The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Odu’a

  • Odua group, South West and regional integration

    Odua group, South West and regional integration

    At a meeting of the five governors of Oyo, Ondo, Ogun, Osdun and Ekkiti states in January, the historic decision was taken to admit Lagos State into the Odua Investment Group of companies as the sixth member state. The Special Adviser to the Lagos State Governor on overseas affairs and investment, Professor Abass Adewole, was spot on when he said “The admission of Lagos into the group is not just a promotion for the state but also the completion of Oodua itself. I am happy that Lagos has finally joined the Oodua group, which can now say it is complete. With a population of about 22 million people and N136 billion GDP and the fact that 95 per cent of Foreign Direct Investment comes to Lagos, the state is expected to be a hub. We are hoping that other Southwest states can start thinking of regional infrastructural development”. Incidentally, this column had made a case for strengthening the Oodua group and for Lagos to join the conglomerate on January 11, 2014. I reproduce the piece today to refresh our memories.

    This column makes a distinction between regional integration and regionalism. The former is a necessary condition for national economic revival and development. It refers to spatially contiguous states leveraging informally on their collective resources to elevate their economies and the well- being of their people. Dr Alex Ekueme has in this respect done us an invaluable service by coming up at the 2005 national conference with the six-zone concept- South-West, South-East, South-South, North-West, North-East and North-Central.

    Regionalism on the other hand is the illusory, even hallucinatory, notion that Nigeria can ever go back to the regional structure of the first republic. The present states have come to stay. In the South-West for instance the pressure for the creation of Ijebu and Ibadan states remain as intense as ever. It is the same story across the country. Anybody who believes that the current states will ever subsume their autonomy to some regional authority is utterly deluded. Rather there will be continued pressure for the creation of more states.

    In any case it makes absolutely no economic sense to seek to create an additional layer of government at the regional levelwith the attendant administrative and logistical costs. Nigeria is already one of the most over-administered territories in the world with much of the resources that ought to go to improving the well- being populace being gulped up by administrators at the varying levels of government.

    But geographically contiguous zones can plan and harness their resources to accelerate their development and elevate the country’s overall economic performance. It is not surprising in this respect that the governors of the South-West have been most vocal in articulating the imperative of regional economic integration. Yet it would appear to me that these governors have paid more of lip service to the concept and have not taken concrete action towards genuine regional economic integration.

    On the issue of regional integration, the South-West governors certainly do not need to re-invent the wheel. The great sage, Chief ObafemiAwolowo, had already laid a firm foundation for the region in this respect. For those who do not have the time or patience to read Awolowo’s major works (although it is a most worthwhile investment) I suggest OlufemiOgunsanwo’s racy and thrilling book ‘AWO: UNFINISHED GREATNESS’.

    As this book shows, the current Odu’a group of companies is a an agglomeration of several companies formed by the Awolowo administration in the western region including the Western Nigerian Development Corporation (WNDC), the Finance Corporation, the Western Nigeria Housing Corporation and the Western Nigeria Ministry of Industries.

    It is instructive that The Economist magazine, the unrepentant and ideologically bankrupt mouth piece of neo-liberal capitalism, on June 21 and October 13, 2012, published cover stories titled ‘The rise of state capitalism’ and ‘True progressivism’ respectively. Not even this bastion of journalistic conservatism can deny that neo-liberal capitalism is in deep trouble globally and the quest for material gratification by a few must be balanced by a humane consideration for the welfare of the majority if human society is to survive.

    Yet, Awolowo, an accomplished Keynesian economist, had realized as far back as the 1950s that aggressive state investment is a necessary condition for rapid economic development especially where you have a weak indigenous capital base. The neo-liberal notion that companies perform poorly because they are publicly owned is absolute nonsense. It is not a question of ownership but one of work culture and ethics. The tragic fate of Nigeria’s privately owned failed banks amply demonstrates this.

