Ohanaeze kicks against another national conference, urges Nigerians to agitate for restructuring

By PAMELA EBOH, Awka

Ohanaeze Ndigbo, on Wednesday, said that Nigerians will be forced to rise against any government that proposes another national conference.

This is coming on the heels of Federal Government’s stance that there is no need for a national conference to address core problems plaguing the existence of the country.

The Deputy Vice National President of the Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief Demian Ogene-Okeke, called on those agitating for such conference to channel their grievances to the National Assembly, currently in the process of amending the 1999 constitution.

Okeke said: “Nigerians should agitate on how to restructure the country and stop asking for what has never yielded any positive result.

“We have had a lot of national conferences in this country without any benefit. So, the government can implement and make use of them, instead of wasting another money unnecessarily, especially at this moment where the country is passing through unexplained challenges, ranging from unemployment, hunger and insecurity.”

He enjoined the Federal Government to implement and make use of the recommendations of last national conference put in place by the administration of former President, Goodluck Jonathan in 2014.

According to him, the non-implementation of the national confab report is dangerous, and organising another one is also unnecessary bearing in mind the high level of agitational groups in the country.

A source who spoke on condition of anonymity also wondered why another confab should be organised by the Federal Government when previous ones were yet to impact Nigerians positively.

He added: “Why national conference again. Our leaders should try and strengthen our democracy by allowing those who think good for the nation to occupy leadership positions.”