proposes reducing share of national income going to the federal government and increasing share for the states
- Modified presidential system of government that combines the presidential and parliamentary systems of government. The president should pick the vice-president from the legislature
- Power should be shared and rotated at all levels of government. Presidency should rotate between north and south and among the six geo-political zones of the country. Likewise, the governorship post should rotate among the three senatorial zones in each state
Head of the northern delegates Alhaji Ibrahim Coomassie said that whatever they did, they "did so for one Nigeria".
His southern counterpart Chief Edwin Clark said: "We came in, we came out and we conquered."
Mr Jonathan seems
delighted by their words: "It is now very clear that as Nigerians, we
have devised a way of addressing and resolving our differences amicably:
We dialogue and dialogue until we agree."
But while the president
and the delegates revel at what they see as the success of the
conference, critics dismiss it as a diversionary tactic and waste of
resources.
They argue that
conducting it just a few months ahead of general elections due next year
and in the middle of a crippling Boko Haram insurgency was irrational.
Reports about the insurgency and the Ebola virus that hit the country in July often overshadowed the conference.
The outcome of the conference provides even more ammunition for the critics.
They say it neither
meets the expectations of those who want a restructuring of the country,
nor does it satisfy the yearnings of those who prefer reform of the
existing system.
'Lofty intent'
There is also a question of legality raised by some of the delegates.
Many of them, including
Auwwalu Yadudu, a professor of law, have openly rejected an attempt to
turn the resolutions into a draft constitution.
Mr Yadudu said the conference "cannot discharge or exercise a mandate not conferred on it by law".
University of Lagos
lecturer Wahab Shittu concurs, arguing that the absence of a legal
framework has "made the lofty intent of the National Conference to be
illusionary".
And even if legal
backing is retrospectively provided for those issues that require it and
others integrated into government policies, as seems to be the plan
now, there are still issues of acceptability.
Some of the fundamental
changes proposed by the conference, such as scrapping the country's 774
local authorities and creating an additional 18 states, were roundly
rejected by many Nigerians....How can they scrap local authorities and create more states?who proposed this?WHO???
The conference came as Boko Haram militants intensified their attacks
These changes - like
several others such as altering the revenue-sharing arrangement and
proposing a modified presidential system of government - require
amendment of the constitution, which legal experts say is a long and
tedious process.
It is impossible to do
it under the current government which faces elections in the next few
months, senior legal practitioner Tahir Shehu told the BBC.
"Constitutional amendment must be endorsed by the National Assembly and two-thirds of the states' houses of assembly," he said.
"You can't get that on
any issue that has no clear national consensus. Scrapping local
governments will not be one of them — nor will creation of additional
states."
These are perhaps some
of the issues envisaged by those who dubbed the conference a "jamboree"
to underline what they regard as wastefulness.
Right from the onset,
the reported N7BN ($43m; £26m) budgeted for it - it is still unclear how
much was actually spent as the tenure was extended to enable delegates
to complete their work - was criticised by many Nigerians, including
President Jonathan's main rival in the last presidential election,
former head of state General Muhamadu Buhari.
"I do not think that at
this time when governments are finding it difficult to pay salaries of
workers, it can afford about N7BN to waste on a conference," he said.
Mohammed Haruna, the
veteran columnist and former managing director of the New Nigerian
Newspapers, has reviewed various post-independence conferences and
concluded that "virtually every constitutional conference in this
country has come with a hidden agenda by its convener and virtually all
of them have come to grief".
Many feel this one will be no different to its predecessors.
Ndi ara
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