Don urges Govt to revert to 2014 National conference report in resolving Nigeria's problems
Date: 2018-01-22
A Political Scientist, Professor Samuel Gabriel Egwu has suggested to the Federal Government to revert to all the reports and recommendations of the 2014 National Conference and other committees set up by previous administrations in the country that are lying on the shelves unattended to. According to him , the government and the National Assembly should go through such reports and aggregate those positive recommendations for proper implementation rather than suggesting another National Convention or conference in the country which would be inform of waste of time and resources.
Professor Egwu who was a delegate from Kogi State to the National conference made these recommendations in Ilorin , the Kwara State capital while answering questions on a Radio Kwara Personality interview programme, Playing Host.
The Don, presently the Niger State Resident Electoral Commissioner for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) noted that most of the past recommendations were in accord with the dominance of the Nigerian people and can move the nation forward .
According to him , the 2014 National Conference had clear recommendations and equally addressed the issues of anti-corruption, issues of presidential system of government , issues on the question of what to do with citizenship , on the issue of a new constitution for Nigeria and the issue of state creation.
He added that all the questions about the present agitation for restructuring emerged because of the inadequacies of the frame work of managing our diversity and lamented that most recommendations and resolutions even before independence were not implemented .
The INEC boss disclosed that what was missing today in the country is not the problem of structure but lack of governance and suggested that the nation should go back to the 19199 constitution and realign the different powers and responsibilities assigned to various tires of government. Professor Egwu called for the transfer of resources from the central government to the states to match their new responsibilities and grant local governments full autonomy while the leaders and the elites should shun all forms of corruption .
He described Niger state as a generally quite state politically and said what the commission is presently doing is embarking on aggressive continuos voters registration by targeting people who have just turned eighteen , people who lost their voters card or who have their own defaced and targeting those who have changed residence , all these in conjunction with consultations political parties , civil societies in preparations for the forthcoming elections.
According to him , the major challenge or challenges the commission is facing in the state, is the challenge of funding , vast territory , challenge of ignorance of people but assured that the commission would mobilize all the instrument of national power to be able to reach the Nigerian people so that we can create a democracy that can promote development and happiness for all.