Would the 2014 national conference stand out against its peers?

The constitution of the national conference by the Jonathan administration witnessed strong criticism in some quarters as successive administrations had held such conferences with little or no result. It could be recalled that Nigeria had the 1978 constituent assembly which had a membership of 230 people and met for nine months, while the 1995 National […]

The constitution of the national conference by the Jonathan administration witnessed strong criticism in some quarters as successive administrations had held such conferences with little or no result.
It could be recalled that Nigeria had the 1978 constituent assembly which had a membership of 230 people and met for nine months, while the 1995 National Constitutional Conference had a membership of 371 people and met for 12 months. The 2005 political reform conference under Chief Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration, which was the third of such conferences to be held, was made up of 400 delegates and met forfive months, yet Nigerians are yet to feel the impact of various reports submitted.
The 2014 national conference, which was inaugurated by President Jonathan recently, had 494 delegates and met for four and half months. The delegates approved over 600 resolutions, some dealing with issues of law, policy and amendment to the 1999 Constitution.
The question however, is will the report of the 2014 national conference stand out against its peers so that the common man on the street will feel the impact of governance? Time will tell.
John Habila Murai, Bauchi State Television Authority (B A T V) [email protected] 08069634220.