•Proposes July 31 to wind up
The national conference, chaired by Justice Idris Kutigi, has formally written to President Goodluck Jonathan for an extension of time, to make up for delays caused by sundry matters, such as inadequate funding, the Easter holiday, and the three-day World Economic Forum held in Abuja.
Confab delegates
It wants the original closing date of June 17 extended to July 31.
An extension will enable delegates to round off, and also make them smile to the bank, since the longer they hang around in Abuja the more tax payers’ money goes into their pockets, regardless of whether the confab is worthwhile or another time wasting talk shop.
Many have openly and secretly clamoured for time extension, the latest coming from the leaders of the 20 committees who complained to Kutigi that they need more time to conclude their work.
TheNiche learnt that the conference leadership has sent a draft work plan on extension to Jonathan through the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Anyim Pius Anyim, and is awaiting response.
Jonathan inaugurated the confab on March 17 and gave it three months, ending June 17, to turn in a report.
But an inside source confided that Kutigi’s proposal was sent last week making a case for an extension to July 31.
The conference has also sent a separate complaint to Anyim that its budget did not capture live media coverage.
The original plan was for the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) to provide live coverage, but a few days after the inauguration of the conference, NTA withdrew its outside broadcast (OB) van because it did not have the funds for free live coverage.
AIT, which also covered the inauguration and still retains its OB van on the premises, has expressed concern that the confab leadership is not talking about payment. It may pull out as well.
The proposal sent to Anyim on media budget is expected to bring the attention of the government to all these.
Our source said Kutigi and his team requested extension of time after reviewing the position of the leaders of the 20 committees.
They agreed that if the reports of the 20 committees would be debated clause by clause and issue by issue in plenary, time extension was inevitable.
“Invariably, extending the life of the committee would mean extension of the life of the conference itself,” the source told TheNiche.
Another source in the office of the SGF, who did not want to be named, said he is aware that the conference committees want extension, but could neither confirm nor deny that the leadership has made a formal request to Aso Rock.
The 20 committees were given two weeks’ extension on April 30 to complete their work.
They were originally given seven days to submit their reports but they said the time was inadequate considering the enormity of work.
The Committee on Devolution of Power was in a cul-de-sac, unable to make much progress because its members disagreed vehemently on resource control.
The committees now have up to Thursday May 15 to conclude their work.
The Easter holiday was also considered in giving the committees time extension.
Science, Technology and Development Committee Chairman, Daniel Maddo, insisted that an extension was needed to enable it do a thorough job.
Law, Judiciary and Human Rights Committee Deputy Chairman, Auwalu Yadudu, said because public holidays had eaten into the time for committee assignment it was unlikely that it would be concluded as scheduled.
“Even if we receive the report of the last syndicate group, we are unlikely to be able to sit down and compile our reports in a form that we can present to plenary.
“So we will definitely require an extension of time. We will need another three to five days. We’ve already discussed that,” he stated.
The extension also became necessary because some of the delegates had to attend the World Economic Forum (WEF) held between May 7 and 9 in Abuja.
The conference secretariat does not have the power to extend the period of the conference.
Conference Assistant Secretary (Media and Publication), Akpandem James, confirmed that the secretariat had a meeting with committee chairmen and deputy chairmen, where time lost was discussed and the need to extend it.
He said the committees were told that the conference leadership has no power to extend the time, but the confab could write the federal government for permission for extension, if necessary.
“That is the letter that may have been misinterpreted to mean writing the government for extension,” James explained.