Lawyer Questions Need For National Conference

A Nigerian Lawyer, Ahmed Akanbi, has
questioned the need for a National
Conference, saying it is ‘just a talk
show’ and that the average Nigerian is
tired of talk shows”.
Referring to the era of a former Head of
State, Sanni Abacha and President
Olusegun Obasanjo, Mr Akanbi said that
National conferences were held during
without meaningful results.
He admitted that Nigeria had problems
but questioned why it had to get to this
stage before a conference would be
convened and if a three-month period
was enough to address the problems.
Speaking on Friday on Channels
Television’s breakfast programme,
Sunrise Daily, Mr Akanbi pointed out
that before the start of the National
Conference, there was a committee set
up and recommendations were passed.
He noted that about 80% of the
recommendations that were submitted
by the committee had not been
implemented.
He further questioned the guaranty that
the recommendations from the National
Conference would be effected, insisting
that what Nigeria needed was good
governance.
Mr Akanbi questioned what the faith of
the resolutions would be if the
government that initiated the conference
failed to win in the 2015 general
elections.
“A new government may come in by
2015 and set aside the
recommendations of National
Conference, insisting that the
recommendations do not represent the
interest of Nigeria,” he said.
The lawyer blamed the National
Assembly for not representing Nigerians
well, pointing out that “the National
Assembly is supposed to be the
representative of the masses” and
further stated that the 2011 elections
were free and fair and urged anyone
who is not happy with the 2011 election
to wait for 2015.
He stressed that all that Nigerians were
asking for was the basic necessities of
life and not a conference that would tell
Nigerians that there should be
accountable in governance, noting that
the National Assembly can muster the
will to make the government work.
“If public pressure is brought to bear the
National Assembly can make the
government work,” he stressed.
He also condemned the poor
representations of youth in the National
conference, describing it as a
maginalisation that had been going on
in Nigeria for some decades.
“Nothing will come out of this
conference, where you have a
conference of grandfathers with just
about 18 per cent of youths. The mess
they have created when they were youth
they want to correct with grey hair. You
cannot be a judge in your own court,” he
insisted.