By Sunny Ikhioya

I WAS one of those early supporters of the convened national conference. My reason for doing so was based on the assumption that jaw-jaw is always better than war-war. Furthermore, it was my thinking that bringing Nigerians from all the nooks and crannies, with diverse cultural backgrounds, languages and the like, will make us appreciate ourselves and therefore, mutual respect, all round.

That was my thinking, but now, I fear if the whole thing will not turn out to be a colossal waste of funds, energy and time.

Why do we need this conference? It is to steer Nigeria towards a genuine state-hood. Bridging our differences and working towards a common goal of one indivisible Nigeria, prosperous, strong and respected by the international communities. A Nigeria, that, everyone will be proud to belong, without discrimination of any form – religion, ethnicity et al. A Nigeria that all rights will be preserved and the sanctity of life be non-negotiable. That was the dream of our founding fathers, that is our dream today. The same dream that initiated the establishment of the compulsory National Youth Service Corps for all graduates of higher institutions and informed the creation of Unity Schools across the country. The dream has collapsed, all the structures put in place have been terribly battered. All symbols of our unity – NYSC, Federal Colleges – have been turned to gory theatres for killing. Civilisation has gone to blazes, mad men have taken over the land and good men are running helter skelter, while others have gone into hiding.

The nation has become more polarised than ever before and our politicians have joined the fray in dooms day predictions. What is to be done?

I had thought that the conference will be one that will serve as an opportunity to calm frayed nerves, where every group will be given opportunities to present their grouse(s), in an atmosphere of mutual tolerance.
I had thought that, in the selection of delegates for the conference, there will be room for the people to make their own choice; as it is, the choice of the people will convey the feelings and sentiments of what the people represent, and, whatever position the person(s) elected by the people takes will be regarded as legitimate, respected and accepted. But, this is not going to be the case now.

I had thought that in the selection of delegates, the interest of all ethnic groups will be taken into consideration, whether they are in the majority or minority. Nigeria is a collection of independent states through their ethnic backgrounds. This is very true, and was so, until the British brought everyone together under a forced and, in some cases, negotiated union.

The people, through their representatives, are saying that they do not recognise this union of Nigerian states as put together by Lord Lugard because they were not consulted before the decisions were arrived at.

They want to be able to negotiate the conditions for the union. No matter how hard it may take, every thing is negotiable. We can begin by, first: laying the groundwork for the rules of the debate. Alliances will be formed across boundaries, through effective lobbying and presentations; groups will have their interest taken care of.
But I fear this will not be so. So, many groups will not be represented – some have already started complaining – and when the representation is not a true reflection of the people, it means whatever the outcome of the debate is dead on arrival. It will not be accepted by the people and will therefore, revert to square one, that is to say, begin again.

A national conference that is to discuss and agree on weighty issues, that will touch on the basis for our common existence, is called and more than half of the delegates are hand picked by people in the Presidency; what good will come out of it? Their loyalty will be to those that proposed and nominated them.

Already, the list is being tinkered with, changes are being effected at the whims and caprices of those in power, while, those without Federal Government connections are left out of the picture. We have over 250 ethnic groups in this country, how will their interest be represented? Is it according to zoning? How will the zoning done?

A house that is built on faulty foundation will never stand. The foundation for the conference is faulty, nothing good will come out of it. It will be another waste of time, energy and resources.

We also note the preponderance of sixtegenerians, septuagenarians and octogenarians in the list. How many of these ones will be able to stand the rigours and demands of the conference. It is true, that, experience cannot be wished away, but these ones can stay at the background and school their youths to give them quality representation.

It is a known fact that the most productive period for man is the age range twenty five to thirty five years. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Obafemi Awolowo, Ahmadu Bello and all the other founding fathers of Nigeria, took over the helms of affairs in this country when they were in their late twenties and thirties.

The ones going to the conference now have nothing new to offer this nation than further polarisation of the country along, ethnic, religious and political lines. We know this from their antecedents and utterances.

The challenge we face in this conference is how to make Nigeria stronger as one united nation. Will Nigeria be united and prosperous, with a strong centre the way it is now? Or, do we put in place a loose confederation of semi autonomous states and regions?

These are the issues, can this conference achieve this? I doubt.

*Mr. Ikhioya, a commentator on national issues, wrote from Lagos.