Posted by By Paul Mumeh on
Hopes of an early resolution of the disagreement between the North and the South South at the National Conference further dimmed on Tuesday as the Conference was again forced to adjourn for another week.
Hopes of an early resolution of the disagreement between the North and the South South at the National Conference further dimmed on Tuesday as the Conference was again forced to adjourn for another week.
A statement issued by Conference Co-secretary, Mathew Hassan Kukah, said it will not reconvene until June 29 so as to enable the secretariat put finishing touches to the final plenary session.
It was compelled to adjourn last week to Wednesday due to irreconcilable differences between the North and South South over resource control, rotational Presidency and tenure, among others.
Delegates from the South South staged a walk out in reaction to the Elders Committee's recommendation to award oil bearing states 17 per cent derivation.
Their South East neighbours and a handful of South West delegates joined them in solidarity, a development that brought the Conference to its knees for three consecutive days.
Conference Chairman, Niki Tobi, adjourned the debate to calm frayed nerves and give room for further consultation. President Olusegun Obasanjo and other stakeholders waded in.
Obasanjo met with governors from the various zones, delegates and the Conference principal officers.
But ahead of Wednesday's resumption it became clear that the session would be turbulent as the disputants stuck to their guns.
The South South, which has drawn support from the South East and South West, has offered to accept 25 per cent derivation in the interim with the balance 25 per cent phased in over five years.
However, Northern delegates, led by Umaru Dikko, insisted that the recommended 17 per cent is appropriate and cautioned against re-opening any matter on which decision has been taken.
They threatened to pull out of the Conference should the matter be revisited when the plenary resumes.
Unsure of the situation on Tuesday, the secretariat told delegates to stay at home for another one week.
The Conference, originally billed for three months, has already stretched to four months. It was expected to end on June 23.
According to sources, Obasanjo agreed to another adjournment to avert possible hostility between Northern and Southern delegates. He wants dissenting voices harmonised before the Conference resumes.
By Tuesday, tension had heightened that the delegates may resort to physical combat to defend their positions.
Sources said the North, after its review meeting, resolved to push for the reversal to 13 per cent derivation enshrined in Section 162(2) of the 1999 Constitution if the South South refuses to accept the 17 per cent recommended.
Below is an eight-point agenda by the Northern region ahead of the Lyttleton Constitution of 1953, culled from Daily Times, Friday May 22, 1953.
• The region shall have complete legislative and executive autonomy with respect to all matters except the following: Cefence, external affairs, customs and West African research institutions.
• That there shall be no central legislative body and no central executive or policymaking body for the whole of Nigeria.
• There shall be a central agency for all regions which will be responsible for the matters mentioned in paragraph I and other matters delegated to it by a region.
• The central agency shall be at a neutral place, preferably Lagos.
• The composition and responsibility of the central agency shall be defined by the Order-in-Council establishing the constitutional arrangement. The agency shall be a non-political body.
• The services of the railway, air services, posts and telegraphs, electricity and coal mining shall be organised on inter-regional basis and shall be administered by public corporations. These corporations shall be independent bodies covered by the statute under which they are created.