The Nation Newspaper

Tag: dialogue

  • APC snubs Jonathan’s dialogue

    APC snubs Jonathan’s dialogue

    •Senate, House back conference

    All Progressives Congress (APC) leaders rose yesterday from their National Executive Council (NEC) meeting to question the Federal Government’s credibility to organise a meaningful national conference.

    According to the APC National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Muhammed, who disclosed the party’s position on the issue to journalists after the meeting in Abuja, the main opposition party is not opposed to a genuine national conference.

    But, to APC, the President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration cannot organize talks. The government, said the party, has lost control of the economy and security, adding that corruption has assumed an “unbelievable” magnitude.

    He said: “At this point in time, this government lacks the credibility to organise a real meaningful national conference. “

    Mohammed said the APC sees the national conference as a diversionary measure.

    The progressive party questioned the essence of the conference, which Dr. Jonathan has already said would be subjected to the National Assembly’s approval.

    He said : “And in any event, we see this thing as nothing but a diversion. What are we talking about a national conference when even the President himself has said that the outcome of that conference will be subjected to the approval of the National Assembly?

    “So, what they have today is a constitutional amendment not a national conference and we will not be a party to it. We believe it is diversionary and not sincere.”

    He announced that the leadership has scheduled the party’s membership registration for next month.

     

  • Middle Belt: dialogue should be after 2015 polls

    Middle Belt: dialogue should be after 2015 polls

    The North Central geo-political zone has asked the Federal Government to shift the proposed national dialogue until after the 2015 general elections.

    No date has been fixed for the talks, but it has been suggested – and roundly rejected – in some circles that the election could wait for the conference.

    The zone made its position known in Jos, the Plateau State capital, yesterday at the stakeholders session held by the National Dialogue Advisory Committee. A similar meeting in South West zone, which was held in Akure, the Ondo State capital, was poorly attended.

    Speaking as the national leader of the Middle Belt Forum (MBF), former minister Prof Jerry Gana said the zone applauded the initiative of the national dialogue and would contribute to its success.

    Gana said: “With reference to timing of the conference, Middle Belt has two proposals: If the ongoing preparations can be concluded by December or January, the conference can sit for six months from February to July 2014 and submit its report in August.

    “However, in view of preparations for the national election early 2015, it may be wiser to convene the conference after the 2015 elections. As such, preparations for the conference could be perfected in 2014, but the actual convening for February/March 2015 and should allowed to sit for the rest of the year 2015,” said Gana.

    On the mode of representation, the Middle Belt is “proposing a basket of selection or election criteria, namely, each ethnic nationality should be represented at the conference to ensure equity, social justice and self-determination.

    “People should be allowed to elect the participants, government should not select delegates for the people. It should be purely a people-oriented programme if it must achieve it’s desired result,” Gana said.

    The committee, led by Dr Femi Okoronmu, visited Governor Jonah Jang as well as the paramount ruler, Gbong Gwom Jos, His Royal Majesty Jacob Gyang Buba.

    The stakeholders meeting was attended by all the states in the Northcentral zone as well as major ethnic groups who also made their presentations to the committee.

    Jang said the findings of the dialogue should be implemented and not abandoned, like many past conferences.

    “If conferences were a successful way of running a country, we would have been the best country in the world,” Jang said, adding:

    “Unfortunately, once such confabs are over, we push them it to the archives without ever implementing them.”

    The governor said for a balanced federation, the disparity in revenue sharing must be addressed so that all states could be fully developed.

    “We need more monies in the states than in the Federal Government, because the people are here and we need to develop the people,” Jang said.

    He said the National Assembly should not feel threatened, but accept whatever the people want.

    “If they are the true representatives of the people, the National Assembly shouldn’t have the final say on the result of this dialogue but the people,” the governor said.

    Okurounmu told the governor that the committee’s mission was to consult widely with the people.

    He urged that people should be free to air their views to the committee.

    “Nigerians should be free to discuss any issue as there are no restrictions on what can be discussed,” he said

    The Gbong Gwon Jos called on the committee on National Dialogue and Nigerians not to use the forum for politicking.

    Buba said that the conference was very timely as it would provide an avenue for all Nigerians to air their differences so that they could be resolved.

    His words: “I appeal to Nigerians not to use this forum for politicking because this committee is not a political committee.

    “It is a committee that wants to listen to and help advise those in authority on what areas to address and on how to address them so that peace and tranquillity would reign in Nigeria and we may enjoy the true dividends of democracy.

