We’re not here to rubbish constitution - Jibril Aminu
Former Petroleum Minister Professor Jibril Aminu has said the National Conference was not convened to rubbish the nation’s constitution.
Aminu spoke yesterday at the plenary session when delegates were commenting on President Goodluck Jonathan’s inaugural speech.
He said “our constitution is very good. There is no need to rubbish it. We can only make it better.”
Aminu said based on issues identified by the president for discussion, he hoped the National Conference would be the last of such conferences because it would help strengthen the constitution and make it better.
“I hope this conference would be the last. I hope also that people who have accumulated venom would not start calling for another conference to come and release it,” the former senator said.
He said he observed a negative scenario “where some people have come here saying all sorts of polemics and poorly-conceived innuendoes against some other regions.”
While some delegates hammered on the issue of drafting a new constitution for the country, others said the conference lacked any legal backing to embark on such an enterprise.
Former Akwa Ibom State Governor Victor Attah, in his contribution, said Jonathan’s speech clearly identified the problems with Nigeria and the challenges before the conference not only in discussing the problems but in proffering solutions.
He said for so long, Nigerians have imprisoned themselves in the north-south divide explaining that these differences and disparities have always been there, adding: “we may not be able to remove them, but we can make them irrelevant and ineffective.”
Also, Olusola Akanmode urged the conference to make suggestions for inclusion in the constitution regarding the need for timeline on submission of budgets by the executive and passage by the lawmakers at all levels of governance.