NIGERIANS ABROAD SET FOR CONFERENCE
| FROM LAOLU AKANDE NORTH AMERICA BUREAU CHIEF, GUARDIAN NEWS NIGERIANS abroad especially those in the United States have been actively debating the nature of the proposed National Dialogue including what their role ought to be in such a conference and why some have chosen to standby and not seek to join the dialogue. Their active inclusion, even by way of open discussions, is an unprecedented development because this would be about the first time after Nigeria's political independence that the views of Nigerians abroad are being given an official nod from the government, which has asked for four representatives among Nigerians abroad. Although Nigerians abroad cannot participate in Nigerian elections, their excitement in the last few weeks over the National Dialogue may signpost a possible new beginning of a process that could possibly lead to their political enfranchisement. Amidst the continuing controversy over the place of the Nigerians in Diaspora Organisation (NIDO), a group of Nigerians under the banner of the Nigerian Liberty Forum (NLF) gathered last weekend in New York to debate the National Dialogue with a lead presentation from a prominent Nigerian scholar, Professor Chudi Uwazurike. Other speakers at the talkshop were Dr. Isiaka Alhassan, a Nigerian Ford Scholar at the Columbia University in New York; Mr. Paul Adujie; a US-based Nigerian lawyer and Dr. Adegboyega Dada, a medical doctor. The NLF issued a communiqué after the meeting. Even on the Internet and among several e-mail groups, the issue of the National Dialogue has become very popular. Other well known Nigeria groups like the Nigeria Peoples Forum, the Nigerian Lawyers Association (NLA), Association of Nigerian Physicians in the Americas, among quite a few others, instructively have not, however, made any public statement, suggesting a likely deliberate attempt to watch developments from a sideline. However, in a chat with The Guardian, a former NLA president, Shamsey Oloko was critical of government's approach to the conference. As for the NIDO, the US branch has set up a Central Constitutional Review Working Group, which would set out the issues and positions that the representative of NIDO-America would present at the national conference once it resumes. To compose that group, NIDO America drew from several groups and sections of Nigerians abroad including academia, ethnic groups, professionals and community associations. According to Dr. Ola Kassim, NIDO's president in the Americas, their approach to the dialogue is basically:
Besides, Nigerians abroad all over the world, in the Americas, Europe, Africa and Asia have agreed to a conference on February 19 in London, called to discuss what position Nigerians abroad should present as a unified body. But other Nigerians not in the NIDO boat are also very concerned about the national conference and speaking out very loudly. The public lecture organised last week in New York by the Nigerian Liberty Forum was one of such events where a fair number of Nigerians came together at the Marriott Hotel opposite La Guardia Airport to debate the forthcoming dialogue. Prof. Uwazurike, a political sociologist and renowned writer, based at the City College of New York, noted at the lecture that what was happening now concerning Nigeria was like a throwback to 1998. "Whoever knew we'll be here again?" he asked rhetorically. Commenting on the issue of how the decision from the conference would be treated by the government, Uwazurike wondered "if the decisions are not binding nor substantial enough to reflect the will of the vast majority, to what end then?" But he said a national dialogue is critical since constitutional amendments are not enough to address the issues that have remained even since pre-independence days. On the preference of Nigerians in the Diaspora, he noted that they would rather prefer to have a conference whose results are allowed to stand, otherwise, he said, "if the results are watered down we are back to square one." Uwazurike, whose plays have been staged in major theatres in New York, noted that one core issue that precedes the conference now in Nigeria is that while the Nigerian "house" is not yet, "but issue of fairness and equity" still exists in the six geopolitical zones. In a unique analysis, he the listed the complaints of each zone thus:
Prof. Uwazurike identified a second core issue, namely the Security of Life, Limb and Sinecure for the average Nigerian against the background of worthlessness of life, political assassinations, political killings, Sharia-related concerns and a weak judiciary. Uwazurike, who has also raised several times the issue of Nigeria's impending isolation in the light of a highly technological world, insisted that Nigeria and the Black world are at bottom of global totem pole, calling for a technological awakening, as he did in his book on Instrumental Pan-Africanism. He said there are at least more than 20 issues that need to be on the table at the dialogue, adding that this may be the greatest opportunity since 1954 to discuss the shape of the Nigerian nation, which he called a British contraption, "based on a full generation of lived experience of what works and what hasn't." Said he: "So let the President convoke his National Dialogue so long as it is understood that all social forces and interest groups, even if heavily PDP, are accommodated. But this must be seen as one dialogue in a series of dialogues." Other speakers at the public lecture included Dr Isiaka Alhassan, who noted that Nigeria was yet to completely fail but clearly has been showing failure symptoms. He said the kind of dialogue that Nigerians abroad should promote is one that is "people-driven" and one that has input from Nigerians abroad. Dr. Dada in his own contribution, said if the Federal Government, in spite of its political problems, intends to undertake serious reforms of the nation, Nigerians should be willing to forget the government's legitimacy questions. But the US-based lawyer on the panel of speakers, Paul Adujie insisted that there was no need for a conference since Nigeria had a full complement of lawmakers, who can do the work. Said he: "We do not need a new debating society; we should use our elected representatives." Another Nigerian lawyer, Shamsey Oloko, former president of the Nigerian Lawyers Association, said in a chat with The Guardian that "if the Nigerian government is truly sincere about getting the views of Nigerians in the Diaspora, why only go to their own organ?" Referring to NIDO, Oloko argued that the body could not possibly tell government the truth. He said by asking NIDO to coordinate the views of Nigerians abroad "the government is almost ensuring that it would be impossible to get a truly independent view of Nigerians in the Diaspora. Nigerians here don't want that kind of control." Oloko queried why, for instance, does Obasanjo need to have to nominate as much as 50 delegates to the conference? According to him, "this dialogue should transcend President Obasanjo. It goes to the very essence of our being and the conference should be done so well that people would not continue to clamour for another one soon afterwards. How did they arrive at the numbers being used for the composition?" Oloko said these were few of the reasons why a good number of Nigerians abroad is "standing on the sidelines." He said the Nigerian Lawyers Association on whose board he is still a member, has made no decision so far to participate in the national dialogue. |
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