 |
| Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN) |
Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN) on Friday received members of the Presidential Advisory Committee on National Dialogue, advising the Committee to give every Nigerian with dissenting opinion an opportunity to ventilate such views.
He also called for a revisit of the reports of the 2006 Constitution Conference with the objective of adopting some of the issues that Nigerians have already decided about.
“If we are to start a dialogue we must expect as many disagreements as agreements. We must expect to hear the views of those that we know and those that we don’t know. We must expect to hear from those that we like and from those that we don’t like”.
Governor Fashola who received the team led by the Chairman, Dr Femi Okunrounmu at Lagos House, Ikeja added that the issues that have been decided upon in the 2006 Constitutional reports could be put forward to fashion out a Constitution while disputed areas could be revisited later.
He emphasised that it would be impossible for him to say whether Mr President was right or wrong in his decision or if now was the best time to set up the advisory committee but that if there must be a dialogue there must be an agenda.
The Governor who underscored the fact that it was the first time in six years that he would use a prepared statement for a courtesy call said he chose to do so because of the importance of the visit and the subject that drives it as well as a result of some emerging and disturbing events.
“I also prepared this statement in the context of some emerging and disturbing events that have occurred during the visit of the Presidential Advisory Committee on National Dialogue to Edo State,” he said.
The Governor, however, said there was a need to listen to all shades of opinion.
“A dialogue by its very definition demands that we must listen to all views, both agreeable and disagreeable. If those that do not agree are heckled and shouted down then the platform for dialogue is immediately weakened”.
“And if we refuse to listen to the views of those who don’t think that we should be doing what we are doing, it portends for me great concern about whether or not we can dialogue and indeed if we should be having one”, he stressed.
Governor Fashola emphasised that if Nigerians do not believe in her elected leaders in the National Assembly to undertake the task for them, then the people must begin to imagine how many possible people and groups seek to do the same, adding that: “ If we are to start a dialogue we must expect as many disagreements as agreements”.
He said that if Nigerians have not started talking about the real details, it would be a matter of conjecture how the process can go and how restrained will the people be when things really get in the eye of the storm.
“My advice to the advisory committee is to remember that roses have thorns and those who seek to enjoy its fragrance should expect that they may be pricked”.
The Governor who sought to know like his Edo State counterpart, what precisely Nigerians are supposed to be talking about, said it is very clear that some of the issues of dissatisfaction lie in areas where there is no need to talk.
Such areas according to Governor Fashola includes the issue of unemployment which requires not talk but concrete economic plans of action and education which requires not talk but a clear roadmap for addressing all stakeholders, parents, teachers and students in that sector.
Other areas which Governor Fashola stated requires decisive action and not talk is the inefficient transportation in need of an urgent infrastructural renewal plan for the country and regular power supply to be achieved not through dialogue but by a vigorous and impassioned implementation of the power sector reform agenda.
He also identified the issue of Hunger which is impervious to talk and requires the provision of food, delivered by a clear and aggressive food production programme and National security of which some talk may be helpful but in respect of which a general improvement in the quality of life would be far more impactful as other key areas where a national talk is not necessary.
The Governor said while it is not clear if the present efforts is a constitutional conference or a talk shop, its shape and structure must emerge from the offset, adding that in the event that the dialogue metamorphoses into a constitutional conference, two things are uppermost.
He stated that the first is that the nation has aired talks of constitutional amendments with more frequency than can be expected of any nation and that though it appears that the people’s disaffection is resulting in a request for a better constitution, what they want is not just a better document but a better life.
He also sought to know in case the on-going efforts turns to be a constitutional conference then what will happen to the National Assembly’s ongoing efforts for which many millions of Naira have already been expended.
“When we held a constitutional conference in 2006, many areas were vigorously and passionately defended, compromised and agreed. Perhaps many of the good that came from that would have found their way into the body of national development had they not been drowned in the cesspool of the infamous 3rd term agenda”, he added.
Earlier, the Chairman of the Committee, Dr Femi Okunrounmu while commending Governor Fashola as a pace-setting leader, said the advisory committee is in Lagos in continuation of its consultation with all Nigerians.
He said with the visit to Lagos, the committee has concluded visits to four geo-political zones of North Central, South East, South- South and South West leaving only North East and North West to cover.
He said the members are committed to midwiving a conference with an exception by aiming to be a conference of the people and by the people with the agenda being determined by the people and not the government.
He reiterated that the conference would not have “no-go areas” adding that for those who are not very comfortable and impressed with the provisions of the 1999 Constitution, the present exercise is an opportunity to right the wrongs.
Prominent among those who joined the Governor to receive the members of the committee were the Secretary to the State Government, Dr (Mrs) Ranti Adebule, Commissioner for Home Affairs and Culture, Hon. Oyinlomo Danmole, Rural Development, Hon. Cornelius Ojelabi, and Chief of Staff, Mr Lanre Babalola and Special Adviser on Regional Integration, Rev Tunji Adebiyi while some of the members on the entourage of the Advisory Committee Chairman were Senator Khairat Abdulrazak Gwadabe, Senator Timothy Adudu, Dr Buhari Bello, Professor George Obiozor, Dr Abubakar Mohammed, Mr. Tony Uranta and the Secretary, Dr Akilu Indabawa.
