The convening of a National Conference by President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration held great hopes for Nigerians that, at last, a new Nigerian was about to be born. The expectations were even pushed higher by the caliber of representation from every region in Nigeria and from various social, professional, political, cultural and business organisations. It was, indeed, an assemblage of the cream of the Nigerian nation. Now that the Confab is over and we have been told the resolutions and recommendations, there are two questions that beg for answers: 1) Are Nigerians satisfied with the outcome of the Confab? 2) Will the Federal Government implement the resolutions and recommendations reached at the National Confab and how best can the Federal Government make implementation possible?
FRANK NNABA (Lawyer)
I think the best way to implement the resolution of the Confab by the Federal Government is to compartmentalize it into different levels of implementation at different levels of government. In other words, if they are good ideas, we believe that there are legal frameworks with the current system by which the Government can implement some of them, through the executive powers given to him by the constitution, without being influenced.
JULIET UWAIS (CIVIL SERVANT)
Implementing the Confab resolution will restore national unity in the sense that, if we try to look into those problems that disrupt the peace and unity of our nation such as the issue of resource control, we can then find a lasting solution to them. It should not be a bone of contention; rather the federal government should try and initiate the theory of Absolute Advantage where each state should harness that product which it is naturally endowed with, instead depending on oil as our major source of income.
ANONYMOUS
I suggest that the federal government should be very careful and delicate in handling some recommendations of the Confab such as the issue of State Police. Implementing it will be like opening the gate of hell because nobody can manage the outcome of the blunder, judging from the fact that we practice unitary system of government where all power is concentrated at the centre.
