TheCable

I advised against the issue of national conference. You would recall that ASUU was on strike then for almost nine months, yet that government had about N9 billion to organise that meeting (national conference)… That is why I haven’t even bothered to read it or asked for a briefing on it… I want it to go into the so-called archives.

Those were the exact words of President Muhammadu Buhari during an interactive session with journalists when he marked his first year as a democratic leader.

A month after this, Bolaji Akinyemi, deputy chairman of the national conference, said there was no point “begging” Buhari to implement recommendations of the conference, which had 492 delegates from every part of the country.

Akinyemi was responding to Babachir Lawal, secretary to the government of the federation, who like Buhari, described the conference as a waste.

“I understand that some Nigerians want it (confab report) implemented but the government has been too busy with key areas of governance to talk about an exercise that we thought was essentially diversionary and a sort of, maybe, a ‘job for the boys’, because if you remember, it was reported that almost everybody in the committee got N7 million, and we consider it essentially as job for the boys,” he had said.

But addressing members of US house sub-committee on Africa on Tuesday, former President Goodluck Jonathan said implementation of the report will prevent situations like the ongoing killings in southern Kaduna.

So far, all the measures taken to restore normalcy in Kaduna have not yielded the desired result. Despite the declaration of state of emergency, deployment of troops, and series of meetings with stakeholders in the region, the bloodshed has continued.

Apart from southern Kaduna, there are other troubled spots across the country. Though there is lull in the Niger Delta at the moment, no on can say if the era of militancy in the region is over – militants still struck a day after Gbaramatu kingdom in Delta state, played host to Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo.

In his address in US, Jonathan advised the federal government against considering military crackdown as an option in ending the agitation in the Niger Delta.

He said the steps to take in containing the conflagration in the oil rich region are contained in the confab report.

Do you think the implementation of this report would put an end to the challenges confronting this government? Should Buhari reverse the decision to allow the report “go into the so-called archives?” Let’s have your thoughts.

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