    Let me quote extensively from OlufemiOgunsanwo’s book to demonstrate my point: “WNDC spread its tentacles to manufacturing, banking, insurance, hotels and catering, property development and real estate. It floated a large number of companies and industries wholly owned by government or held in partnership with several foreign investors. To give a few examples, it set up the National Bank of Nigeria, Wema Bank, the Nigeria General Insurance Company, Great Nigeria Insurance Company, GravilEnthoven and Company, Lagos Airport Hotel, Vegetables oil, Cocoa Industries, Odu’a textiles, Wrought Iron Ltd, Union Beverages Ltd, Sungas Company, Wemabod Estates, Western Livestock, Fisheries Services Ltd, Caxton Press, Epe Plywood, Askar Paints, Nigerian Crafts and Bags Ltd, Nipol Plastics, Phoenix Motors and several others. More than half of these companies are still viable today and have been consolidated in the Odu’a Group of companies, the largest conglomerate in the history of Nigeria with total assets in excess of 10 trillion Naira in 2004”.

    What have succeeding generations made of this illustrious legacy? It is a tragedy that it has been largely squandered particularly during the military era and the PDP years of the locustsin the South West. Yes, the immediate past Chairman of Odu’a Group, AlhajiSharafadeen and the Group Managing Director, Alhaji Adebayo Jimoh, deserve commendation for consolidating on the strength of the Group especially in the area of property development. However, it would appear to me that the current South West Governors are not paying sufficient attention to the Odu’a Group as a principal medium for regional economic integration and development.

    Let me take the Lagos Airport Hotel (LAHL) as just one example. Established in 1942, it is easily the oldest hotel in the country. My investigations reveal that it is one of the major revenue earners of the Odu’a Group. It occupies a space that would be the envy of any other hotel. The LAHL has the only Olympic size swimming pool in Lagos apart from the National Stadium. One of Nigeria’s leading public intellectuals, for instance, said a few years ago in an interview that “When my wife visits from England she wakes up at six o’clock and starts bothering me about going for breakfast., because she loves the indigenous food and so she will rather stay in LAHL than any other hotel”. The hotel has a peculiar brand of its own.

      Yet, the truth is that the J.K. Adenigba- led management team of the hotel is only striving to squeeze water out of stone or turn stone to bread. That the LAHL is able to hold its own in the face of fierce competition from foreign competition in the industry is a testimony to the acumen of its management and the dedication of its staff. But the South-West Governors must take decisive action in investing adequately to upgrade facilities in the hotel and boost staff morale. The same goes for the Premier as well as Lafia Hotels both members of the Odu’a Group based in Ibadan. Minimal investment in such ‘low hanging fruits’ will yield maximum revenue for the benefit of the region.

    The Odu’a Group in my view already provides a solid base for economic integration and development in the South-West. But the region’s governors must be more determined to revitalise the group, realize the vision of its founding fathers and transform it into a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) for regional transformation. And why for God’s sake is Lagos State not part of the Odu’a Group?

  • Odu’a admits Lagos as sixth owner

    Odu’a admits Lagos as sixth owner

    •To raise capital to N20b 

    Lagos  State was yesterday admitted into the fold of owners of Odu’a Investments Company Limited.

    Odu’a Group is  the investments business group of the five Southwest states of Osun, Oyo, Ondo, Ogun and Ekiti.

    The decision ended four years of debates among the previous five owner-states over consideration that Lagos State should be admitted into the fold because it is a Yoruba state like the others.

    The announcement was made yesterday after a marathon meeting of governors of the five states at the Cocoa House, Ibadan headquarters of the conglomerate.

    At the meeting were Governors Rauf Aregbesola (Osun);  Ibikunle Amosun (Ogun); Olusegun Mimiko (Ondo); Oyo State Deputy Governor Moses Alake-Adeyemo and his Ekiti State counterpart Olusola Kolapo.

    Mimiko, who read the communiqué after the meeting, said the governors and board members took far-reaching decisions at the meeting- two most important of which were the approval of a five-year strategic plan for raise the company’s revenue from its current N4 billion to N20 billion and agreement to admit Lagos as the sixth owner-state.

    Mimiko said: “We took some far-reaching decisions. We have taken the decision to reposition Odu’a Investment as the engine room of economic growth and development of the Southwest. We have just approved a five-year strategic plan to grow the revenue base of the company from N4billion to N20billion by 2019.

