Prominent Northern leaders, yesterday, rejected the implementation of the 2014 report of the National Conference convoked by former President Goodluck Jonathan, saying that it did not address the key issues affecting them.
In its place, the northern leaders are asking President Muhammadu Buhari to convene a fresh conference that would take into cognisance the challenges facing them and proffer solutions to them.
The northern leaders who are mostly former political office holders under the aegis of Northern Reawakening Forum (NRF) and headed by a former member of the House of Representatives, Mohammed Kumalia, said it would be wrong for Buhari to implement the report of the conference called by the former leader.
The group, Vanguard Newspaper reports say, met in Abuja, Tuesday, issued a strong view on the last conference, and asked for the dumping of the report in the interest of Nigeria. Kumalia, who read the communiqué on behalf of the NRF, said: “The last conference was convened by the PDP government. You do not expect this government to take hook, line and sinker what was put in place by the last government. It was convoked by the PDP government and unfortunately, the PDP lost election. You do not expect the opposition to accept the resolution of the previous government which has its own objectives which this government is not aware of.”
Ironically, the chairman of the NRF, Kumalia and other members of the forum, participated actively the 2014 National Conference, whose outcome they are now distancing themselves from.
Specifically, they are calling for a new conference that would focus on how to rebuild the North and cater for those who have been displaced by terrorists, who have been attacking the North East for years. “What are the problems in the North East? Has anybody tried to ascertain the problems in the North East? The essence of the national conference is to analyse the extent of damage done to the North East. The working document would be used to rebuild the region. There is no resemblance between the conference we are proposing and the 2014 National Conference. Many things have been destroyed and we need people with experience to discuss how the area will be settled,” he said.
“The North has the highest number of people below $2.00 a day. 71.5% of the population in the North East live in poverty and more than half are malnourished. A 2013 World Bank Report showed that poverty in 16 out of the 19 Northern states have doubled since 1980. The north has the lowest literacy rate in the country. Lagos is at 92% , Kano 49% and Borno less than 15%. 65% of Northern girls and 53% of boys are not in school compared to only 20% for the Southeast,” Kumalia pointed out in the communiqué.
