By Rotimi Fasan
THREE days ago Nigerians began yet another attempt at looking at the terms of their coming together as a people within a boundaried space.

The National Conference is the Goodluck Jonathan administration’s own way of allowing Nigerians to have a say, it believes, in how they want to be governed. The idea of cobbling together the diverse ethnic formations that populate what is today known as Nigeria was entirely that of foreigners whose interests were informed by imperial designs that had no place for local considerations.

President Goodluck Jonathan flanked by Vice President Namadi Sambo and the Conference Chairman, Justice Legbo Kutigi (4r) while the Speaker TIONAL CONFERENCE House of Representatives, Hon. Aminu Tambuwal (3l); Vice Chairman of the Conference, Prof. Boolaji Akinyemi (3r); Chief Justice of the Federation, Justice Aloma Mukhtar (4l) and other dignitaries watched in a group photograph with delegates after the inauguration of the 2014 National Conference of the People of Nigeria at the National Judicial Institute, Airport Road, Abuja. Photo by Abayomi Adeshida 17/03/2014

The best the colonialists could do was to allow Nigerians a say in shaping the future of their country in series of constitutional conferences that preceded independence in 1960. These were mere British sops meant to create the illusion that Nigerians too had a say in the determination of their fate.

The truth is that the concessions that came out of these conferences have never really amounted to much. Yet, this half-hearted approach to fundamental assessment of the basis of national existence has proven most attractive to Nigerian post-independent leaders.

Nigerian leaders are not exactly famous for originality of thought. The attraction of constitutional conferences is, perhaps, no greater than for the very fact that it provides Nigerian leaders an excuse for shoddy thinking and unoriginal approach to address agitations for the negotiation of what makes us all Nigerians.

It is thus easy for organisers of these conferences to claim to be providing Nigerians opportunity for national participation while silencing any point that seeks to raise questions about Nigeria’s so- called unity. In other words, the first thing imposed on conferees to these government-designed conferences is a gag order forbidding any discussion of whether Nigerians want to live together.

The reasons for this are not as high-minded as they may seem. In fact, they are no greater than the need to safeguard the position of the individuals and groups currently running the country’s affairs.

Which is the reason why many Nigerians have been at a loss understanding what the conference that began on Monday would be doing that the National Assembly cannot do. This is more so as the outcome of these conference would still have to go to the same National Assembly for it to have any chance of survival.

Is the conference in its lack of sovereignty, therefore, not a duplication of the role of the National Assembly, many have asked? In what way is what is going on now in Abuja an improvement on previous attempts?

What would delegates to the conference be saying that others to previous conferences whose outcomes have since gathered mold for non-implementation have not said? Was it not for this reason that certain sections of the Nigerian public and political groups have expressed reservation about participating in the conference?

One lesson from the Sani Abacha conference in 1995 is that nature abhors a vacuum, especially of the political type. Those who stay away from this conference would be doing so at their own peril. Even though it hardly makes sense to describe any class of Nigerian politicians as credible today, refusal by the front seat players to be part of the conference could cost them more than just losing their place on the gravy train.

They would be shortchanging those they claim to represent as the field would be clear for the very dregs of the political class, mere prostitutes and mongers of power, to take over control of the political space. We saw this under Abacha when many of today’s political scoundrels first made their appearance on the national stage.

There is no reason though to imagine that the people now in Abuja or those who called them to ‘come and chop’ would be doing anything more than sharing pork to the different groups and individuals at the conference. One can, in fact, hazard a guess that many of those at the conference, expired politicians and other national figures in need of political rehabilitation and relevance, would see their role solely in terms of protecting the interest of their benefactors, those who thought they should be resurrected from political oblivion back into national reckoning.

It is an opportunity for many of them to position themselves for-post 2015 politics. One would therefore not be surprised to see many of these individuals turning the platform of the conference into a soap box for re-launching themselves and reviving their comatose political life.

Far from making a doomsday prediction, this conference may provide a few of those genuinely interested in charting a new course for Nigeria opportunity to merely let off steam while being stymied by others simply out to sustain the status quo.

They would have their say while the political jobbers would have their way. There is no doubt that many of the conferees, given their past record, would be spending their time in Abuja to sustain the illegitimate system that had given their mediocre minds the unfair advantage to be among the prominent figures of our national life.

They will quickly gobble up their share of over N6 billion, including N4 million monthly rent, set aside by Abuja for the conference and be out looking for more to take to wherever they came from.

The amount already appropriated for this conference and the upkeep of the conferees does not make it look like an event meant to make the conferees or the general Nigerian public see this as some form of national service.

Rather, it looks like a way to add more to whom much is already given while taking from those who do not have. The larger Nigerian population is the poorer for this. What stops some of these conferees, most of whom are among the richest Nigerians alive- what stops them from picking their own bill or paying their own rent for the three months duration of the conference?

As former office holders, government contractors or civil rights advocates, many of them own choice properties in Abuja, can afford Abuja rent or very well take care of themselves in other ways. Why is nobody talking about what these well-heeled Nigerians can give back to Nigeria by way of sacrifice?

Why is participation at this conference being made to look like yet another public service appointment with full career benefits? What is the logic of attaching so much to a three- month task?

There might be too much attached to the comfort of conferees and the benefits that come with participation at the individual level as to render ineffectual whatever may be the outcome of deliberations. In other words, the proponents of the conference may be promising far more than they can or, in fact, do care to deliver. This just might turn out to be a walk down a well-beaten path.