    “We must address issues in sincerity and do away with politicking because we are accountable to the coming generation of what becomes of Nigeria.”

    The chairman of the committee told the paramount ruler that the committee was in Jos to ensure that the people in the North-Central geo-political zone were given opportunity to air their views.

    “Our term of reference is that we want them to advice us on what should be included in the agenda” Okurounmu said, adding: “Also on what should be the duration of confab, on who would be the members of the confab and on any other issue they deem fit to tell us.”

  • A dialogue without power

    President Jonathan’s decision that the national conference will report to the National Assembly makes the whole affair a waste of time and money

    Less than a month after President Goodluck Jonathan unveiled his ambition to set sail on a national conference, his ambition has begun to unravel. He has said that the report of the national conference will be sent to the National Assembly for approval.

    This statement exposed the whole definition of the conference from the presidency’s point of view. He sees the national conference as a mere opportunity to dialogue without power. If the conference had a fundamental power to re-enunciate its dreams, redefine its ethos and politics, restructure the nation and vouchsafe our past to a future rippling with clear vision, why would it report to the National Assembly?

    This has not only exposed President Jonathan’s parochial standpoint on the matter, but also clarified the contrast for those who have called for a sovereign national conference. The difference between both positions is now potent. For Jonathan, the conference will be an anaemic affair, even if full of debates, disagreements and the theatre of backslapping. It could debate the issue of state police, the cartography of revenue allocation, the furies of insecurity and the darkness cast over our education system. In the final analysis, the lawmakers will decide what they want and what to discard. Has the same National Assembly not been engaged in such parley across the country in the name of constitutional amendments? What results have emanated from them?

    According to the Jonathan agenda, once the conference has completed its work, the presidency would append its assent.

    For those calling for a national conference of the sovereign type, the issue is more sober. It entails a representation of people from all over the country, covering ethnicity, geography, class and tendencies. The result will not be subject to any special institution like the National Assembly, the presidency and it is above the power of the courts for any sort of adjudication. It is a sovereign in miniature having embodied the soul of the entire nation in trust.

    This means the sovereign body cannot be appointed as perfunctorily as President Jonathan has done. It is a matter of national survival and progress. If, as President Jonathan has declared, the conference representatives will not be hamstrung by any fetters, including the issue of the survival of the nation, why would they want any existing institution to decide on the wisdom or foolishness of their submissions?

    The conference, among other things, will discuss the essences of the presidency and the National Assembly. It will decide how the representatives are elected, what powers they should wield, what kind of funding they could amass, how they relate to the electorate and the limits of their swagger. As it regards the National Assembly, it will also have to deliberate whether we need a National Assembly, or whether we need a bi-camera or uni-camera legislature, and the modes of representation and operation.

    In the sort of debate and powers without fetters, the sovereign national conference could decide that the way both institutions are constituted do not chime with the popular will. If that is the case, the National Assembly suffused with persons who might want to retain the status quo, may decide to assign the full report of the conference to a committee, and the process may end up restoring the status quo for the National Assembly. Not just that, other aspects of the report that today’s decrepit elite may oppose may become subjects of lobbying.

    At the end, fundamental aspects of the report would have been either deleted or diluted, leaving for the presidency a corrupted version of the people’s will. The presidency, also aware of its interests, may do same.

    The people’s position would have been compromised, and the final copy a mockery of intense work done by the people’s representatives.

    But if the people have finished their work, what will be left? It will be subjected to a plebiscite, and the majority of the people will be asked to either endorse the document or reject this. From historical examples, such conferences often exercise tremendous power because they are a precursor to a fundamental change in the way things are run. Its existence necessarily curtails powers of all institutions as they pertain to the conference’s powers.

    No chief executive or legislature can assume powers over those of the conference. Those may be the nuances that are troubling President Jonathan and his fellow travellers. That accounts for their decision to subject the people’s will to a coterie of interested men and women.

    Other nations have passed through that process, whether it was the United States, Britain, France, Germany or even South Africa. It is not often a tea party. It offers an opportunity for unflattering introspection. Every tribe or region or class will spill its views with unvarnished candour, and the conference will have to distill every word or body through the rigour of debates and sundry other engagements. It is an opportunity for histories and cultures of different parts of the country to collide and align.

