When the National Conference was inaugurated this March 17th by President Goodluck Jonathan there were mixed reactions, ranging from the euphoric all the way down to the outrightly sceptic, as we have been down this road before. There was particular criticism of the timing and the sincerity of the government at setting up such a mammoth committee of 492 delegates so close to the next general elections. Furthermore one of the key questions being asked - and it became a cause for great debate - was whether the conference had the capacity to address the pertinent national issues of the day and if it had the power to draft a new constitution.
The Conference got off to a great start with the President's speech and thereafter the Conference Chairman Justice Idris Legbo Kutigi (rtd),Vice Chairman Professor Bolaji Akinyemi and Secretary Dr (Mrs) Valerie-Janette Azinge swiftly got down to the business of the day, starting with a series of plenary sessions which were followed by the setting up of 20 committees, namely: Devolution of Power, Political Restructuring and Forms of Government, National Security, Environment, Politics and Governance, Law, Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Reform, Social Welfare, Civil Society, Labour and Sports, Political Parties and Electoral Matters, Transportation, Land Tenure and National Boundary, Foreign Policy and Diaspora, Public Service, Agriculture, Economy, Trade and Investment, Energy, Religion, Public Finance and Revenue Generation, Science, Technology and Development and finally, Immigration. These committees it is clear, covered an extremely wide spectrum of government activities.
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