By CLIFFORD NDUJIHE

THE Yoruba Unity Forum, YUF, Pro-National Conference Organisation, PRONACO, and the Nigeria Political Summit Group, NPSG, have commended the leadership of the Senate for its support for the convocation of a national conference to address the myriad of challenges besetting the country.

PRONACO and NPSG have been advocating political restructuring of Nigeria based on consensus among diverse stakeholders and nationalities in the country.

Reacting to the surprise nod by the Senate President, David Mark, to the calls for national conference, YUF Secretary General, Senator Anthony Adefuye, noted that the solutions to the raging insecurity, industrial actions by labour unions, among others, lie in national dialogue.

He said: “The crisis pervading very important aspects of our national life should be the utmost concern of all patriotic Nigerians because it portends danger and unimaginable consequences for the country if not addressed. For example, the insecurity in the North, which was originally confined to the North-East has spread to parts of the North-West and North-Central states.

Our public universities have remained shut for upwards of two months without any planned date to resolve the contentious issues. The factionalisation of the ruling party, which has its roots in the 2015 elections has become a threat to peace and security in some states and only recently, the labour unions and the National Assembly were at loggerheads over the proposed removal of national minimum wage from the exclusive legislative list. Solutions to these issues can only be found through a national dialogue.”

In like manner, the spokesperson of PRONACO, who doubles as head of secretariat of the Political Summit Group, Mr. Olawale Okunniyi, applauded the latest move of the leadership of the Senate to enable the Nigerian people and ethnic nationalities hold a frank national dialogue.

Okunniyi said that a proposed modality and roadmap for national consultation and dialogue have been prepared by the Nigeria Consensus Group to enable government kick start the process of convening the confab, which he said would be more beneficial to the country if held before 2015 elections.

“The summit group in conjunction with the Nigeria Consensus Group of Project Nigeria is ready to work with the National Assembly in bringing about a negotiated political reconciliation and consensus for the country having already carried out enormous research and consultations on the subject of national question and healing for the country,” he said.