    That is why we have called a national conference a dialogue with power, not one as ritual. If we follow the pattern President Jonathan has set in motion, we cannot avoid the conclusion that it is another exercise in squander-mania and diversion. It is a rigmarole that will lead back to where we have always been. It is a dialogue without power.

  • Dialogue or diatribe?

    William Isaacs in 1999 did a seminal work entitled “Dialogue and the art of thinking together”, yours comradely shares his perspective of dialogue as “a conversation with the centre, not sides”. Many thanks to the respected columnist Segun Gbadegesin for mainstreaming my side talk or “off-the-cuff remarks” (in his words) on the controversial national conference during interaction with some correspondents recently in Ilorin. Certainly a conversation with my main thoughts on the issue, not necessarily with a reported side talk would have been more fruitful. Whatever it is worth, Gbadegesin came out as a chieftain of a boring monologue. He is definitely not a promoter of conversation. Witness his posted “NLC vs. The people” of October 4, in The Nation. He generated more heat than light in his unhelpful commentary and a “reload” of a predictable old position. It is unacceptable for him to pitch my constituency, NLC against “the people” on account of what he terms my “off-the-cuff remarks”. With millions of organized members, NLC and “the people” are certainly not mutually exclusive. The received wisdom has it that those who demand for equity must at least come with some clean hands. If you espouse dialogue (or is it conversation?) from the roof top, kindly lift those of us below out of polarization and channel our energy towards some better understanding. The bane of the modern proponents of Sovereign National Conference (SNC) with its ever altered and distorted variants is their aversion to the very principles of dialogue. The late Alao Aka-Bashorun, my mentor, lawyer and one time NBA President initiated the demand for a national conference in the mid-80s. It was then not as fashionable. It was even riskier. Under the military dictatorship ala IBB, Aka-Bashorun courageously envisaged genuine conversation as part of the broad progressive strategy to ease out authoritarianism. Today with a constitution and its imperfections, over 50 political parties, 35 state assemblies, Senate and the House of Representatives, Aka-Bashorun would have opted for deepening democratic process through improved elections rather than parroting the present day fashionable mantra-dialogue already discredited over the years by embattled regimes of varying persuasions and their pen of uncritical supporters.

    “Protest rallies on a regular basis” by labour must have captured Gbadegesin’s imagination.  But genuine observers of labour market issues know that social dialogue is the hallmark of trade unionists including me. After signing scores of thousands of plants, national and continental collective agreements over the years, through collective bargaining and genuine social dialogue, covering wages, hours of work, health and safety standards, gratuity and pension, maternity and child rights, I dare say I am a tested convert to dialogue. Present day SNC proponents are the ones who need a sermon on dialogue not labour. They often talk and reason but with themselves not together with others. And that may very well be the downside of the new conference. They   polarize and fight, instead of winning new hearts.

    My legitimate concern is that President Goodluck Jonathan’s latter day embrace of a national conference is an opportunistic and indeed belated diversion from the surmountable governance challenges he was elected to solve. I stand to be convinced to the contrary through greater persuasion not a feverish dialogue-phobia, unhelpful polemics and smear.

    Happily President Jonathan was more measured in his response to the concerns of the sceptics like me than the pen warriors of dialogue. In his address inaugurating the 13-man National Dialogue Advisory Committee, the President assured that “no voice is too small and no opinion is irrelevant”. He reassuringly observed that “the views of the sceptics and those of the enthusiasts must be accommodated”. Gbadegesin cannot be holier than the new Pope of national conference who also modestly accepted to be “one of those who exhibited scepticism on the need for another conference or dialogue” in recent past. “If indeed this ”Conversation is a People’s Conversation”, as President Jonathan assured, nobody dares shut some out through cheap diatribe.

    It is part of conversation too to express doubt about the so-called national dialogue as the likes of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Bishop Mathew Kukah and Professor Ishak Oloyede audaciously did. It would amount to literary terrorism to say APC is against the people, just because Asiwaju Tinubu said the proposed dialogue is a diversionary “Greek Gift”. To say the church and Supreme Islamic Council are against “the people” just because Bishop Kukah and Professor Ishak Oloyede (one-time co-chairmen of similar failed project under OBJ) respectively expressed doubt about national dialogue, would amount to dictatorship of monologue.

