The National Conference will resume plenary sitting on Monday after delegates went on a three-day break to study the working documents that would guide their deliberations.
Faith-based prayers have also been ruled out of the conference.
President Goodluck Jonathan had on Monday inaugurated the 492-member Conference and charged it with the responsibility of finding solutions to some of the major problems affecting the country.
After holding a brief plenary session on Tuesday, delegates to the conference moved to adjourn sitting till all the working documents were supplied to them by the secretariat.
In a statement, the assistant secretary, media and communications, Akpandem James, indicated that all the needed documents have been supplied to the delegates.
He noted that the conference will adopt its draft Rules of Procedure during the resumed sitting.
“Delegates to the National Conference will tomorrow, Monday March 24, 2014, resume plenary sitting after a short adjournment which was to allow them study the various working documents that were supplied to them, shortly after the inaugural sitting,” Mr. James said.
“On resumption tomorrow [Monday], delegates will debate and adopt the Rules of Procedure for the National Conference and subsequently commence debate on the President’s address delivered at the inauguration on Monday, March 17, 2014.”
He said the draft Rules of Procedure for the Conference and the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 were supplied to the delegates on Thursday.
Mr. James also noted that the conference had during its inaugural sitting, adopted the second stanza of the National Anthem as its opening and closing prayer, thereby ruling out any faith-based prayers.
Addressing the thorny issue of sitting arrangement, he said delegates had agreed that except for physically challenged persons and others with serious health concerns, delegates will sit in alphabetical order.
He listed some of the working documents supplied to delegates to include: the Report of the Constitutional Conference, 1995 (Containing the Draft Constitution) Vol. 1, Report of the Constitutional Conference, 1995 (Containing the Resolutions and Recommendations) Vol. 2, and the Report of the Political Bureau (March, 1987).
Others included the Report of the National Political Reform Conference, 2005, the Implementation Guidelines to the National Political Reform Conference, 2005, the Report of the Presidential Committee on Review of Outstanding Issues from Recent Constitutional Conferences (Main Report) July 2012.
Others were: Report of the Presidential Committee on Review of Outstanding Issues from Recent Constitutional Conferences (Executive Summary) July 2012, the Policy Recommendations of the Presidential Committee to Review Outstanding issues from recent Constitutional Conferences, July 2012, President Jonathan’s Speech during Nigeria’s Centenary Celebrations, President Jonathan’s Speech at the inauguration of the National Dialogue Advisory Committee (Monday 7th October, 2013).
Mr. James also stated that the secretariat supplied the President Jonathan’s inaugural speech to all delegates.