    “We have also agreed in principle to admit Lagos State as part of the Odu’a Group. Based on this renewed interest in Odu’a Group, as the engine room of the economic growth in the Southwest, as governors and proprietors, we have also decided that we will now meet with the board and management quarterly.”

    The Ondo governor also emphasised the determination of owner-states to reposition the conglomerate because of its strategic advantage to drive economic growth in the Southwest.

    The Chairman, Board of Directors, Chief Isaac Akintade, reminded the governor’s of the payment of N167 million dividend to the five states last October as part of the first major steps in repositioning the company. The payment came after a six-year drought in dividend payment.

    Akintade said the five-year strategic growth plan was generated with inputs from shareholders, stressing that the board and management of the company was committed to the plan.

    Also at the meeting were Secretaries to the State Government (SSGs) of the five states.

  • O’dua and the rebirth of Daily Sketch

    Making my observations from afar, I can quickly count a number of hitherto thriving entities within the Od’ua Investment Company group that have either gone comatose or completely dead.

    Epe Plywood Factory, Nigerian Wire and Cable and Askar Paints are all now referred to in the past and this is despite the essential nature of the goods and services they were in the business of producing.

    It is easy to give the excuse that the Nigerian business environment is tough but there are numerous private entities surviving and returning good dividends to their owners. Many other competing outfits within and outside Nigeria continue to thrive relying entirely on the Nigerian market.

    The Nigeria NLG has been recently in the news for having provided billions as bailout packages to the Federation Account. Companies under the Dangote group are expanding to various parts of the world and making Aliko Dangote one of the richest men on earth.

    Yet, OIC Limited is as helpless as its owners in a moment like this when it should be providing financial succour to its owners who are unable to pay staff salaries and also providing much needed employment to the descendants of O’dua.

    Incompetence, nepotism, corruption and red-tapism are alleged to be the Archiles heels. Inside O’dua, life moves rather slowly, decisions take almost forever to make. The axiom ‘time is money’ means nothing here. Sketch group of newspapers was a thriving concern when it was handed over to O’dua to manage around the mid 1990s. It was run aground not long after.

    On October 24, 2013, the then Group Managing Director, Odua Investment, Adebayo Jimoh, announced plans by the group to resuscitate the comatose Sketch.

    He added that O’dua was already in discussion with intending partners who have shown interest in taking up Sketch’s patent. “The rebirth of the paper will be announced soon,” he declared.

    Also shortly after his farewell visit to Governor Ibikunle Amosun in Abeokuta, Jimoh told reporters that O’dua was working with a group of senior journalists in the bid to bring back one of the Yoruba legacies alive. This heightened popular expectations.

    It would seem a surprise that the announcement on Sketch generated such interest in an age where many mass media outlets are doing rather badly in the market and payment of salaries is a big issue.

    Online media and blogs have taken over and readers get information without paying for newspapers. But Sketch is more than mere newspaper to the O’dua nation. It is nostalgia. It is about a golden era that many would wish returned.

    Such old names like Peter Ajayi, Felix Adenaike, Olusegun Osoba, Sola Oyegbemi, Ademola Idowu, just to mention a handful are some of the media colossus that passed through Daily Sketch. It was said that at a point in its history, the owner governments relied on profit from the newspaper group to pay salaries.

    Also at a point in time when employment is a huge issue in the South West Nigeria, many had thought that O’dua Group and its owner states would consider it a god-sent for private businessmen to express interest in such gesture with the potential to boost employment generation and increase enlightenment.

    Alas! Nothing else happened until mid 2014 when news filtered that O’dua had entered an agreement with a private media outfit to re-package the legacy entity with privately sourced funds.

    Unfortunately, there was a change in management at O’dua and the process was forced to start all over despite the millions already expended by the private investors.

    Another round of due diligence was conducted after which it was learned that there was all-round satisfaction. There were also reports that the newspapers were likely to hit the newsstands by mid-2015.

