BY EMMAN   OVUAKPORIE
ABUJA — CHAIRMAN, South-South caucus in the House of Representatives, Mr Warman Ogoriba, yesterday, faulted the recent call by some pressure groups and civil society organisations for convocation of a Sovereign National Conference, SNC, and creation of more states in the country.

Ogoriba, who represents Yenagoa/Okpokuma Federal Constituency of Bayelsa State, said he was opposed to the agitation for a sovereign national conference because such a conference would undermine the potency of the National Assembly.

He, however, acknowledged the right of those behind the proposed conference to demand what they believed was the solution to Nigeria’s problems but stated that a sovereign national conference had no place in a constitutional democracy, with an institution as the parliament in session.

Ogoriba, who spoke to journalists, weekend, explained that the call for a sovereign national conference should not be contemplated and urged all aggrieved citizens, political parties or ethnic nationalities not satisfied with the present structure of Nigeria to pursue their proposals for changes through the parliament.

He said: “I do not want to subscribe to the idea because it undermines the potency of the parliament. I think it is not right. However, I think that they are just expressing their opinions and as Nigerians, the 1999 Constitution guarantees everyone the right to hold and express our opinion.

“We cannot begrudge anyone from holding such opinions although there are some opinions that will not really augur well for the unity of the country.

It is very sad when you find some very prominent Nigerians coming out to say that what we need in Nigeria today is a sovereign national conference. It is very sad because many of them are very learned and exposed and one would have expected them to know better.

“The symbol of any democracy is the parliament and once there is a parliament it is wrong for anybody to convene a sovereign national conference. It amounts to saying that there is no parliament in Nigeria. As parliamentarians, we are the representatives of the people.”

There is no one citizen of this country who does not have a representative in the National Assembly.”

If you have an issue, you can bring it before the parliament through your representative. If you want to sponsor a bill, you can do so through any member of the parliament or give the idea to the executive who can then bring same to the National Assembly,” Ogoriba said.

The parliamentarian also dismissed the current clamour for the creation of new states as misplaced, stressing that the solution to the problem of underdevelopment could be resolved through state creation.
Ogoriba said Nigeria’s problems was not the absence of new states but willingness of its component parts to live together peacefully and under an atmosphere of mutual respect and understanding.

He said:  “I will not speak for the parliament, but I will speak for myself. I do not subscribe to the creation of states. Every Nigerian should understand the fact that we have a problem and the solution is not creating more states. Ideally the essence of creating states is to bring government closer to the people but the problem we have is enormous and much more than creation of more states.

“Our problem is lack of unity, corruption and nepotism all of which have made a nonsense of state creation. No matter how many states we create, if these fundamental problems are not solved the development we all seek will never get to the people.

“You saw what happened on the floor the other day on the motion to invite the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria to make some clarifications on some of his actions. You saw how the Kano lawmakers reacted. We need to change our orientation and accept that this country is one and no one person or section is bigger than the whole.

If someone commits an offence, we should see it for what it is and not narrow the issue down to where the person comes from. Until we change our attitude to these problems we will not make progress. Not until we begin to shift from this paradigm, we will not go anywhere. Not until we see governance as service to the people, we will not get it right.”