National Confab Committee to Hold Stakeholders Interactive Session in Calabar

by crossriverwatch admin

Members of the Presidential Advisory Committee on the National Confab and President Jonathan (middle front row) during their inauguration in Abuja

The Presidential Advisory Committee on National Confab in its ongoing nationwide consultation will be holding an interactive session with stakeholders in Cross River and neighboring states in Calabar on Friday October 25, 2013.

The interactive session is part of an ongoing nationwide process which began in Akure the Ondo State capital on Friday.
According to information obtained by CrossRiverWatch from the committee secretariat in Abuja, the consultation time table will see the committee hold similar meetings in Jos, Plateau State on Monday October 21, 2013 before leaving for Minna the Niger State capital on Wednesday October 23, 2013 and from there to Calabar on Friday October 25, 2013.

The consultation will continue in Benin on Monday October 28, 2013 and move on to Enugu on Tuesday October 29, 2013. The committee will arrive Owerri on Wednesday October 30, 2013 and move on to Lagos on Thursday October 31, 2013.

Back in the North, the committee will then return to Sokoto on Monday November 4, 2013 and from there to trouble Maiduguri on Tuesday November 5, 2013 and then to Bauchi on Saturday November 9, 2013.

Kaduna will receive members of the committee on Monday November 11, 2013 and finally the Federal Capital Territory will hold its own consultation meeting on Wednesday November 13, 2013.

According to Colonel Tony Inyam, a Cross Riverian who is a member of the committee, “It is very important that people of Cross River and neighboring states come out and participate in this consultative meeting in Calabar. This is not the conference proper, we are for now only going round the country to ask for opinions on how people feel the conference should be organized and what they think should be done with the resolutions.

“We had a very good meeting in Akure and we hope that in other parts of the country too people will demonstrate the same enthusiasm and help to make the process work.” He said.

In a related development, the All Cross River Youths Forum, ACRIYOS has called on stakeholders in Cross River to mobilize and attend the consultative meeting with the national confab committee billed for Calabar.

In a statement by the Coordinator or the group, Barrister James Ibor, the group which is an umbrella of youth groups in the state said: “We are calling on all Civil Society Organizations, Ethnic Nationalities and Professional groups in Cross River state to come out en masse and participate in the stakeholders interactive session with the presidential committee on National Dialogue holding in Calabar on the 25th of October.

“It is the considered view of ACRIYOF that we cannot allow politicians alone to decide the fate of Cross River State in the proposed conference. We urge all groups functioning in the State to gear up and take this opportunity to negotiate the interest of our state. There were 111 organizations represented at the South West meeting in Akure, I think that is a challenge for us to also demonstrate that we are ready for the proposed discussion by coming out to contribute to the committees’ work on Friday.”

The statement further said that, “Cross Riverians in particular should take this opportunity very seriously because the conference presents an opportunity to re-open the Bakassi question and other thorny issues of interest to Cross River State”.