    Now we hear that after several meetings and decisions reached since August, Od’ua management is again at its evasive, snail speed-foot dragging best in giving the final go-ahead. Inside sources are hinting and an ugly development on the issue. May be OICL management is not aware that a lot of people are insinuating that the foot-dragging is because the investors have not greased some dirty palms.

    It was also alleged that some individuals are deliberately putting spanner in the works despite the heavy investments that the investors have made for some illegal reasons.

    Inside sources disclosed that at a meeting in August, representatives of both parties agreed to a timetable on the series of events that will lead to publications. Even then, the renewed timetable is now a mess as the agreements scheduled to have been signed in the middle of September is still on hold with no sign that anything positive will happen soon.

    The question now is since O’dua is not contributing a dime to the planned resuscitation but will rather earn royalty and rent in addition to providing the much needed jobs in the region, why is the management foot dragging on the issue?

    Is it this lackadaisical attitude that led to the downswing in business operations of O’dua with most of its hitherto thriving business nose diving?

    –Banjomo, a social commentator, wrote in from Lagos

  • Odu’a posts N759m profits

    Odu’a Investments Limited has posted profit before tax of N759 million for its 2014 fiscal year.

    The profit represents an increase of 53 per cent over the previous year’s N495 million.

    But the total profit before tax of the entire group, including associate companies, stands at N2,565,763 billion.

    The company paid N150 million dividends to its five shareholders. They are the Southwest states of Oyo, Osun, Ondo, Ekiti and Ogun. They went home with N30 million each.

    Addressing reporters after its Annual General Meeting (AGM) held at the Cocoa House, Ibadan headquarters of the conglomerate, its Group Managing Director (GMD), Mr Adewale Raji, attributed the growth in profit to board and management’s decision to review the internal dynamics of the company.

    He said the effort “resulted in functional re-engineering and staff streamlining of our operation to ensure efficiency and effectiveness with clearly defined roles, responsibilities and reporting lines.”

    Raji further disclosed that investments in equity and real estate contributed the highest percentages to the profit.

  • Odu’a Investment targets 50% turnover in five years

    Odu’a Investment targets 50% turnover in five years

    Odu’a Investment Company Limited (OICL),  is targetting 50 per cent turnover in the next five years, theGroup Managing Director,
    Adewale Raji, has said.

    He spoke yesterdayat a retreat organised for the management of  WEMABOD Estates Limited, at Premier hotel, Ibadan

    “Typically, I will say the company at its inception has been maintained solely for the heritage of  the Yoruba people. And what is important is that when you have a change of leadership, the  company should move to the next level. Our focus is that we should get to the next level and we are in that level by bringing out new things that Yoruba sons and daughters will be proud of and  also for the benefit of our people. And we are making the turnover move to 50 per cent in the  next five years and that is our traget,” he said

    He said with the kind of ambition we have, with the 50 per cent turnaround, we realise we have to do new things to achieve our target. In areas where we have seen our alignment of value, and also in value.

    Raji disclosed that to achieve its target, OICL has ventured into a partnership with a Spanish  construction company called TODO Contruccion, adding that:” This is to form a joint venture of 50-50 per cent ownership by both parties to sell, import and market in Nigeria building finishes, in terms of Ceramic, tiles, bathroom finishes as well, bath, shower, cubicles, Jacuzzi, doors,  frames amog others”

    He noted that they will began the partnership from marketing, and later look at the possibility of local production.

    The OICL GMD further explained that:” Technically, it is the Spanish companyý that has the  connection with about 100 other manufacturing companies, spread across Spain. The view is that we want to be able to get the branded products available for Nigerians, distributors and  even private sectors. We are bringing on board, Odu’a Group with these companies. We are bringing market knowledge and at the end we want to ensure we are bringing in new innovations to building finishes in Nigeria”

    Speaking on the essence of the WEMABOD retreat, he said the essential thing is for its management to look back at the past and challenge themselves on what they want to do in the future.

    “The situation today is that we see a lot of people participating in different sectors of real estate  business in Nigeria. I believe they should be able to sharpen their focus in terms of the specific  area they want to focus on. They should not focus on everything. They should sharpen their  skills on the area they want to play and play there.

