The Setting
The National Conference inaugurated by President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan on the 17th of March, 2014, ended formally on Thursday, 14th August, 2014, in an atmosphere of conviviality, spirit of camaraderie and with a renewed hope for Nigeria as a retooled entity. Such was the intense feeling of brotherhood that the conference at plenary engaged in spontaneous rendition of the old National Anthem “Nigeria we hail thee,” which I had sponsored a motion for its recall. I had also suggested that the conference 
chairman and deputy should endeavour to dorn traditional national dress, rather than their usual “oyinbo” suit on the 21st of August, 2014, during the formal presentation of the conference report to Mr. President. Such a conference that was overdue and eagerly awaited by all Nigerians did a lot to douse the anger, tension, mutual suspicion, ethno-religious conflicts, bad blood and recriminations by one ethnic group against the other.
It is only meet, therefore, that its recommendations must be implemented without delay by the fast winding down President Muhammadu Buhari administration. Strangely enough, apart from President Goodluck Jonathan, who addressed the issue only once during his presidential campaign in Lagos in 2015, to the effect that he would implement the Confab decisions, none of the other presidential candidates ever made the implementation of the Confab report an election campaign issue. Even Mr. President has never dwelt on it again, in spite of the APC’s promise to restructure the country (some of the key recommendations of the 2014 National Conference).
This writeup is, therefore, to capture some of the laudable decisions of the Confab and call upon the Buhari government to implement the report. He should not throw it into the dustbin of history to gather cobwebs as happened to its sister reports of the 2005 National Political Reform Conference, and 1999 Vision 2020 Report. A symposium held in Abuja under the auspices of H. H. Macaulay Centre for Advancement of Democracy, during which I presented a paper, had also harped on its implementation.
Some major decisions taken by the conference to retool and re-engineer Nigeria
The Conference took some major decisions that would, if implemented, forever change Nigeria for the better. I will hereunder briefly itemize some, with the new innovations mostly highlighted in bold fonts.
Under the general provisions of the Constitution, the Conference decided as follows:
On the Constitution
Any State of the Federation wishing to do so may enact and give itself a Constitution for that State but if any provision of the Constitution of that State is inconsistent with any provisions of this Constitution, this Constitution shall prevail and that other provision shall to the extent of the inconsistency be void.
1. The Federal Republic Of Nigeria
(1) Nigeria is one indivisible and indissoluble sovereign state to be known by the name of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
(2) (a) Nigeria shall be a Federation consisting of States and a Federal Capital Territory.
(b) Nigeria shall have a Federal Government with the States as the Federating Units.
(3) The composition of the Government of a State, a Local Government Council, or any of the agencies of such Government or council the conduct of the affairs of the Government or council or such agencies shall be carried out in such a manner as to recognize the diversity of the people within its area of authority and the need to promote a sense of belonging and loyalty among all the people of the Federation.
2. States of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja
With the proposal for the creation of 18 additional states, Nigeria shall have 54 states:
(1) There shall be 54 States in Nigeria, that is to say, Aba, Abia, Adada, Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Amana, Anambra, Anioma, Apa, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Benue, Borno, Cross River, Delta, Ebonyi, Edo, Edu, Ekiti, Enugu, Etiti, Ghari, Gombe, Gurara, Ijebu, Imo, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kainji, Kano, Katagum, Katsina, Kebbi, Kogi, Kwara, Lagos, Nasarawa, New Oyo, Njaba-Anim, Niger, Ogoja, Ogun, Oil Rivers, Ondo, Ose, Osun, Oyo, Plateau, Rivers, Savannah, Sokoto, Taraba, Yobe and Zamfara.
Judicature and local government system
In changing the face of the Judicature and Local Government Systems, the Conference introduced the following new courts, as highlighted:
a. The Supreme Court of Nigeria;
b. The Federal Court of Appeal;
c. The State Court of Appeal;
d. The Federal High Court;
e. The National Industrial Court
f. The Constitutional Court;
g. The Anti-Corruption Court;
The judicature also witnessed the following new innovative provisions:
(i) In the exercise of a Judicial powers, the Courts shall be independent and shall not be subject to the control or direction of any person or authority.
(ii) No person or authority shall interfere with the Court or Judicial officers in the exercise of their judicial functions.
(iii) All organs and agencies of the State shall accord the Courts such assistance as may be required to ensure the effectiveness of the Courts.
(iv) A person exercising judicial powers shall not be liable to any action or suit for any act or omission by that person in the exercise of judicial powers.
Local government systems
Section 7 of the 1999 Constitution was totally altered to bring about a new system of Local Government structure that exists within states, not being a federation unit.
