The quest for the convocation of a national conference got a boost on Tuesday as the Senate said that steps should be taken to convene a national conference of ethnic nationalities. The upper chamber also lamented that those it described as political jobbers, sycophants, and hustlers have seized the country’s political space, and are being allowed to set the tone of national discourse ahead of 2015 general elections. Senate President, David Mark, stated this in an address to flag off a new session for the Senate. Though he counseled that Nigerians should make haste slowly and operate strictly within the parameters of the Constitution in discussion of the national question, Mark agreed that time has come for the country to meet to confront alleged structural distortions in the polity. Such a conference, he said, can find accommodation in the extant provisions of the 1999 Constitution which guarantee freedom of expression, and association. The only no go area at the conference, the Senate President noted, should be talk about dismemberment of the country. He, however, cautioned that it would be unconstitutional to clothe such a conference with constituent or sovereign powers. He said, “We live in very precarious times, and in a world increasingly made fluid and toxic by strange ideologies and violent tendencies, all of which presently conspire to question the very idea of the nation state. “But that is not to say that the nation should, like the proverbial ostrich, continue to bury its head in the sand and refuse to confront the perceived or alleged structural distortions which have bred discontentment and alienation in some quarters. “This sense of discontentment and alienation has fueled extremism, apathy and even predictions of catastrophy for our dear nation. ”A conference of Nigeria’s ethnic nationalities, called to foster frank and open discussions of the national question, can certainly find accommodation in the extant provisions of the 1999 Constitution which guarantee freedom of expression, and of association. “To that extent, it is welcome. Nonetheless, the idea of a National Conference is not without inherent and fundamental difficulties. “Problems of its structure and composition will stretch the letters and spirit of the Constitution and severely task the ingenuity of our constitutionalists.” On the ongoing strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), the Senate President urged the lawmakers to spare a thought “for the plight of our youths who are idling away because of the closure of universities due to the ASUU strike. He said, “The morass in the education sector is deeply troubling not only because it is retarding the educational progress of millions of our children, but also because it arrests the intellectual development of our nation, with grave consequences for the future. “While appreciating the tremendous merit in the case put forth by ASUU we call on its leaders to return to class, while pragmatic negotiations to address their grievances continue. “The Senate will invest the full weight of its moral and constitutional authority to nudge both the Federal Government and ASUU towards a comprehensive settlement that addresses, in a realistic manner, the problems afflicting tertiary education in our country.”
Posted on: Wed, 18 Sep 2013 15:40:57 +0000
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