Confab delegates form pressure group

Some delegates at the just concluded national conference have formed a major pressure group with the aim of pushing for the implementation of the decisions reached at the conference.

The group, which was known as “National Consensus Initiative”, was inaugurated few hours before President Goodluck Jonathan declared the conference closed in Abuja on Thursday.

Members of the group vowed to ensure that the report of the conference, which was submitted to the President was fully implemented.

The Interim Coordinator of the group, Mr.  Remi Olatubora, who spoke with journalists after the inaugural meeting of the group’s Steering Committee, expressed worry that recommendations and reports of such conferences in the past were not implemented.

He disclosed that the group would work together as advocacy group towards ensuring that “decisions of the conference are not left in the shelf to gather dust in the manner in which the reports of earlier conferences were treated.”

He added that the desire to come together in a group was informed by common desire of most of the delegates that all relevant governmental organs and agencies implement the decisions of the conference.

Members if the group, which cut across the six geo-political zones, were made up of professionals drawn from the academia, law, Civil Society Organisations, Religious bodies, Nigerian Union of Journalist among others.

Olatunbora, said the mission of the group was to engage with issues flowing from the confab, as independent input into the process of consolidating the gains of Nigeria’s centenary, and it’s reconstruction into a responsible, accountable, and egalitarian society.

Other reasons according to him was “To campaign vigorously for gender mainstreaming and inter-generational justice as dedicated by the requirement of 21 century politics.

“To develop a framework for the emergence of an alumni of the confab as the broadest convergence of Pan-Nigerian constituent group.

“To act as a connecting rod between our group and the primary as well as secondary stakeholders in the political sustainability of Nigeria project.”