The ever controversial national conference to discuss Nigeria's future is finally opening in the capital city Abuja with some 500 delegates from across the country.
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National Conference to discuss Nigeria’s future is opening, with the division
of oil money and powers expected to be the main issues.
Some 500 delegates are attending, representing Nigeria’s many
ethnic, linguistic and religious groups.
The National Conference comes 100 years after the mainly Muslim
north and largely Christian south were united.
Delegates have been barred from discussing whether the country
should be divided.
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I believe that a united, great formidable and indivisible
Nigeria is the best for us but our problem has been the absence of leadership”
Solomon Selcap Dalung
Barrister and lecturer
Viewpoints on Nigeria at 100
However, some groups say they will still raise this issue during the three-month conference in the capital Abuja.
Barrister and lecturer
Viewpoints on Nigeria at 100
However, some groups say they will still raise this issue during the three-month conference in the capital Abuja.
Critics, including the main opposition party, have dismissed the
conference as a waste of time and money.
The oil is located in southern Nigeria and some delegates from
oil-producing areas want local communities to keep more of the revenue it
generates.
However, poverty levels are far higher in the north and
delegates from non-oil-producing areas are expected to resist such moves.
At present, oil states keep 25% of the oil revenue they earn and
hand the rest to the federal government.
Nigeria is one of the world’s biggest oil producers but most of
its 170 million people live in poverty.
Some Nigerians want more powers to be delegated to the country’s
36 states.
BBC Hausa editor Mansur Liman says it appears as though
President Goodluck Jonathan wants to use the conference to change the
constitution, which would otherwise be very difficult to achieve.
The conference comes ahead of elections next year, in which the
governing People’s Democratic Party is expected to face its strongest challenge
since the end of military rule in 1999.
It also comes amid almost daily attacks by militants, suspected
to be from Boko Haram, which wants to govern northern Nigeria according to
Islamic law.
source: NIGERMANDATE
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