Confab has shamed critics, says Jonathan as he receives 22 volumes of report

158 days after he inaugurated the 2014 National Conference, President Goodluck Jonathan, yesterday, received the report of the confab and vowed that his government would implement the recommendations.
The visibly elated President, who said that Nigerians had shamed critics, who thought the exercise would dismember the country, added that the government would discuss the outcome with the National Assembly and the Council of State on how to implement the report.

Among other things, the conference made far reaching recommendations that could boost the socio-economic and political development fortunes of the country, if faithfully implemented.

Confab: Northern Delegates Reject Additional State For South-East

Northern delegates to the ongoing National Conference have kicked against the creation of an additional state from the south-east zone of the country.

The Conference, on Thursday, approved the creation of 18 additional states across the country as a way of meeting the yearnings and aspirations of the people.

The delegates also unanimously accepted the recommendation for the creation of an additional state for the south-east zone to put it at par with other zones of the country.

But delegates from the north have rejected it, saying, “There was no sense in creating a state without population and land mass among factors being put for recognition”.

The spokesman of the group, Mr Anthony Sani, told our correspondent in Kaduna that “the Northern Delegates Forum is not opposed to the creation of additional states provided they meet the requirements set up by the creating authority”.

“What is disagreeable to Northern Forum is the demand by south-east that a state be given without meeting set criteria, but on equality without equity.

“We believe states as federating units, apart from allaying the fear of minority and

National Conference: Igbeke replaces late Akunyili

The Chairman of the National Conference and a former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Idris Kutigi on Wednesday admitted Senator Alphonsus Igbeke as a replacement for the late Minister of Information and Communications, Prof. Dora Akunyili.

Igbeke’s name was announced to the plenary by Kutigi amidst applause from fellow delegates.

The senator, who represented Anambra North Senatorial District on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, was earlier seen by journalists on Tuesday evening when he came to finalise his documentation with the Conference Secretariat.

He later confirmed that he had come to replace Akunyili at the confab.

Ailing delegate rushed out of National Conference

A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mr. Niyi Akintola, was rushed out of the national conference on Wednesday.

Akintola, a delegate from Oyo State, was said to have suddenly become weak and was noticed by some other delegates.


Akintola was among the delegates who were listening to the debate on the report of the Committee on Political Restructuring and Forms of Government.

Some delegates who did not know what was happening were astonished when two nurses and security operatives rushed into the chamber to assist in moving Akintola out of the conference hall.

Before then, some delegates had rushed to the venue, where the Police ambulance attached to the Conference was stationed, but the bus was unable to move due to the blockage of the route by cars belonging to delegates.

When it was apparent that the bus would not get to where Akintola was, a delegate

Let's change Nigeria’s name to 'Airegin' - Confab delegate, Mike Ozekhome

A federal government delegate, Chief Mike Ozekhome, SAN yesterday called for change of the present name of Nigeria to a proposed one called “Airegin” because according to him, the name Nigeria was twisted by the colonialists and it would make a clean brake from the past.

Speaking yesterday while contributing at plenary during debate on report of committee on Political Restructuring and Forms of Government with Gen. Ike Nwachukwu and Mohammed Umara Kumalia as co- Chairmen, Ozekhome also called for a reversal from the present National Anthem to the former and older one which was written by Taiwo Akinwumi, adding that the old flag that was designed with the rising sun on it should be re-introduced against the backdrop that it was peculiar with all parts of the country.

The delegate who noted that when the country replaces all these, it would then help Nigeria wash off the colonial legacy, adding, “It was a colonial imposed name which should be changed to reflect originality.

“I want to move that this conference should consider changing the name of the country to reflect our originality. The name Nigeria was a colonial imposition which must be corrected. The name was given to the country by Lady Flora Shaw who later became Lady Lugard”.

According to him, prior to the change of name, Nigeria as a country was known as the

State creation tears confab apart

The clamour for state creation pitched delegates against one another at the national conference on Wednesday.

Some delegates claimed that it was wrong for the Committee on Political Restructuring and Forms of Government to have recommended for the creation of one state for the South-East alone without anything for other zones.

The report of the committee says, “There shall be created an additional state for the South-East zone and that all other requests for state creation should be considered on merit.”

The committee approved criteria for the creation of states by saying that any new state sought to be created must be viable.

In determining what is viable, the committee says such state must be economically viable or potentially economically viable and it should have human, natural and material resources and should have a minimum land mass/mass.

New state, it said, should have cultural/historical antecedents, with strong cultural affinity amongst the population of the new state and that such new state should have a minimum population of one million people.

There were 34 request for state creation before the committee while a request was made to change the name of Adamawa State to Gongola State.

A delegate, who was a former Minister of Industry, Chief Nike Akande, canvassed for the creation of another state from the present Oyo State.

She requested that all requests for state creation should be considered in their merit and “in accordance to the criteria, I support the creation of more states.

“In this regard, I propose the split of Oyo State into two, which are Ibadan State and

Confab votes against states electoral commission

They National Conference on Tuesday voted in favour of scrapping of the State Independent Electoral Commissions in the country.Delegates’ action was however in variance with the recommendation by the Committee on Political Parties and Electoral Matters, which recommended that rather than scrapping of SIECs, efforts should be made to strengthen them with a view to making them more effective, as well as improving their credibility.It added that provision should be made for the financial indecent of SIECs by giving them a first line charge in the state’s budget.

National Conference: Delegates exchange hot words over resource control

Tempers and regional tensions rose on Wednesday during deliberations on resource control by members of the Committee on Devolution of Power in the ongoing National Conference in Abuja.

A free for all was averted among delegates who were visibly divided along regional lines.

The delegates hauled invectives on one another, thereby creating temporary suspension of contributions of some members.

Ironically, the committee’s co-chairmen, former governor of Akwa Ibom State, Obong Victor Attah, and ex-Inspector-General of Police, Alhaji Ibrahim Coomasie, who had clashed over resource control, brought the controversy under control.

Trouble started when a delegate from Kano State, Dr. Junaid Mohammed, in his contribution, kicked against “agitation for resource control” and asked delegates “not to support” it.

He added that the problem Nigeria was facing was lack of good and proper management of its abundant human and