  • Fed Govt, ODUA plan trade fair

    The Federal Government has concluded plans to partner Odua Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture (ODUACCIMA), for a regional international trade fair, which will attract over 5,000 exhibitors and participants.

    The Chairman, 2014 Odua International Trade Fair Planning Committee, Asiwaju Olaitan Alabi, spoke at a news conference at the MKO Trade Fair Complex, Abeokuta, to herald the trade fair slated for November 21.

    Accompanied by the National President of Oduaccima, Iyalode Alaba Lawson and other Southwest executives, the chairman said the fair would hold at the Trans-Amusement Park, Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.

    He said: “Oduaccima is an association of the chambers of commerce and industry in the Southwest, comprising  Oyo, Ogun, Ondo, Osun and Ekiti states. It will organise this trade fair in collaboration with the Federal Government and the Southwest governments,”

    Alabi said the theme of the fair is ‘Promoting Mass Agricultural Production and Agro Processing as Panacea to Unemployment and Poverty in Nigeria’.

    He explained that the association’s mission is to complement the efforts of the state governments to revitalise and bring back the lost glory of agriculture through annual international trade fairs.

    Iyalode Lawson urged Southwest governors to forget their political differences and face the reality of the permanent economic ties, which bind them.

    She said: “Development Agenda of Western Nigeria (DAWN) is an incredible initiative that should not be politicised. Agriculture, being the mainstay of our economy in those days, was the unifying factor that bound us from Lagos to the River Niger.  This same agriculture can still bind us in the present Southwest.”

  • When Odu’a honoured its retiring staff

    When Odu’a honoured its retiring staff

    It was a fun filled event at the Premier Hotel, Ibadan when Odu’a Investment Company Limited (OICL) honoured two of its retiring top executiveý at a send forth party.

    The retirees were the Executive Director, Finance and Investment; Alhaji Niyi Badmus and the General Manager, Business Development Mr Bola Badmus. Between them, they had accumulated 55 years of meritorious service to the company.

    At the event, which was chaired by the Group Managing Director (GMD) of OICL, Mr Adewale Raji, were other members of staff of the company who were  there to rejoice with their former bosses  retirement.

    In his address, Raji commended the retirees for a meritorious service to the company. He described them as diligent, hardworking and committed employees who worked tirelessly over the years to build the company to its present state.

    “They have contributed their quota to sustain the legacy of the company. The contribution of the employees is very essential in the progress of the company, and these two gentlemen have played a pivotal role towards ensuring the growth of OICL. People will come and go in this company but the greatest thing they can leave behind is the solid landmark, which these two have left behind” the Odu’a GMD said

    According to him, ‘we are a conglomerate and we need to play at the national level and not just at the southwest regional level; we need to impact the nation economically as a whole.”

    Presenting the retirees to the audience, the General Manager, Human Resources, Mr Abimbola Ilori said Mr Jaiyeola started work at the company in 1988 but left in 1999 to join Ikoyi Club only to return later in 2005 and was until his retirement the General Manager, Business Development. Ilori described him as a distinct, stylish and premier personality.

    On Mr Badmýus, Ilori said: “He joined the company on November 1, 1985 as the accountant at Western Hotel, now Premier Hotel and rose to the position of the Executive Director, Financeý and Investment till 2014 when he retired. He was a problem solver, very focused, and thinks deeply.”

    Other members of staff also commended the retirees, especially their wealth of experience. According to one of their subordinates Mr Femi Oni, “they are good people whose absence would be felt at the company.”

    Corroborating ýOni’s statement, another staff Mr Seun Shodun, described one of the retirees, Mr Bola Jaiyeola as a very nice and accommodating man that any worker could approach anytime, anywhere and anyhow for an advice.”

    In their responses, ýthe retirees appreciated the reception organized in their honour, stating that it showed how valued the company appreciated their selfless service.

    Jaiyeoba noted that their good deeds as expressed by their former colleagues and other staff, would serve as stimulants for them to do more where ever they found themselves.

    According to him, “this is a conglomerate; I want the GMD to always be available, whenever the need arises for ýthe staff.”

