Jonathan sends national conference report to senate

President Goodluck Jonathan has transmitted the report of the national conference to the senate for legislative treatment.

The report, which was tendered to the president in August 2014 after three months of “jaw-jawing” by a collection of Nigerians, is a melting pot of issues regarding the country.

On Wednesday, David Mark, the senate president, read a letter from the president at the chamber, stating actions taken by the national executive council on the report.

The letter read in part: “May I draw the attention of the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to the enclosed report of the National Conference, 2014, which was deliberated upon and approved for implementation by the Federal Executive Council at its meeting of March 18, 2014.

“Your Excellency may recall that the National Conference was inaugurated on of March 17, 2014, with the mandate to among other things:

(A) Discuss any issue about Nigeria with particular emphasis on finding solutions to the problems of national unity and development.

(B) Come up with strategies to strengthen rather than weaken Nigeria’s unity and enhance a participatory and inclusive democratic system of government.

(C) Recognise the need to move the country forward and de-emphasise the narrow interest that defines our fault lines.

(D) Spell out the modalities for the implementation of these recommendations and resolutions.

(E) Suggest any constitutional arrangement they consider best for Nigeria.

“Although, the national conference was not given any no go areas, it was enjoined to refrain from discussing the breakup of the country.

“Distinguished senators are invited to note that at the end of the conference, a report was submitted with recommendations and resolutions covering the following thematic areas:

“Agriculture and Water Resources, Citizenship, immigration and related matters, civil society organisations, labour, youths and sports, devolution of power, economy, trade and investment , energy, environment, foreign policy and diaspora matters, law, judiciary, human rights and legal reform.

“Land tenure matters and national boundaries, national security, political restructuring and forms of government, political parties and electoral matters, policies and governance, public finance, public service, social sector, religion, science technology and development and transportation.

“The recommendation of the conference on the implementation modalities of the resolutions are contained in Chapter six of the report.

“The resolutions are classified into three broad categories, constitutional, legal and policy issues.

“The report further indicates the nature of the actions to be taken, the objectives to be achieved and the agency that needs to take the actions.”