Former President Goodluck Jonathan has said he could not implement the recommendations of the 2014 National Confab reports, due to shortage of time.
Ex-President Jonathan, while delivering a goodwill message at the Integration Summit Roundtable in Abuja, stated that the reports were submitted few months to the 2015 General Elections and it would have taken a year for his administration to complete the necessary implementations.
Jonathan, represented by his Media Adviser, Ikechukwu Eze, stated that the Confab reports possess the keys to reshaping and consolidating the necessary common grounds and shared values needed to move the nation forward.
“I received the report of the national conference on Thursday, August 21, 2014, after the closing ceremony to mark the end of the five-month long deliberations. I was satisfied with the outcome. It has remained the best national conference so far because of the depth of the deliberations and the fact that all the decisions reached were not based on majority votes, but by consensus.
“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 the National Assembly was on break, with many of the members already at different constituencies to prepare their constituents for elections.
“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.”
Before the Conference, activist and now Senator Shehu Sani was certain the Conference Report will be used for nothing but selling Akara
“Those who will take the pain to write and submit their volumes of memoranda to the conference will find their memoranda in the belly of termites and bugs or with Akara sellers in Lugbe.” He said.
Some of the key recommendations of the confab reports are:
1) Creation of additional 18 new States.
2) Removal of immunity clause if offenses attract criminal charges.
3) Presidential power should be between the North and the South among the six geo-political zones while Governorship will be among the three Senatorial district of a State.
4) That Local Government will be autonomous; no longer be regarded as a tier of Government.
5) Creation of special Courts to handled corruption cases
6) Government sponsorship of Christians and Muslims to holy lands should be canceled.
7) Sharing of funds among the tiers of Government should be according to the following; Federal 42.5%, State 35%, Local 22.5%
Few of the recommendations have been implemented by the current administration.
In September, the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Onnoghen ordered all Head of Courts to assign at least one Court in their various jurisdictions which will be known as Special Court solely for hearing and prosecuting corruption and financial crime cases.
The National Assembly is set to grant autonomy to Local Government, strongly supported by the President.
The Federal Government has also said it would stop funding pilgrimage to holy lands.
Most of the reports are yet to be implemented, as they must pass through the National Assembly, which would render it to the floor for debate.
The 2014 Confab report was submitted to the President by the Committee Chairman, Justice Idris Kutigi, on August 21, 2014.
In September, the President approved a seven-member committee to study and develop strategies for the implementation of the report.
With less than 48-hours left for him to vacate office after the 2015 General elections, that saw President Buhari emerging the winner, Mr Jonathan did not submit an Executive Bill to the Senate, but rather a letter titled; ‘Approval for the implementation of the recommendations and resolutions of the National Conference 2014’.
The letter was read by the then Senate President, David Mark.
