The truth is that Nigeria has reached a point where the only option is to pool mental resources based on shared experience from our multiplicity for a purposeful and united nation. The problem is however the medium to address our myriads of challenges as a people. Nigeria needs a platform that will jettison all its problems if we must survive millennia to come as one nation.
The truth is that Nigeria has reached a point where the only option is to pool mental resources based on shared experience from our multiplicity for a purposeful and united nation. The problem is however the medium to address our myriads of challenges as a people. Nigeria needs a platform that will jettison all its problems if we must survive millennia to come as one nation.
The Sovereign National Conference (SNC) appears to be the most favored vehicle with which the Nigerian destiny can arrive at its destination.
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Considering the major cause of our national tragedies is premised on the fundamental defects that have always afflicted the process of determining every constitutional frame-work of the polity occasioned by ethno-religious rivalry, one may need to think carefully on what is workably for our peculiar system.
For some proponents of the SNC it is all about resource control, for some its about battle of primacy/secession while others its about battle of survival between the reasons earlier mentioned. But the problem is understanding what Nigerians are wishing for considering our peculiar elitist interests often times in clear negation of the concept of oneness unity and sacrifice.
Sometime one is forced to think that people agitating for SNC in the real sense of it think it is national or constitutional conference. Our constitutional arrangements since our amalgamation have never truly reflected the political, economic, social,cultural and religious realities of the country, but we need a stabilizer not a high octane loaded SNC to solve the problem.
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The concept of SNC therefore requires that Nigeria which is already a sovereign state will have to deny itself that right, hand it over to those handling the convocation of the SNC for it to be fully operational. It is after the fate of the entire nation is placed in the uncertain hands of this few individuals that discussions, grievances and roadmaps for a re-birth of the over 50 year old Nigeria will be tabled for discussion.
To convoke SNC, the process involves the President of Nigeria, the President of the Senate, the Speaker of House of Representatives, all the thirty-six (36) Governors of the states of the Federation and the thirty-six (36) Speakers of the thirty-six (36) state Assemblies to meet jointly to set up the Sovereign National Conference Planning Committee (SNCPC).
The National and State Assemblies would have to promulgate laws in support of the SNC subjected to a referendum of the people to make decisions legit and operational. It is however instructive for us to pause and ponder if Nigeria is stable socially and politically to go head on with all the requirements of the SNC or are we hoping to cut corners by navigating out of the part which requires every political appointment holder from the president to local government councilors to resign from office and submit to a committee? If that happens then we have come short.
These are the questions the governor of Niger state, Dr. Muazu Babangida Aliyu has been asking Nigerians. It is better elites weigh the variables properly to avoid plunging the staggering nation into its most macabre fall, worse than what the SNC is expected to solve.
For a country where committees sit to examine documents prepared by various ‘competent’ committees ad-infinitum, it is indeed difficult not to think that most elites calling for what they are not genuinely familiar with is to get their own share of the commonwealth of Nigeria, which is fast diminishing on account of activities of prebendal politicians.
Every country with issues of harmonizing its diversity through ethno-religious harmony, and eliminating fears of minority through balanced and equal opportunities must subject its constitution to all the contentious issues within its demographic divides, but the way to go about it is of utmost importance if the right thing must be done.
The United States of America in 1787 convened a Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia (also known as the Philadelphia Constitution). The convocation of the Philadelphia constitution was to address problems plaguing America affecting its governance and compatibility of the people.
The result of the Convention was the creation of the United States Constitution, placing the Convention among the most significant events in the history of the United States.
We must learn from best global practice, we must learn from the high-octane level of our political volatility, we must examine our peculiarity as a nation, we must also analyze proponents of the SNC. It is important to infer beyond what appears like the ordinary to understand the self-serving motives of some Nigerians at the detriment of the corporate entity of the country.
Reverting to the earlier example, the United States seized to be the colony of the ‘Great Britain’ in 1776, was declared a sovereign state in 1783, convened its constitutional convention in 1787. Now 226 years down the works, the country with one of the world known racial multiplicity is yet to call for SNC.
This is 53 years of our independence and about 100 years of amalgamation and the need to submit our hard earned sovereignty to a group of individuals has suddenly become our prayers. Like the Chief Servant posited, let there be SNC but first the rule of the game must be strictly adhered to which is for Nigeria to pocket its sovereignty in the hands of a few and probably unstable individuals, then we might have caved in to the demands of those who wanted a splinter Nigeria.
Ebije writes from Minna
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of SaharaReporters
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