    The critical question begging for answer; is National Dialogue  a genuine governance imperative or another unbudgeted diversion? As measured and conversational the President was in his address, he was still not convincing. We must first hold President Jonathan accountable for his electoral promises made without pressures before we can consider new issues he latched on under duress mid-term in office.  I search in vain for a National Dialogue, National Conversation or National Discourse at his inaugural address in 2010.  On the contrary, I read about “our total commitment to Good Governance, Electoral Reform and the fight against Corruption”.  Indeed the President promised “ensuring the sustenance of peace and development in the Niger Delta as well as the security of life and property around the entire country…” Also in equal measure we had presidential “pledges to improve the socio-economic situation through improved access to electricity, water, education, health facilities and other social amenities”.  High sounding “National Dialogue” at this hour is not just a diversion from the above pledges, it also unacceptably adds to already high costs of governance.  For as long as this new debate continues, the President’s full time report on all these issues that affect the working class and Nigerian people in general may also suffer with all the implications for the development  of the country.

    Are we a debating society or a functional productive republic? We promise to be part of the 20 leading economies in seven years. Are the other 19 economies agonizing through a wasteful divisive conference of ethnic nationalities or working tirelessly to combine growth rates with job creation and poverty eradication? President Jonathan was very upbeat about the gains of the previous conferences. Labour’s experience is not as encouraging. The latest constitution review actually set to deform labour when at the behest of some self-serving governors, labour was whimsically removed from the exclusive list by the senators thus eroding labour gains and standards. I think the President needs genuine SWOT analysis of these past conferences. The weaknesses might very well outweigh the strengths. Even now the threats are higher for Nigeria.  With the likes of Gbadegesin exhibiting nostalgia for the lowly trademarks of ethnicity and language (not even class) and getting romantic with failed state projects like Yugoslavia or the Soviet Union, we may very well be convoking a dangerous diatribe in place of useful dialogue for a better Nigeria and a greater Africa.

    • Aremu, mni, is Vice President of Nigeria Labour Congress

  • Let’s unite for national dialogue, Tukur pleads with Baraje faction

    Let’s unite for national dialogue, Tukur pleads with Baraje faction

    The national Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Bamanga Tukur has appealed to members of the Abubakar Baraje faction to close ranks with the mainstream PDP, to enable the party forge a common front for the national pro posed dialogue.

    In a statement he signed yesterday, Tukur said the ruling party would mobilise Nigerians from all walks of life, including opposition groups, for the success of the conference.

    According to him, the dialogue offers a life time opportunity for Nigerians to re-lay the foundation of the country, stressing that the nation would emerge as a true giant of Africa at the end of the exercise.

    Tukur said: “I appeal to members of the PDP to align with the President on the national confab agenda. I also appeal to our aggrieved members to return to the PDP for us to forge a common endeavour towards rebuilding the party and our country in particular.

    “For this reason, I will not shy away from begging our party members to come together so we can enter the national confab like a team and set examples for the rest of Nigeria.

    “In doing that, we would have demonstrated that we remain the most serious party, not only in Nigeria but in Africa”.

    The chairman said the PDP was excited by the government’s desire to bring all ethnic nationalities in the country together for discussions on the progress and future of the country.

    He praised President Goodluck Jonathan for responding positively to the yearnings of the people for a national conference.

    Tukur wondered why the idea of the conference was being criticised by certain individuals and groups in the country.

    He described the critics as hypocrites, saying that many of them had severally called for the conference in the past and had mounted pressure on the President to set machinery in motion for the talks.

    The chairman admitted that the ruling party is presently at a crossroads, a development which he said, is normal in democracies.

    What is not normal, according to him, “is a situation where dissenting members resolve to permanently stand apart with little regard for the party’s starting line, past efforts in building the party, as well as common aspirations in raising the party to be the most formidable among all”.

    Tukur restated his determination to pursue with vigour the revival of the ruling party and to put the country on the path of sustainable growth and development.

    He said: “Let me reiterate that I am not the cause of the crises in our party. From the moment I came in as chairman, my focus has been on reconciliation and party reformation.

    “Some entrenched interests opposed that. They, therefore, left us with an impression that PDP does not need a reform. Why must we keep on operating without reforms? For me, such attitude is not encouraging.

    “As I speak, the Democratic Party in the United States with assurances from President Barack Obama, has promised to assist the growth of our party and they are serious about it.

    “That is instructive, coming from the world’s most respected political party. But we need reforms to carry us through, and the reforms we must implement”.

  • Labour to Fed Govt: embrace dialogue

    The President-General of Trade Union Congress (TUC),Comrade Bobboi Bala Kaigama, has warned the Federal Government of a revolution in the country if it fails to embrace social dialogue.

