NIGER DELTA NATIONALITIES REJECT CONFAB COMMITTEES REPORT Nationalities in the Niger Delta have rejected the core modalities recommended by the Presidential Advisory Committee on National Dialogue for the convocation of the forthcoming national conference being planned by the Federal Government. They said President Goodluck Jonathan should, instead, rely on the raw submissions of Nigerias ethnic nationalities in convening the national conference. The groups believe that the committee’s recommendations for National Assembly’s approval of the conference’s outcome and representation based on the 360 federal constituencies were part of a scheme to shut up the Niger Delta people. The positions emerged on Tuesday in Port Harcourt at the Pan-Niger Delta Conference, a civil society forum organised by Social Action in conjunction with other civil society groups to consolidate the positions of the Niger Delta ahead of the national conference. The Niger Delta groups proposed that the ethnic nationalities of Nigeria should be the basis of representation at the national conference and that the outcome of the conference should be approved by a referendum. They said the use of the geopolitical units as basis for representation would minimise the voice of the Niger Delta, which consists of several distinct nationalities. The people also said that the conference should culminate in the emergence of a brand new constitution for the country, and not seek to amend the fraudulent 1999 Constitution. Participants at the PNDC included academics, representatives of community organisations, social movements, non-governmental organisations, and ethnic nationality groups. Keynote addresses were delivered by former president, Ijaw National Congress and chairman, Committee of Pro-Chancellors of Nigerian universities, Professor Kimse Okoko; founding secretary of the Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People and professor of History and Diplomatic Studies, University of Port Harcourt, Professor Ben Naanen; former chair, Friends of the Earth International and director, Home of Mother Earth Foundation, Rev Nnimmo Bassey; former MOSOP president, Mr. Ledum Mitee; Niger Delta activist Annkio Briggs; Professor Andrew Efemini of the University of Port Harcourt; and elder statesman and former Petroleum Minister, Dr. Mofia Akobo. The PNDC was chaired by eminent historian, Professor Ebiegberi Alagoa, and co-chaired Naanen. In attendance at the conference were over 1000 delegates, representing nationality and sub-nationality organisations in the Niger Delta. President Goodluck Jonathan had in his Independence Day speech last October 1 announced the establishment of a 13-member Presidential Advisory Committee on National Dialogue, headed by Dr. Femi Okurounmu, with Dr. Akilu Indabawa as its secretary. The committee submitted its report on December 18 last year.
Posted on: Wed, 29 Jan 2014 14:12:45 +0000
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