Other delegates demand true federalism.

The Chairman of the defunct Presidential Advisory Committee on National Dialogue, Femi Okurounmu, has advocated for the scrapping of the presidential system of government in Nigeria, saying the system is a breeder of corruption.

He made the call while discussing President Goodluck Jonathan’s inaugural speech at the conference.
Mr. Okurounmu, who is a South West delegate to the Conference, argued that if corruption must be curbed in the country, it must return to the parliamentary system of government, which it practiced in the First Republic.

“If corruption is to be curbed and accountability restored to governance, we must jettison the so-called presidential system and return to the parliamentary system under which our nation set the pace in growth and development even for today’s Asian Tigers,” he said.

He stated that for the country to go back to the path of growth and wholesome value, all the negative imprints of military rule must be wiped out and true and balanced federalism restored.

According to him, the centre must devolve powers to the federating units large enough to effectively wield the powers to be devolved, adding that the present six geo-political zones or the original 12 states created by the Gowon administration were ideal for this purpose.

Mr. Okurounmu, a former senator, advised the Conference not to clamp itself under the constraints that were not imposed by Mr. Jonathan while inaugurating the delegates last month, saying its resolutions needed not to be taken to the National Assembly.

“To send them there will defeat the goal of building a new, just and equitable society because the National Assembly itself is one of those institutions which, as presently constituted, is heavily skewed in favour of some sections of the country and against others.”

A South-South delegate, Kimse Okoko, called for fiscal federalism and that the 1999 Constitution was fraudulent in every aspect because with so much power being vested at the centre, it created rooms for avoidable wrong doings.

Mr. Okoko, a professor and former President of the Ijaw National Congress, described Mr. Jonathan’s address to the Conference as “consummate, patriotic and portrayed potential elements for change.”
A former governor of Ogun State, Olusegun Osoba, who came on the ticket of Former Governors Forum, FGF, canvassed the return to regionalism.

Mr. Osoba prayed that Nigeria would not go the way of other countries of the world that started as one, but had to split into parts along the way.

A human rights activist and lawyer, Festus Okoye, asked the delegates to analyse the previous events in the country in other to be able to plan for the present, noting that yesterday had a lot of bearing on
what we plan today for tomorrow.

Mr. Okoye, who represents the Civil Society Organisations, CSO, said some of the delegates at the Conference were internally displaced from their own states by insurgency. He said the current security challenges in the country were traceable to the inability of policy makers to develop a comprehensive national security system.

Another CSO delegate, Auwal Rasfanjani, said the country’s major problem was rooted in corruption and that some of the delegates to the Conference were also involved in the menace.

He regretted that the democracy, which the CSO fought to restore to the country, had been hijacked by people who were never committed to the struggle.

A Federal Government delegate, Mike Ozekhome, described Mr. Jonathan’s speech as “epochal and momentous,” adding that it set a tone for the Conference.

While dwelling on religion, Mr. Ozekhome, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, said what was going on in the north eastern part of the country should be of concern to delegates.

“I am of a Muslim family; my father and my mother were Muslims. In my house, we have as many Muslims as we have Christians and I send many of them to Mecca on the Hajji as one of the five pillars of Islam. We don’t discriminate,” he said.

“I want to ask a question: why are we suddenly discriminating against ourselves. Religion is being used, as Karl Marx once said, as opium of the masses to oppress the people. It is by the elites of our people.

“What is going on in the north east of Nigeria does not seem to concern many of us because we are in the comfort of our homes either in Abuja, or in Lagos, or in Port Harcourt or in Enugu….”
He advocated the restoration of true federalism and devolution of powers.
A former military governor of the old Cross River State, Paul Omu, told the conference that the 1999 Constitution required some tinkering to enable it meet the desired needs of the people.
Mr. Omu, a retired major general, dismissed as untrue the notion that the military be held responsible for the backwardness of Nigeria explaining that for every military coup in Nigeria, politicians and civilians are always accomplices.