    He stressed the need for partnership among the three tiers of governments to address problems of the nation.

    He also said the three tiers of government must work together to pursue the ongoing Federal Government’s transformation agenda so that its effects would rub off on the economy

    Speaking with reporters in Lagos, Comrade Bobboi urged the nation’s leaders to resolve their differences and work towards good governance, or risk an imminent revolution in the country. When it happens, he warned, the leaders would be the first target of hungry Nigerians.

    He said: “Economic growth and jobs creation are the ultimate goal of the economic transformation, which forms part of the key role that government has to play in helping to address the challenges of job creation and other challenges that Nigeria faces.

    “Our position is that, Nigeria needs the enabling environment and other economic measures with an immediate impact, to help create jobs, to spur economic activity as well as preserve social stability and human dignity.

    “We are ready to be partners with the government to address the crisis, with an emphasis on decent work, promoting enterprises, good governance, investment and social justice because TUC believes in the power of universal norms and standards. Our position is that it is only by working together that we can truly achieve our goals.”

    On the passage of a bill to deregulate wages in the country, he said TUC’s position on it is claer. He said the congress was worried that the senators did not take the private sector under consideration while legislating on minimum wage.

    “They voted that the state should have a national minimum wage different from the Federal Government. It is a laughable position taken by the Senate because the senators have no regard for the private sector, widely acclaimed as the engine of growth in any economy.

    “And so, the Senate having concluded that the private sector in the economy, acclaimed to be the engine of growth should pay N5, or any amount to workers as national minimum wage while the state governments can as well pay any amount is unfortunate,” he said.

    According to him, TUC has resolved that since the essence of the National Assembly is to legislate on laws that will bring about law and order, that would enrich and not to impoverish the citizenry, or the senators have not put into consideration that the minimum wage is a bench mark, which no employer in the country should go below in their wage review and implementation, the workers in the country should be prepared to take their destiny in their hands when the time comes.

    He said: “We are more worried that the national minimum wage does not preclude the fact that the employers in the country can pay over and above the N18,000 that is prescribed in the minimum wage. And so, the TUC is not aware about how the Senate came about deregulating the minimum wage.

    “I am pretty sure that they have not done the in-depth study of the national minimum wage before taking a laughable position that is exposing them as anti-workers and Nigerians that voted for them in the 2011 general elections.

    “We only use this opportunity to advise them in the interest of good governance in the country to take a second look at the provision and allow the issue of the National minimum wage to be on the Exclusive Legislative List.”

    Comrade Kaigama said TUC would develop the capacity of the workers and give the secretariat an international status.

    “I plan to develop and improve on the TUC’s transport project that was started by (my predecessor) Comrade Peter Esele, because I said in my mission statement that other viable state capitals in the country need to benefit from the transportation services of the TUC,” he added.

  • Dialogue for national educational development

    Improving the nation’s education sector has become one of the most contentious issues in the country. After several years of neglect, Nigerians from all walks of life are enthusiastic about the total revival of the education sector. Since the return to democracy, the executive and the legislative arm of government have been battling to ensure that the sector becomes the pride of the nation once again.

    The factors that have subdued the development of the nation’s education sector are well known to every stakeholder. These reasons for the failure of the system are recounted at every forum and the picture clearly painted on the sorry state of the sector.

    The National Education Summit organised by the House of Representative Committee on Education was no different. The stakeholders who participated at the historic summit were drawn from the universities, polytechnics, basic education institutions, research institutions, parastatals, the executive and legislative arms of government.

    The interactions at the House of Representatives initiative were frank and productive. Participants agreed quite early in the day to focus on the prospects of resolving the challenges of the education sector, rather than dwell on the sorry nature of the sector, without clear-cut means of achieving the required improvement.

    At the summit, one clear point was thrown up. Most of the stakeholders erroneously insist that almost every single challenge confronting the education sector should be placed at the doorstep of the Federal Government. Challenges such as the decay of primary and secondary school infrastructure were freely placed at the doorstep of the Federal Government.

    However, a major take-away at the summit was the resolution that the amendment of the Universal Basic Education Commission, UBEC, Act should be fast-tracked to ensure that the senior secondary level of education is legally accommodated. The deputy chairman of the House Committee on Education, Dr Rose Okoh, informed that the amendment has reached an advance stage; with deliberation at the plenary being the very last hurdle.

