The Vice President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, (NLC) Issa Aremu, has expressed delight in the modalities of the National Conference, adding that it has gone through “desired quality control.”
According to him, “the discourse on the national conference seems to have gone through a lot of quality control processes”.
Speaking on Sunrise Daily, Mr Aremu expressed satisfaction of the Congress on the outcome of the deliberations made concerning the Conference. “We are quite excited about Labour participation because we are for inclusiveness,” he said, adding that the list is “a complete departure from what the expectations used to be.”
He stated that a Conference based on ethnic nationalities would have been extremely exclusive “but now you have the list that reflects all the strata of Nigerian society.”
“Our critical support for this conference is based on the fact that it has gone through desired quality control.”
He agreed with the decision that the recommendations of the Conference be checked by the National Assembly. “I think it is clear that the Federal Government has agreed that we have a constituted authority in place, the National Assembly.”
Mr Aremu commended the decision to highlight the indivisibility of Nigeria as a no go area during the Conference and said “that has been the fear of the sceptics
“The fact that the unity of the country is assumed and is given is significant for us as a nation.”
“The government has demonstrated sensitivity to all the controversies, the fear of the people and they have taken a position that (I think) is far more all-inclusive for everybody.”
He however complained of the proportion allotted to the NLC, adding that, “If you ask me, I thought in terms of proportional representation, we should have more slots” based on the argument that the combined power of the TUC and NLC is approximately 8 million.
37 elder statesmen, two representatives each from the PDP, APC, APGA, LP, AGPA, former political office holders: one from each geo- political zone (6), former governors: one from each geo- political zone (6), representatives from the Senators Forum, House of Reps Forum, Association of Former Speakers and others lead to a total of about 60 politicians as delegates.
Aremu described the total number of 492 delegates as “unelected parliament” as the total number of lawmakers in the National Assembly is 459.