ABUJA (National Conference Report) – The plenary sessions of the on-going National Conference on Wednesday May 22, 2014 began debate on reports submitted by the twenty Committees on critical national issues.
While assessing the report of the Committee on Citizenship, Immigration and Related Matters, the Head of the Committee Muhammad Zaiyanu Abdullahi said that the report covering census and integrated national database, citizenship and nationality, residency and indigenisation, dual citizenship as well as movement of persons, goods and services; immigration and internal security; border control, refugee and asylum and internally displaced persons were handled under three sub-committees whose separate reports were earlier debated at the Committee level before collation and submission to the Conference plenary.
Muhammad Abdullahi informed the Conference that despite the existence of constitutional and legal frameworks for census and national identity management, the continued absence of accurate census figures and integrated national database has constituted a major challenge for national planning and security in Nigeria.
He added that this has resulted to ineffective citizens’ identification system, which has negatively impacted on crime fighting and prevention. He also stated that the population of Nigeria increases without adequate assessment of the size and number of resources available to the people per head which results to clashes in terms of resource allocation and identity issues.
The Committee Chairman noted that the situation is bound to continue as long as the country tarries without the citizenship format, census figures and clearer constitutional provisions for allocating national resources. “Political gerrymandering, militant groups and subversive ideas from outside the country has continued to radicalize the identity question to the extent that several thousands of innocent citizens are killed, displaced by conflicts and other negative occurrences emanating from lack of adequate protection.
The report inferred that non-implementation of the existing frameworks has often led to politicization of national census programmes with past figures inflated for the purposes of increased revenue allocation and other advantages from the government at the centre.
The Committee recommended that national census exercises should be preceded by the development of a full-scale integrated national database. The database is expected to include registration of all settlements, households, births, deaths and updating of registered information or data of citizens and immigrants in Nigeria. It also recommended the enactment of law by the National Assembly to criminalise any attempt by census officials or members of the public to inflate or distort in anyway, the outcome of census exercises.
“An aspect of the recommendations called for proper funding of the National Population Commission, the National Identity Management Commission and the National Bureau of Statistics with state – of – the – art equipment, so that they can achieve accurate census figures and integrated database for the country. It yearns for a provision of National Identification Number and a multi-purpose digital card with biometric information for all citizens aged 18 years and above,” he iterated.
According to the Committee, this would serve as a social security number and card for the provision of welfare services to all citizens, while the national identification card will serve as voters card. The Committee also noted on the contentious issue of indigenship and settler dichotomy that the right of any Nigerian citizen to be resident or domiciled in any part of Nigeria should be recognized. Such a resident shall enjoy all rights, privileges and facilities in the place of his or her choice, provided that such a person meets his or her basic obligations.
The Committee further urged the Federal Government to strengthen its border surveillance in a manner that would prevent unlawful entry of persons, goods and services into Nigeria. It asked the Federal Government to take full advantage of the ECOWAS Protocol on Free Movement of Persons in a manner that would enhance national economic growth and address inherent threats to national security by criminal and illegal immigrants.
On immigration and internal security, the Committee expressed the need for government to adopt a regional approach to the management of Nigerian borders. It added that Nigeria should establish cooperation with neighbouring States on the movement of persons and as is the practice in other parts of the world, intelligence should be exchanged across borders. The Committee also said that the Public Key Directory (PKD) infrastructure should be installed to enable countries authenticate passports presented at points of entry and ensure that people with criminal records are not allowed into the country.
In his contribution to the debate, Nsongurua Udombana (Professor) urged Committees to divide their reports into three parts for easy assimilation by the Conference and the Executive when the final Conference report would be presented. He called for a section for issues that are meant to serve as amendment to the existing constitution; another section for issues to be legislated upon by both National and State Houses of Assembly and others which can be categorized as mere policy issues.
Nsongurua Udombana expressed the view that when an issue is meant to amend the constitution, it should be drafted in the form of a constitutional clause for easy understanding.
The suggestion by Femi Falana that Committee recommendations should not contradict the 1999 Constitution and the African Charter was opposed by several delegates, who said that the essence of the Conference was for a possible amendment of the existing Constitution or writing of a new one.
The day’s proceedings were preceded by information forwarded by Jonathan Temlong (Gen.) from Plateau State, who informed the Conference about the bloodshed in Jos following bomb explosions in a market on Tuesday May 20, 2014. While asking for a minute silence for the deceased, Temlong called for more proactive measures by security agencies towards desisting from repetition of what happened in Jos.
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