    Badmus advised the staff to be more committed and diligent in the discharge of their duties and responsibilities to the company.

    He cýharged the GMD to continue to add value to the work of the founding fathers and also make the welfare of his staff paramount on his agenda.

    Awards and gifts items were later presented to the retirees by the GMD,

    Mr Raji.

     

  • Odu’a Investment, subsidiary bicker over CEO’s sack

    Odu’a Investment, subsidiary bicker over CEO’s sack

    Odu’a Investment Company Limited is at loggerheads with one of its subsidiaries, Glanvill Enthoven and Company (Nigeria) Limited, over the decision of the Group to sack the latter’s Managing Director, Mr. Tunji Oluyemi.

    In a letter, Odu’a, jointly owned by the Oyo, Ondo, Ogun, Osun and Ekiti state governments, directed that Oluyemi should be relieved of his position, but the Board of Directors of Enthoven kicked, saying it would be wrong to sack, their “performing managing director” against popular opinion and good faith.

    In two letters dated March 19, 2013 and April 9, 2013, titled: ‘Re: Glanvills Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer’and made available to The Nation, the Board warned that it would not be in the interest of either the subsidiary or the group, to effect the directive.

    They argued that though the letter observed a number of cases of corruption in Glanvills, the mentioned cases they submitted had been firmly handled by the Glanvills Board.

    The letter further said: “We believe that the managing director and the Board as a whole, have performed creditably well. If the managing director exits the company in this manner, it will send strong negative signals to customers, industry regulators and the insurance industry. If the action is taken, it will have a negative effect on the Board members”

    They regretted that despite their intervention, the Board of the conglomerate still went ahead with the termination, an action protested by Glanvills Board.

    They said: ”We also view this treatment of our Board as disrespect to the Governors who appointed us. This position of the Odu’a Board of Directors towards the Board of Glanvills could kill our morale, because if a managing director who worked hard to turn the entity around could be removed despite the position of the Glanvills Board, what reasons would others have to perform?”

    They listed the achievements of Oluyemi to include the re-launch of the company into the insurance marketplace with the launch of the completely remodeled and reconstructed Head Office in December 2012, a significant strengthening of the company’s internal control systems, processes and structure.

  • ‘National Conference modalities flawed’

    ‘National Conference modalities flawed’

    Pan-Yoruba groups, comprising the Afenifere Renewal Group, Coalition of O’dua Self Determination Groups, O’dua Nationalist Coalition, Atayese and Afenifere Youth Movement, have described modalities for the proposed National Conference as “ridiculous.”

    In a statement, they said: “The nation remembers the Independence Day broadcast of President Goodluck Jonathan, which rekindled the hope for a genuine National Conference. But the proposed modality for the conference has slaughtered that hope.

    “President Jonathan promised that there would not be ‘no-go areas’ and that he will not tamper with the process. With these, Nigerians expressed the desire for a new constitution that would be ratified through a referendum. However, since the Presidential Advisory Committee on National Dialogue, led by Senator Femi Okurounmu, submitted its report, we have witnessed disappointments. We are now presented with a conference, whose modalities are incongruous with the President’s promise and the expectations that Nigerians exhibited at the public sittings.

    “Being consistent and strident advocates of a National Conference, Yoruba people expected socio-political, cultural and ethnic organisations to be the main, if not only, stakeholders at the conference, not a potpourri of “interest groups” that did not even deem it fit to make public presentations to the Okurounmu committee.

    “For example, there would be five delegates representing five national academies and we are wondering what national interest these academies are pursuing that is not already covered by their parent ministries and, by extension, the Federal Government. The President would nominate six Judiciary delegates but the Nigerian Bar Association is allowed just one delegate, while the nomination of 24 delegates is ceded to civil society groups, which have no known umbrella or regulatory body. These examples are cited without prejudice to the fact that any Nigerian is qualified to be a delegate. However, after wide consultation with our people, we have decided to continue with the same cautious optimism we expressed when this initiative was unveiled.

