National conference: Ijaw to seek self-determination - PUNCH

October 13, 2013 by Allwell Okpi 

The Ijaw Republican Assembly has said it will seek self-determination, resource ownership and true federalism at the national conference recently proposed by President Goodluck Jonathan.

The spokesperson for the group, Annkio Briggs, who said this in a telephone interview with SUNDAY PUNCH, added that the people of the Niger Delta were fully in support of the national conference in spite of the opposition of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta to it.

MEND had, on Tuesday, described the proposed national dialogue as “a deceit, distraction and a waste of public funds.”

In response, Briggs said it was strictly MEND’s position and not that of the oil-rich region, which is also President Jonathan’s zone of origin.

She said, “For now, that represents MEND’s own position. But don’t forget that in the past MEND had called for a sovereign national conference. What MEND is agitating for, which is the emancipation of the Niger Delta People, will be achieved on national dialogue platform.

“When people are agitating for something, we don’t all have to agitate on one platform. But generally, the position of the people of Niger Delta is that this is a dialogue that is long overdue. We have been calling for this conference for a very long time.”

Briggs described those opposed to the national conference as enemies of the Nigeria, who want the country to remain the way it is, so that they can continue to use and abuse it.

On what the Ijaw would want discussed at the conference, Briggs said the Ijaw Republican Assembly will lead discussion on self-determination for the Ijaw and other ethnic groups.

She said, “The Ijaw Republican Assembly is not only fully in support of the national conference, it is an organisation that has existed since 2003 with a drive for self-determination. As a matter of fact, the Ijaw Republican Assembly, as the voice of the Ijaw, will use that platform (national conference) to bring to the discussion table, self-determination for the different ethnic groups, including the Ijaw.

“Self-determination is one of the things Ijaw people will want to discuss. Others are resources ownership, regionalism, governance by ethnicity, governance by state or governance by region. Right now, we don’t have true federalism and that is why we have problems with revenue allocation, with some states bringing in everything they have while others are bringing in nothing.”

Briggs noted that the ethnic nationalities existed before they were brought together, without their consent, to form Nigeria.

She added that there was the need for the nationalities to discuss their continued co-existence before Nigeria clocks 100 years of existence in 2014.

Briggs also said the Presidential Advisory Committee on National Conference must consult different ethnic groups before compiling its report.

She said the committee must advise the President based on what Nigerians are saying, and “what Nigerians are saying is that there should be no no-go areas, if not we would be fooling ourselves. Everything, every possibility, must be discussed.”