A CALL FOR SOVEREIGN NATIONAL CONFERENCE- PANACEA FOR A LASTING PEACE AND PROGRESS.

By Segun Badmus

Nigeria at a cross road.

A country blessed with human capital,natural resources,arable land from North to South,with mineral rich water boundaries from Calabar to Ondo. A Country so blessed that we are supposed to be competing competitively with BRICS countries in all human development index. Instead we have over 100 Million people disconnected from the means of production.

The date we erred as a people was on the 15 of January 1966,when some overzealous young men took over the reigns of power and usurped our constitution. That day was the day insanity began in governance and impunity institutionalised. The reasons the military gave in justifying their usurpation of power has not changed and have become worse. Their time in governance was worse, when corruption became a norm in the handling of government businesses. The military claimed that the rampant looting of our commonwealth and the inability of politicians to manage democracy necessitated their intervention but the effects of their actions while they were in power led to waste of resources thereby creating falsified classes of people,creating overnight billionaires and protecting monopolies.

Against this background, it should be sounded aloud the imperativeness of reverting to the constitution which the military suspended when they took over power. That constitution was our living document,the later attempts to rewrite our constitution became a repetition of decrees and statues. The 1999 constitution does not contain the aspirations of the majority.The pre-1966 coup constitution should be restored.

Now it has emerged a renewed call for the convocation of a Sovereign National Conference. Some Easterners and Niger Deltans are presently demanding from the President the convocation of an S.N.C before the end of 2014. 

In as much as we all desire to have an avenue to discuss the issues bothering on our very existence as a Nation. It should not be an attempt to run away from a contest in 2015. The issues at the core of governance should not be swept under the carpet. The lack of basic social contract with the people has created apathy and distance between the government and the governed. The gap is so wide that the government cant even fulfil national obligations like energy,infrastructure and stable educational system etc. The letters of the post-war 1966 constitution were enacted not to have a real-time institutional framework for creating policy positions and implementation strategies. The current structure of government was concocted in illegality,the very laws that established the juntas were illegal.

Finally, genuine reorganization of the system for effective performance should be the template of agitation for the S.N.C. The convocation of the S.N.C should spur us to create an equal society where the chance to succeed and  access to opportunities is guaranteed as reflected in our pre- independence constitution. Where politics is exclusively for healthy competition and innovations. The current trend where politics and political office is seen as an ethnic enterprise that must be protected is injurious to the collective health of our people. The agitation for S.N.C should therefore be borne out of true national aspirations and unity, not an attempt to dismember the Nation. 

Year 2014 is an opportunity to address these burning issues.

Thank you.