Senators, Reps to review National Dialogue report – Jonathan
The product of the proposed national dialogue will be forwarded to the National Assembly for ratification and subsequent assimilation into the constitutional review process, President Goodluck Jonathan said yesterday.
He stated that the proposed dialogue was not for his personal interest and stressed that it was a good timing for the proposed conference as the legislators at the national level were currently engrossed in the process of amending the 1999 constitution.
Jonathan said this at the Presidential Villa Abuja when Muslim faithful resident in Abuja, led by the Vice President Namadi Sambo, paid him the traditional Sallah homage.
'This national dialogue is critical and is coming at the right time because the National Assembly is thinking about how they will amend the constitution. So the results of the discussion of course will be passed to the National Assembly,' he maintained.
President Jonathan argued that rather than read any motive into his decision to hold the national conference sceptical Nigerians should work towards ensuring that its recommendations are properly captured in our law books by the National Assembly.
He said, 'It is only left for all of us Nigerians to impress it on our representatives in the National Assembly and State Houses of Assembly because our state and federal parliaments must work together to ensure these are properly enshrined in our constitution so that as a nation we will hand over a country that is better than what we met to our children.'
The President further assured that he and the Vice President with members of his team will continue to do their best for Nigeria so that children and future leaders of the country will be happy for it.
He noted, 'We want a country that will have a direction so the discussions must have a direction. The discussion must lead Nigeria to where we want to be, not a divided Nigeria, not a Nigeria that is sown on hate, not a Nigeria that will be based on acrimony, ethnicity and tribal sentiments in the way we conduct ourselves. We must work very hard, we must talk to ourselves the way our children will not develop hate amongst themselves. And that is one of the key reasons why we decided to have a conversation as a nation.'
President Jonathan, however, recalled the Justice Uwais Committee which he set up, and passed its report to the National Assembly in 2010 as well as the Alfa Belgore Committee to consider the 2005 conference which is still with the National Assembly. He asked: 'Why don't we begin to implement some of them? We need to come up with some bills in those areas we have agreed. Of course some of those bills have not come out from the National Assembly but we believe that even in the constitutional amendment that is going on some will be useful.'
Earlier in his speech, Vice President Namadi Sambo commended President Jonathan for the kind of leadership he has been providing for the country particularly as the nation celebrated 53 years of independence.
He also commended the President on his outing at the just concluded 68th United Nations' General Assembly and the victory of the Super Eagles over the Ethiopian national team on Sunday. He said the President's visit to the team brought them good luck.
The Vice President expressed sadness over the death of some prominent members of the People's Democratic Party, PDP, and other Nigerians who lost their lives in the unfortunate crisis in the northern part of the country.
Also commending the President for his genuine decision to hold a national conference that will provide Nigerians the opportunity to discuss the future of the country, Vice President Sambo called on all Nigerians to support the President to be able to deliver the dividends of democracy.
The Vice President was accompanied by the Minister of State, Oloye Olajumoke Akinjide. Also in attendance were Catholic Archbishop of Abuja, John Cardinal Onaiyekan, Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar; National Security Adviser Sambo Dasuki, and other top government functionaries.