    The lead paper and keynote address at the meeting was delivered by the Minister of State for Education, Ezenwo Nyesom Wike.

    The principal thought placed on the table for deliberation by the minister was the fact that states, local councils and other stakeholders should raise the bar as regards their implementation of programmes and policies aimed at improving the quality of education across the country.

    To the minister, the profound investments and successes recorded by the Jonathan administration in the last two years in the education arena would only be appreciated when other tiers of government start playing their legal roles.

    He declared that the massive transformation and reforms of the education sector being implemented by the President Goodluck Jonathan administration in the near future have positive multiplier effect on the nation’s development process. Barr. Wike stated that the administration’s Four Year Strategic Plan on the education sector is part of 10-year year rolling plan aimed at placing education at the front-burner of national rebirth.

    The minister stated that all stakeholders in the education sector must take responsibility for the general decay that the sector has witnessed over the years and join hands with the Jonathan administration for the success of programmes and policies designed specifically to lift education from its present unenviable state.

    It was agreed that the platform created by the House Committee on Education for the cross fertilisation of ideas on the development of education was a right step in the right direction. The House being one of the pillars of democracy, participants agreed, provided the podium for most stakeholders to push their suggestions for improvements.

    The democratisation of the education development process under the current administration is indeed progressive.

    – Simeon Nwakaudu,

    Special Assistant (Media) to the Minister of State for Education, Abuja.

  • Dialogue, not force will stop terrorism, says don

    Dialogue, not force will stop terrorism, says don

    A Professor of Islamic Studies, Is’haq Akintola, has again urged the Federal Government to dialogue with members of the Boko Haram sect instead of using force against them.

    Akintola, who is the Dean of Arts, Lagos State University (LASU), spoke at the weekend in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, at a Ramadan lecture organised by Abdulrauf Jimoh and Co., a firm of chartered accountants.

    The lecture was on: Terrorism and Corruption Ravaging a Promising Nation: An Islamic Solution.

    Akintola said: “In solving the Boko Haram menace, I will suggest to government not to use force. Soldiers are out there, in parts of the North, pursuing Boko Haram. But those might not be the only places where Boko Haram exists. Force alone cannot stop terrorism. Poverty created Boko Haram.

    “The Federal Government should listen to the sect’s members and ask them what they want. In Turkey, the government dialogued with the PKK members; the British Government dialogued with the Irish Republican Army (IRA); the Italian Government, rather than use force, dialogued with the Red Brigade and they stopped throwing bombs.

    “In Spain, we have the Barth’s Separatists. But the government dialogued with them and settled the rift. That is why we will support what will bring peaceful coexistence between the government and Boko Haram.”

    The don noted that the fear of God is the antidote to the social malaise ravaging the country.

    He said: “If the politicians govern well and give the people their due, terrorism would be wiped out.

    “There is a strong umbilical cord between a lack of fear of God, bad governance, corruption, poverty, frustration, anger and terrorism.

    “About 70 per cent of the secondary school leavers are unfit for university education. I have a cause-effect theory of terrorism, as there can be no smoke without fire. It’s because people are angry with bad governance that they vent their spleen on the society. People are reacting to some form of injustice.

    “It could be socio-economic or religious but anytime there is injustice, there will be a reaction. But I want to make it abundantly clear that Islam opposes terrorism. Terrorism is antithetical to violence.”

  • Varsity hosts dialogue on media and communication

    Varsity hosts dialogue on media and communication

    Arrangements are in top gear for the upcoming to second UNN “Dialogue on media and communication” scheduled for June 13-15 at the Princess Alexandra Auditorium, University of Nigeria, Nsukka.

    The event, being organised by the Department of Mass Communication and Information and Public Relations Unit of the University will focus on “Research Methods” as the theme, while papers on Public Relations practice will also be presented.

    The facilitators expected for the event are renowned scholars in the field of Communication and Public Relations from different parts of the world, led by the keynote speaker; Prof. Robert White from the Institute of Peace Studies and International Research, Hekima College, Nairobi, Kenya.

    Other speakers will include; Prof Charles Okigbo, Department of Mass Communication, North Dakota State University, United States; Prof Chris Ogbonndah, University of Northern Iowa, USA, Prof. Kate Omenugha, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Mr Chido Nwakanma, Managing Director of Blueflower, and Mr Ifeanyi Mbanefo, Communication Relations Manager, NLNG, Bonny.

