‘Why I Didn’t Implement 2014 Confab Report’

•Advises leaders to take decisions that will outlive them

Former President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, has reiterated the need to implement the report of the 2014 National Conference, stressing that it holds the key to reshape and consolidate the necessary common grounds and shared values, needed to move Nigeria forward.

Jonathan also urged those in authorities to take decisions which impact would outlive them, and gave reasons why he did not implement the recommendations of the confab. It was the first time that the former president would be speaking on why his administration passed on the 2014 National Conference report to the next Government.

The former president stated this in his goodwill message at the 5th Integration Summit Roundtable in Abuja on Saturday where he was represented by his media adviser, Mr. Ikechukwu Eze.

Emphasising that the 2014 confab holds the answers to most of what
Nigerians are agitating for today, Jonathan noted that his administration did not have enough time to implement the conference recommendations, given that the report was submitted to him in August 2014, few months before the next general elections.

He president who estimated that it would have taken up to one year to complete the necessary processes for implementation, stressed that a rushed approach within the limited time he had in office before handing over in 2014, would have raised ethical questions.

Jonathan said: “I am aware that some people have raised some issues with the fact that I did not implement the recommendations of the confab during my tenure. I would like to state that those making this kind of claim are not being fair to me.

“Such people tend to forget that the report was submitted in August 2014, few months before the last general elections. It was at a time that the National Assembly was on break with many of the members already retreating to their different constituencies to prepare their constituents for elections.

“I believe that to have a tidy procedure of implementation, it would have involved committee deliberations, public hearings and town hall consultations, on different segments of the report. There is no doubt that the nation then needed up to one year to complete the processes of implementing the recommendations.

“It was obvious that my administration, given the time the report was submitted, couldn’t have implemented the report, before the 2015 elections, without running into ethical questions.”

The former president, while urging his successors to implement to recommendations of the 2014 Confab, emphasised that agitations have continued because “we are still trying to discover the best way to run our Republic, so that whatever policies we pursue or projects we implement as a nation, will benefit the greatest number of our population.”

He said further: “It was a conference that was designed to shape our future. Its outcome was meant to be of benefit to the future generation of Nigerians. Contrary to the claims in some quarters, the conference was not designed for my own gain or for the immediate benefit of the participants.

“I believe that those entrusted with the responsibilities to formulate policies or make laws should take the kind of decisions that should outlive them, not the ones designed to deliver instant profits to them.”