National Conference extended by six weeks

The ongoing National Conference has been extended by one and half month.

Although there was no official pronouncement buy the federal government on the matter, the indication is contained in the work plan released to delegates and journalist on Wednesday.\

With the development, the dialogue, which kicked off on March 17 and earlier scheduled  to end June 19 will now last until July 31.

The extension had been envisaged, as some committees, deliberating on issues, were still taking briefs from resource persons, a day to the end of the period given to the committees to deliberated on some issues  and reach a consensus.

In the work plan, the committees' period to complete their work was extended to May 15.

With the extension of the conference, each member will now get about N4.5 million more than the 9 million Naira they were supposed to get for the three months.

A delegate, Atedo Peterside, had expressed hopes that the committees would try to finish their work within the period given to them but some committees had issues with reaching consensus.

Commenting on a possible extension of the conference on Re-thinking Nigeria, a Channels Television programme centred on the activities of the conference,  he had said that 'an extension would seem like the delegates wanted more money.

The extension may not get so much condemnation from Nigerians, as ending the conference without a result would not be acceptable either.

Meanwhile, at their Wednesday deliberations, the National Conference Committee on Politics and Governance voted to strip elected executive officers of their immunity from prosecution in civil and criminal proceedings

However, a seven-member ad-hoc committee has been set up to study the implications of the decision and how it would work without affecting governance

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