He also called for a revisit of the reports of the 2006 Constitution Conference with the objective of adopting some of the issues that Nigerians have already decided about.
“If we are to start a dialogue we must expect as many disagreements as agreements. We must expect to hear the views of those that we know and those that we don’t know. We must expect to hear from those that we like and from those that we don’t like”.
Governor Fashola who received the team led by the Chairman, Dr Femi Okunrounmu at Lagos House, Ikeja added that the issues that have been decided upon in the 2006 Constitutional reports could be put forward to fashion out a Constitution while disputed areas could be revisited later.
He emphasised that it would be impossible for him to say whether Mr President was right or wrong in his decision or if now was the best time to set up the advisory committee but that if there must be a dialogue there must be an agenda.
The Governor who underscored the fact that it was the first time in six years that he would use a prepared statement for a courtesy call said he chose to do so because of the importance of the visit and the subject that drives it as well as a result of some emerging and disturbing events.
“I also prepared this statement in the context of some emerging and disturbing events that have occurred during the visit of the Presidential Advisory Committee on National Dialogue to Edo State,” he said.
The Governor, however, said there was a need to listen to all shades of opinion.
“A dialogue by its very definition demands that we must listen to all views, both agreeable and disagreeable. If those that do not agree are heckled and shouted down then the platform for dialogue is immediately weakened”.
“And if we refuse to listen to the views of those who don’t think that we should be doing what we are doing, it portends for me great concern about whether or not we can dialogue and indeed if we should be having one”, he stressed.
Governor Fashola emphasised that if Nigerians do not believe in her elected leaders in the National Assembly to undertake the task for them, then the people must begin to imagine how many possible people and groups seek to do the same, adding that: “ If we are to start a dialogue we must expect as many disagreements as agreements”.
He said that if Nigerians have not started talking about the real details, it would be a matter of conjecture how the process can go and how restrained will the people be when things really get in the eye of the storm.
“My advice to the advisory committee is to remember that roses have thorns and those who seek to enjoy its fragrance should expect that they may be pricked”.
The Governor who sought to know like his Edo State counterpart, what precisely Nigerians are supposed to be talking about, said it is very clear that some of the issues of dissatisfaction lie in areas where there is no need to talk.
Such areas according to Governor Fashola includes the issue of unemployment which requires not talk but concrete economic plans of action and education which requires not talk but a clear roadmap for addressing all stakeholders, parents, teachers and students in that sector.
Other areas which Governor Fashola stated requires decisive action and not talk is the inefficient transportation in need of an urgent infrastructural renewal plan for the country and regular power supply to be achieved not through dialogue but by a vigorous and impassioned implementation of the power sector reform agenda.
He also identified the issue of Hunger which is impervious to talk and requires the provision of food, delivered by a clear and aggressive food production programme and National security of which some talk may be helpful but in respect of which a general improvement in the quality of life would be far more impactful as other key areas where a national talk is not necessary.
The Governor said while it is not clear if the present efforts is a constitutional conference or a talk shop, its shape and structure must emerge from the offset, adding that in the event that the dialogue metamorphoses into a constitutional conference, two things are uppermost.
He stated that the first is that the nation has aired talks of constitutional amendments with more frequency than can be expected of any nation and that though it appears that the people’s disaffection is resulting in a request for a better constitution, what they want is not just a better document but a better life.
He also sought to know in case the on-going efforts turns to be a constitutional conference then what will happen to the National Assembly’s ongoing efforts for which many millions of Naira have already been expended.
“When we held a constitutional conference in 2006, many areas were vigorously and passionately defended, compromised and agreed. Perhaps many of the good that came from that would have found their way into the body of national development had they not been drowned in the cesspool of the infamous 3rd term agenda”, he added.
Earlier, the Chairman of the Committee, Dr Femi Okunrounmu while commending Governor Fashola as a pace-setting leader, said the advisory committee is in Lagos in continuation of its consultation with all Nigerians.
He said with the visit to Lagos, the committee has concluded visits to four geo-political zones of North Central, South East, South- South and South West leaving only North East and North West to cover.
He said the members are committed to midwiving a conference with an exception by aiming to be a conference of the people and by the people with the agenda being determined by the people and not the government.
He reiterated that the conference would not have “no-go areas” adding that for those who are not very comfortable and impressed with the provisions of the 1999 Constitution, the present exercise is an opportunity to right the wrongs.
Prominent among those who joined the Governor to receive the members of the committee were the Secretary to the State Government, Dr (Mrs) Ranti Adebule, Commissioner for Home Affairs and Culture, Hon. Oyinlomo Danmole, Rural Development, Hon. Cornelius Ojelabi, and Chief of Staff, Mr Lanre Babalola and Special Adviser on Regional Integration, Rev Tunji Adebiyi while some of the members on the entourage of the Advisory Committee Chairman were Senator Khairat Abdulrazak Gwadabe, Senator Timothy Adudu, Dr Buhari Bello, Professor George Obiozor, Dr Abubakar Mohammed, Mr. Tony Uranta and the Secretary, Dr Akilu Indabawa.
No comments:
Post a Comment