Tinubu Urged to Send Reports of 2014 National Conference for Legislative Action

Chuks Okocha in Abuja

Former Special Adviser to former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, and the Social Democratic Party (SDP) governorship candidate in the last general election in Adamawa State, Dr. Umar Ardo, and the Adamawa Concerned Group have called on President Bola Tinubu to take the recommendations of 2014 National Conference report to the National Assembly for legislative action.

The former SDP governorship candidate, who wrote on behalf of concerned groups in Adamawa State, also called for a convocation of an apolitical national conference to address the rising tide of insecurity, including kidnapping, banditry as well as the decking economy

In a statement he signed, Ardo said: “The recommendations of the National Conference/Dialogue be sent to the president, and the president in turn to subject them to legislative approval in the same way he gets his nominees or budgets approved.”

He also suggested a constitutional amendments to the 1999 Constitution that would enable appointments of capable Nigerians into public offices.

According to Ardo, “In order to ensure that capable people with the right skills and character are placed in position of public service, we propose a constitutional clause for qualification to hold public offices be amended requiring that: ‘No person shall qualify to hold and exercise powers and duties of any public office (whether elective, appointive or bureaucratic) in Nigeria except such a person is of unquestionable integrity.

“No doubt, having such a clear constitutional clause will help in ensuring that only persons of good character, integrity and competence are put in charge of public institutions at all levels and organisations. The benefit of this is that it will serve as a check on all potential aspiring public officials, distil the process of choice of operators of our public affairs and instill sense of discipline and good character into members of society. In other words, it will raise the bar in the quality of public service and improve good governance.”

The former aide to Atiku explained further the reason for the apolitical national conference, saying: “Clearly things have deteriorated in Nigeria in the past decade, rather rapidly. Take every facet of the country’s national life and you cannot invalidate this assertion. The economy has now collapsed, evidenced by the exchange rate which keeps on falling inexorably.

‘’All across board businesses have been crumbling and investors pulling out of the country. Inflation, high cost of living, low wages and unemployment have created mass poverty and destitution in the people.

“Similarly, state authority has waned as armed insurrections have escalated all over the country, and nobody obeys any law any longer. There is no more patriotism nor loyalty to the nation as separatist tendencies and groups keep on widening. Unable to form a coherent national armed resistance against the country’s establishment, pockets of armed groups of all sorts have sprouted in varying degrees in all parts of the country, taking forms of their peculiar cultural roots.”

Still lamenting, Ardo, who is the convener of the group, said: “Corruption has become endemic as public servants of all categories have virtually personalized for themselves public finances and public property entrusted in their care.

From the Deziani to the Dasuki to the Emiefele and to the Betta scandals, and so many in-between them, the level of corruption episodes of public officials and institutions are mind-boggling, resulting in the prostration of public institutions, infrastructure and social services such as education, healthcare, housing, power and transportation.

“The situation is even worse in the states. Citizens, thus left to cater for themselves in all aspects of community life, have become distrustful, disillusioned, disappointed and disinterested in public affairs, and hateful towards public servants. Consequently, what we have left as a country today is just but a wreckage.”

Ardo added: “Given how deeply rooted these issues are, I believe only a high level consultation as a National Conference/Dialogue can comprehensively discuss and proffer enduring solutions to the issues.”

He listed the objectives of the apolitical national conference to include “accommodate and reflect on our diversity and heterogeneity as a nation-state; set authoritative higher law over discords of tradition and politics; transcend disagreements and settle arguments; create and enhance social and ethical order in society; and evoke deeper sense of patriotism and purpose in citizens.

“The benefits of this reform are enormous. Firstly, communities will become trained and organised, in that each member of a community understands where their governance, success and failure begins and ends. Secondly, citizens will be very much engaged and active in the political process, making them major stakeholders, and not spectators in their own affairs.

“That will reduce the role and power of political merchants. Thirdly, community will become enlightened and cohesive, a factor that will ensure societal security, peace and stability.”