Confab stalls again after chaotic session

The conference was twice suspended on Monday and Tuesday after a row broke out over the retention of 13% derivation funds for oil producing states by the devolution of power committee.A select committee headed by Professor Ibrahim Gambari which was charged with the task of finding an amicable solution to the divergent views couldn’t do […]

The conference was twice suspended on Monday and Tuesday after a row broke out over the retention of 13% derivation funds for oil producing states by the devolution of power committee.
A select committee headed by Professor Ibrahim Gambari which was charged with the task of finding an amicable solution to the divergent views couldn’t do so yesterday though they have been meeting for five days.
Yesterday’s scene was the most chaotic as the leadership of the Northern delegation alleged that the zonal leaders report announced by Professor Ibrahim Gambari on Wednesday had been doctored.
Gambari announced that the zonal leaders had agreed that derivation fund should be increased from 13 to 18 percent.
He added that they had also proposed five percent allocation for mineral resources development and another five percent for reconstruction and rehabilitation of the areas of the North physically ravaged by insurgency.
But when the Gambari committee report was presented yesterday, a member of the committee Alhaji Bashir Dalhatu rose to say that the report was doctored by Raymond Dokpesi and John Dara.
He said the Dokpesi report had removed reference to five percent from Federation Account and substituted it with “5 percent of annual revenue accruing to the revenue of the federal Government.”
He said the original idea by the zonal leaders is to dedicate the fund to North East, North West and North Central, but the Dokpesi report limited it to North East only and introduced other parts of the country affected by violence as beneficiaries of the proposed fund.
He therefore suggested that the zonal leaders needed some time to reconcile these differences. The conference was suspended for an hour to enable them sort that out.
However, an hour and half later, the zonal leaders emerged with no agreement.
The leader of the Northern delegation retired IGP Ibrahim Coomassie told the conference that  no agreement had been reached and the conference shouldn’t accept any report from that committee.
Coomassie announced that “Up till this evening, we have not reached an agreement and therefore any report submitted to you has no support from us.”
After Commassie’s statement, the plenary became rowdy with delegates leaving their seats. The rowdiness became intense when Chief Olu Falae, leader of South West at the committee decided to read out the contentious report earlier submitted by Dokpesi but rejected by the Northern delegates.
Attempt by the conference leadership to resolve the renewed row was not fruitful as delegates kept on shouting on top of their voices.
Conference chairman Justice Idris Kutigi suggested that the zonal leaders be given more time to get back to their meeting and attempt to resolve the contentious issue.
While the rowdiness lasted, Kutigi called for the adjournment of the conference till Monday to enable the 50 Wise men to meet with   him today to resolve the controversial issues.
Kutigi said in addition to the “50 wise men,” all the chairmen, co-chairmen and deputy chairmen of the 20 committees that handled different assignments for the conference should also attend the meeting with him.
Another issue that generated heated debate was the financing of local governments. The Devolution of Power Committee had recommended a new revenue sharing formula for the tiers of government thus: 42. 5 percent for federal government, 35 percent for states and 22.5 percent for local governments.
But some delegates suggested amendments to the above formula thus: the federal governments and states should share 40 and 60 or 35 and 65 percent respectively, arguing that the conference had earlier voted out local government as third tier of government.
After deputy chairman Professor Bolaji Akinyemi read the amendments, the plenary became rowdy. Senator Sa’idu Dansadau drew the attention of the conference to a constitutional provision, which provides that the country’s revenue should be shared among three tiers of government.
He said that the conference has to expunge that provision from the constitution before taking the amendments proposed.
Faced by this dilemma, the conference leadership went into a brief consultation, while delegates engaged themselves on heated argument from all parts of the chamber.
Thunderous shout of “point of order,” “point of order,” “point of information” with others shouting, “let us make progress,” “sit down and let’s vote,” among others, rented the air.
Angered by this development, Akinyemi responded, saying “you won’t get anything by threatening me.”
The continuous shouts of “no, no, no,” enveloped the chamber as delegates tried to stop the attempted amendment to the revenue formula of the country.
The leadership “bracketed” the revenue sharing issue because of the logjam. The conference earlier resolved to remove the local governments, their funding, functions, composition and financing from the constitution while adopting its report on politics and governance committee.
The committee recommended two tiers of government, with federal and states as federating units, leaving the matters of local government creation and funding to the states.
The National Conference, inaugurated by President Goodluck Jonathan on March 17, 2014, has up to July 17 to conclude its assignment, after one month extension.
But it is not clear whether the conference leadership could meet its deadline, which is a week from now, following the inability of the delegates to conclude deliberations on their committee reports, as stipulated in their work plan.