    “The Yoruba people will participate in the conference, believing it may be the step to take this process back to the sublime. We enjoin Yoruba individuals and groups to participate in the Yoruba Constitutional Conference on Feb 12 in Ibadan at the House of Chiefs in the Oyo State Secretariat, where we shall discuss the future of Yoruba nation and our approach to the National Conference.

    “To President Jonathan, we say that this conference will make or mar your tenure. This trend of gaining public support and losing it too quickly is becoming characteristic of this administration and he needs to consider where his allegiance lies – whether as a statesman thinking of the next generation as espoused in his Independence Day broadcast or as a politician thinking of the next election.

    “To the would-be delegates, we urge you to draw inspiration from the 55 delegates that wrote a new constitution for the United States. Nigerians have no business with poverty, unemployment, corruption, religious extremism, nepotism and other vices threatening the nation’s sovereignty. We will continue to clamour for Nigeria to be restructured into a true federal structure that will allow viable federating units to unleash their creative and developmental potential under an unfettered political structure.

    “As a people, we are ready to work with stakeholders to ensure that the conference meets the aspirations of Nigerians anchored on a new constitution. However, Yoruba people reserve the right to take our destiny in our hands, if the present effort yields no desirable fruit.”

  • ‘National Conference modalities flawed’

    Pan-Yoruba groups, comprising the Afenifere Renewal Group, Coalition of O’dua Self Determination Groups, O’dua Nationalist Coalition, Atayese and Afenifere Youth Movement, have described modalities for the proposed National Conference as “ridiculous.”

    In a statement, they said: “The nation remembers the Independence Day broadcast of President Goodluck Jonathan, which rekindled the hope for a genuine National Conference. But the proposed modality for the conference has slaughtered that hope.

    “President Jonathan promised that there would not be ‘no-go areas’ and that he will not tamper with the process. With these, Nigerians expressed the desire for a new constitution that would be ratified through a referendum. However, since the Presidential Advisory Committee on National Dialogue, led by Senator Femi Okurounmu, submitted its report, we have witnessed disappointments. We are now presented with a conference, whose modalities are incongruous with the President’s promise and the expectations that Nigerians exhibited at the public sittings.

    “Being consistent and strident advocates of a National Conference, Yoruba people expected socio-political, cultural and ethnic organisations to be the main, if not only, stakeholders at the conference, not a potpourri of “interest groups” that did not even deem it fit to make public presentations to the Okurounmu committee.

    “For example, there would be five delegates representing five national academies and we are wondering what national interest these academies are pursuing that is not already covered by their parent ministries and, by extension, the Federal Government. The President would nominate six Judiciary delegates but the Nigerian Bar Association is allowed just one delegate, while the nomination of 24 delegates is ceded to civil society groups, which have no known umbrella or regulatory body. These examples are cited without prejudice to the fact that any Nigerian is qualified to be a delegate. However, after wide consultation with our people, we have decided to continue with the same cautious optimism we expressed when this initiative was unveiled.

    “The Yoruba people will participate in the conference, believing it may be the step to take this process back to the sublime. We enjoin Yoruba individuals and groups to participate in the Yoruba Constitutional Conference on Feb 12 in Ibadan at the House of Chiefs in the Oyo State Secretariat, where we shall discuss the future of Yoruba nation and our approach to the National Conference.

    “To President Jonathan, we say that this conference will make or mar your tenure. This trend of gaining public support and losing it too quickly is becoming characteristic of this administration and he needs to consider where his allegiance lies – whether as a statesman thinking of the next generation as espoused in his Independence Day broadcast or as a politician thinking of the next election.

    “To the would-be delegates, we urge you to draw inspiration from the 55 delegates that wrote a new constitution for the United States. Nigerians have no business with poverty, unemployment, corruption, religious extremism, nepotism and other vices threatening the nation’s sovereignty. We will continue to clamour for Nigeria to be restructured into a true federal structure that will allow viable federating units to unleash their creative and developmental potential under an unfettered political structure.

    “As a people, we are ready to work with stakeholders to ensure that the conference meets the aspirations of Nigerians anchored on a new constitution. However, Yoruba people reserve the right to take our destiny in our hands, if the present effort yields no desirable fruit.”