Rising from a three-day conference in Calabar, the Cross River State capital, the Southern Senators’ Forum, saturday, asked President Muhammadu Buhari to immediately commence measures aimed at implementing the 2014 National Conference report.
The senators from different political parties tasked President Buhari to immediately set up a platform for governors, members of the National Assembly, Houses of Assembly, political leaders, civil society organisations, and other stakeholders, to discuss the report’s implementation mechanism.
The position of the senators was contained in a four-point communiqué read by the chairman of the forum, Senator Hope Uzodinma, at the end of the conference themed: “National Unity and Restructuring.”
According to the communiqué, the forum asked the leadership of the National Assembly to also open debate on the same document so that the implementation thereof would be expedited.
The communiqué further stated that while the unity of the country could not be compromised, the forum believed that the principles on which the country was created by the founding fathers had been eroded, hence the need for the restructuring of Nigeria to create a new order, where equity, justice and peace would prevail.
Uzodinma said, “After presentation of papers, contributions and general brainstorming, it was resolved that Nigeria and Nigerians have come a long way. As such, it has become imperative and in the interest of all to live together as one united family under one indivisible and indissoluble country with justice, equity and fairness.
“While the unity of Nigeria should not and cannot be compromised under any circumstance, it has become apparent that the foundation upon which Nigeria was built at independence in 1960 has been eroded. There is a need to return to the original dream of true federalism, which was a product of negotiation, compromise and accommodation.”
The retreat, the chairman said, witnessed the presentation of papers from prominent Nigerians on various topics, among them: “Sustaining National Unity in a Restructured Nigeria”, “Provisions for National Unity in the 1999 Constitution (Amended)”, “Between the Dreams of Pre-independence Nationalists and Restructuring: A Critical Look at the Past and Present” and the “Imperatives of Restructuring in Multi-Religious Nigeria.”
Uzodinma noted that the senators, who attended in their numbers, also engaged in robust deliberations on what they considered the best way to move Nigeria forward.
It could be recalled that the 2014 national conference was convened by the PDP led administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan.
The All Progressive Congress, which was then in the opposition, boycotted the conference, on which basis the current APC-led government has consistently maintained that it would not implement the report. Political analysts have, however, argued that the National Assembly could on its own take key recommendations of the conference as private member bills and pass them or include them as amendments in the ongoing constitution review exercise