    Speaking on the essence of the event, the Head of Department of Mass Comm., UNN Dr Nnanyelugo Okoro, event that the programme is primarily aimed at equipping postgraduate students in the field of communication and other disciplines with the latest research methods to make their postgraduate studies easier.

    “The dialogue is aimed at building a strong research resource base for Mass Communication in particular and the academia in general. It will help strengthen research ideas, enhance research consciousness and excellence in the University of Nigeria and other sister universities,” he said.

    Dr Okoro said the workshop was not limited to students of communication but was open to other sister departments from any part of the country. He advised intended participants to indicate interest by completing an online registration form using the link www.unn.edu.ng/cms/information-and-public-relations-unit-unn. According to him, certificate of participation would be issued to participants at the end of the workshop.

    Dr Okoro further expressed his appreciation to distinguished alumni of the department and other good spirited individuals who are making effort to ensure that the Dialogue becomes a success.

     

  • Abubakar urges Boko Haram to embrace dialogue

    Abubakar urges Boko Haram to embrace dialogue

    •Go after sponsors of insurgency, says Aliyu
    •’No heavy casualties in war against terror’

    Former Head of State Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar has urged members of the Boko Haram sect to embrace dialogue.

    Abubakar spoke yesterday when members of the Presidential Committee on Dialogue and Peaceful Resolution of Security Challenge in the North visited him at his residence in Minna, the Niger State capital.

    He appealed to the sect members to meet the committee to discuss their grievances, saying that dialogue was the only out.

    He said: “I implore Nigerians to pray for the sect members to have a change of heart and accept dialogue to discuss their grievances and seek peace. If you go to the North, especially Borno and Yobe where this is happening, you will weep.Women have turned widows and children orphans, while other people are separated from one another. In the name of their conscience, in the name of Allah which they profess, they should lay down their arms and embrace dialogue to end the violence.

    “Violence doesn’t solve problem, you must come to the table, without doing that your grievances are meaningless.’’

    Abubakar also advised the committee to thread with caution, saying, “the eyes of the whole world are on you to see what you can do and what you can come up with”.

    He described the carnage going on in the North as senseless, appealing to the committee not to allow the Federal Government to punish sect members who turned themselves in.

    “The unemployed, but educated youths are a threat to peace in any society, while government cannot employ everybody, we must create the right environment for them to thrive,’’ Abubakar said.

    The Chairman of the committee, Alhaji Kabiru Turaki, urged Abubakar to persuade leaders of the sect to come out and dialogue with the committee.

    The committee also visited Governor Babangida Aliyu, who told them that Boko Haram sponsors are more dangerous than its members.

    Aliyu urged the committee to fish out the sponsors of the Boko Haram insurgency.

    He said: “The sponsors of the sect are more dangerous than the people carrying arms”.

    He challenged the members of the committee to go deeper in their attempt to resolve the security challenges in the northern part of the country.

    The Chairman of the Committee and the Minister of Special Duties and Inter-governmental Relations, Taninum Turaki explained that the committee was in Niger State to interact with relevant stakeholders in its bid to bring a quick and peaceful end to the security challenges in the region.

    He assured the governor that the committee will also look at the plight of the victims and also consider ways of compensating them.

    Aliyu said the activities of the insurgent group have taken a toll on the economy of the North, adding that the security crisis is as a result of the problems faced by the region.

    Chief of Army Staff Lt-Gen. Azubuike Ihejirika yesterday debunked reports that the army and other security forces have suffered heavy casualties in the battle against Boko Haram in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa.

    The Army chief spoke to reporters in Abakaliki, the Ebonyi State capital where top army officers converged for a three- day Chief of Army Staff 2nd quarter conference.

    His words: “So far the casualties have been very minimal on the part of security forces and it will also interest you to note that the communities where these operations are being conducted are very happy and they have been expressing their joy to the military men that have come to rescue them from those bandits.

    “We will collaborate with the government to ensure peace in the state. It is the desire of the Nigerian Army that we will not have to fire a single shot on a civilian. I call on all warring factions and all militants to have a change of idea, so that development will come in.

    “We will soon take over a forward operating base at Ezillo which will be expanded gradually to a full battalion. One of the primary constitutional tasks of that unit will be keeping the peace to make sure that criminals and trouble makers are put to check. It is my wish that we will not fire a single bullet to bring about this peace but certainly the guns will be there should there be anybody who deserves it.”