USA Africa Dialogue Series - {REVISED} Sunday Musings: South-Western Delegates - or Delegates from the South-West/Yoruba Nigeria - and Other Matters About the Upcoming National Conference

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Sunday  Musings:  South-Western Delegates - or Delegates from the South-West/Yoruba Nigeria - and Other  Matters About the Upcoming National Conference

by

Mobolaji E. Aluko, PhD

alukome@gmail.com

Sunday March 9, 2014

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My People:

Within the past week, an official list of 492/494 delegates to the upcoming National Conference  - sans APC delegates - was released by the Federal Government, in twenty-six categories ranging from Elder Statespersons  to Conference Leaders.   They are expected to be formally inaugurated on Monday March 17, 2014.

A number of observations on the list are in order:

1.  Only 88 of the 492 nominated delegates are women - 17.9% - which is a far cry from the 33% minimum that our women clamor for.   To make amends without kicking any already-nominated persons out requires that we add 114 women and no more men to the list - or roughly average of 4.5 women per category.  We should consider doing just that - but apologize first for the oversight.

2.  Our Yoruba "cousins" the Itsekiri do not have a single delegate in the list, as well as the Ogoni - and now the Itsekiri are threatening to secede, courtesy the feisty Chief (Mrs.)  Rita-Lori  Ogbebor .  No Rita, no Sagay, no Jemide, no Okorodudu, etc, or even the Olu of Warri/Itsekiri himself in the list?   Well,  I don't blame the Chief Madam, despite "secession" being inconveniently on the "No-Go" list of the conference.   If such a major minority ethnic group as the Itsekiri - with so much oil being found on their territory - could not be accommodated among the twenty-six categories, I cannot imagine how many other ethnic groups have been omitted.

This why the un-deployed proposal whereby delegates are allotted by ethnic groups, and each required to fill their quota  based on one or more of the twenty-six categories was somewhat meritorious.     What is irksome is that of the fifteen delegates chosen specifically for the South-South geopolitical zone (for Socio Political/ Cultural and Ethnic Nationality Groups), one can count about four to six Efik/Ibibio, two to three of us the Ijaw, two or three Ikwerre - but no Itsekiri, and no Ogoni?  We should make amends accordingly by expanding the total delegate list - but apologize first for the oversight.

3.  There are fifty-two (52) persons listed as "Professors" in the delegate list, including immediate-past Education Minister Prof. (Mrs.) Ruqqayat Ahmed Rufai and long-past Education minister Jubril Aminu, the latter who, together with another delegate Munzali Jubril was also a former NUC Secretary;  one sitting VC (Femi Mimiko of AAU, Akungba); two former VCs (Prof. Akin Oyebode, formerly of the University of Ado-Ekiti; Ishaq Oloyede, formerly of the University of Ilorin); the current Chairman of Nigeria's Committee of Pro-Chancellors Kimse Okoko, and the immediate past Executive Secretary of TETFund Prof. Mahmood Yakubu (who is the Conference's Assistant Secretary for Finance and Administration). Surely, this large group of eggheads can form a powerful caucus for (tertiary) Education to ensure the writing into the Constitution of a mandatory minimum of 26% budget outlay on  education starting in 2020, with an annual increase of 3% for the next six years from the present miserable 8%?  After all, in Egypt's latest post-Morsi, referendum-approved Constitution, written in was a mandatory 1% of GDP expenditure on Research and Development in universities: how about that too in Nigeria? 

4.  Of the 13-Member Presidential Advisory Committee on National Dialogue, six of them, apparently chosen on a geo-political basis (Chairman Dr. Femi Okunrounmu, Secretary  Dr. Indabawa, Senator Khairat Gwadabe,  Prof. Anya Anya, Col. Tony Nyiam (surprisingly not his replacement Chief Solomon Asemota), and Dr. Siddique Mohammed) are returning as delegates to the Conference proper.  Fine - that should give some "original intent" guidance to the Conference

5.  There are 103 delegates (with 24 women) with Yoruba/South-Western roots out of the 492 delegates - see Table 1 below.   That is 21% of total delegates and 23% women representation  - which are slight under-representations of the 22-33% of the Nigerian population estimated/women required. I believe that the Yoruba can live with that fair representation.  Mind you, those 103 people include four Ilorin/Kwara royalty/nobility (two Gambaris, one Saraki, one AbdulRazaq(-Gwadabe)) of dual roots,  and a non-Yoruba woman married to a Yoruba delegate (the only known husband-and-wife team in the list is Joe and Yinka Odumakin.) However, what again is irksome is that of the fifteen delegates chosen specifically for the Socio Political/ Cultural and Ethnic Nationality Groups in the South-West geopolitical zone of six states, as many as six delegates are from Ogun State alone (or are Lagosians with strong Ogun connections), and only one each from my state of Ekiti, and  from the State of Osun. Is this marginalization a coincidence or what, bearing in mind upcoming gubernatorial elections in the two states?  Unfortunately, we are stuck with this uneven arrangement - but there must be better care taken next time - after apologies.

6.  I am fully aware that the OVERWHELMING number of delegates were chosen NOT because they come from any particular ethnic group or geopolitical zone.  But having been chosen based on their professional or other affiliations, can their ethnic groups of prideful association be completely obliterated in their minds during conference considerations? For example, do we have South-Western (aka Yoruba) Delegates, or merely Delegates from the South-West (aka Yoruba) "Confederation" - is that a distinction with a difference?    Or what does Diaspora representation really mean if for example delegates Gabe Okoye or Jonathan Obaje are taken completely under ethnic Igbo or Middle-Belt wings?  Will for example  delegate "Mama Diaspora" Chief (Mrs) Temitope Ajayi speak up for the Diaspora, for women, or for the Yoruba?

Hardly likely will there be a distinction without intentionality - and that distinction can only be assured if the delegates engage their primary constituencies before AND during the National Conference to determine constituency, conscience and confederation positions, and to determine where they converge and diverge.

But we shall see.

7.  Finally, when will APC fill its two vacant seats - or  has that window been permanently closed?  If it has,  what about the seven un-filled female vacancies in Edo, Delta, Oyo, Yobe and Rivers States, and a Muslim Leader and former Governor; and the one unfilled vacancy for Academy of Social Sciences? The Federal Government can start by  just filling all ten positions with women - to boost the female percentage slightly to 20% - and see what APC does! :-)

And there you have it.  Let the National Conference begin - and one still hopes that it will result in a new and popular National Constitution - otherwise the five to seven billion naira to be spent might just  be a terrible waste of money.

Best wishes all.

Bolaji Aluko

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Table 1: SOUTH-WESTERN/YORUBA DELEGATES to the 2014 NATIONAL CONFERENCE of NIGERIA

103 Delegates, 24 Women (highlighted and starred)

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