A. A system of Local Governments by democratically elected Local Government Councils is guaranteed.
The innovations further emphasise that:
Chairmen and Councilors of Local Governments not democratically elected shall not be recognized by all authorities and persons and shall not be entitled to any revenue allocation.
B. States shall create Local Governments, which shall be under the Jurisdiction of that State.
C. States that wish to, may increase or reduce the number of existing Local Governments which shall be under the Jurisdiction of the State.
D. The number, structure, form and administration of Local Governments shall be determined by States, provided that the tenure of elected Local Government Councils shall be three years.
E. In addition to the functions conferred upon Local Government councils as specified in the Fourth Schedule to this Constitution, the House of Assembly of a State may by law Confer additional functions on the Local Government.
Office of the local government chairman
a. The office of the Chairman of a Local Government council or an area Council shall rotate within the Local Government or the area Council as the case may be.
b. The Independent National Electoral Commission shall divide the Local Governments or the Area Councils into two or three equal parts as the case may be for the purpose of the rotation of the office of the Chairman.
State creation
On State creation, the Conference recommended as follows:
a. Any new State sought to be created must be viable.
b. In considering viability, the following should be taken into consideration –
(i) Any new State should be economically viable;
(ii) The new State should have human, natural and material resources; and
(iii) The new State should have a minimum land/water mass.
c. The viability of the existing State should as well be taken into consideration so as not to create a situation where a new State would leave an existing State unviable.
d. The boundary of any existing State(s) and Local Governments shall be adjusted by the National Boundary Commission which shall act upon receiving an application from the area requesting boundary adjustment, provided that:
(i) The application is supported by relevant stakeholders from/representing the communities in the area demanding;
(ii) The area concerned is geographically contiguous with the State to which the area will be adjusted;
(iii) The proposal for adjustment is approved by a simple majority in a referendum conducted for residents of communities situated in the area to be adjusted; and
(iv) The receiving State agrees to accommodate the adjustment.
e. A National Boundary Tribunal shall be established to adjudicate on boundary disputes.
Merger and demerger of states and zonal commission
The Conference also realized that there could be merger of States, and so made the following recommendations:
1. Without prejudice to States constituting the Federating Units, States that wish to merge may do so:
Provided that –
(a) A two-thirds majority of all members in each of the Houses of Assembly of each of the States in which such merger is proposed support by resolution the merger;
(b) A referendum is conducted in each of the States proposing to merge with 75 percent of the eligible in each of those States approving the merger; and
(c) The National Assembly by resolution passed by a simple of membership approves of the merger.
2. States that decide to merge shall also reserve the right to demerge following the same procedure and processes for merger.
3. Any group of States may create a self-funding Zonal Commission.
Mode of altering provisions of the Constitution
The conference decided to simplify the mode of creating new states in the following manner:
(1) The National Assembly may, subject to the provision of this section, alter any of the provisions of this Constitution.
(2) An act of the National Assembly for the purpose of altering any provision of this constitution shall only be passed if the proposal for alteration of the Constitution is approved
a. In a referendum by simple majority;
b. By simple majority of all States of the Federation supported by a simple majority of members of the Houses Assembly; and
c. By a resolution passed by two-thirds majority of members of each House of the National Assembly; and
(4/5 of each House of National Assembly and approved by 2/3 of all States).
New bill of rights introduced
The National Conference introduced a new Bill of Rights, by adding the following to chapter II of the emerging 2014 Constitution:
The President shall report to the National Assembly at least once a year all steps and measures taken to ensure the realization of the policy objectives contained in this Chapter, and in particular, the realization of a healthy economy and basic human rights including the rights to health, education, employment and housing.
Every citizen f Nigeria shall have the right to seek the enforcement of these duties in the Constitution Court.
Women shall occupy no less than thirty percent of all appointive and elective positions at all levels, five per cent of which shall be women with disability or physically challenged.
Encourage inter-marriage among persons from different places of origin, or of different religious, gender, physically challenged, ethnic or linguistic association or ties; and
Promote or encourage the formation of associations that cut across ethnic, linguistic, religious, gender, physically challenged, or other sectional barriers.
Whilst introducing free education for all girl-children, the Conference introduced a new innovation in regulating education between Federal, State and Local Governments by providing that:
Primary education shall be regulated and controlled by Local Governments, secondary school shall be regulated and controlled by the State Governments and tertiary Institutions and Unity Schools shall be regulated and controlled by the Federal Government except in cases of special intervention.
(To be continued)
Thought for the week
“We have all the good policies, all right visions, but the problem is implementation. When we come out of national conference, we want those leaders we have chosen to be those who can implement policies.” (Cyril Ramaphosa)