Confab: 20 standing committees end deliberations

The twenty standing committees of the National Conference have concluded their work and are ready to proceed to plenary on May 19, an official has said.
Akpandem James, the conference Assistant Secretary on Media and Publicity, confirmed the development in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Abuja on Thursday.
James said: “Committees have started turning in their recommendations and as at this afternoon, about seven committees are ready with their reports.
“All of the committees should have sent in their reports by 2pm tomorrow.”
NAN reports that the committees, which had gone through four weeks of thorough deliberations on the terms of references given to them by the conference secretariat, commenced sitting on April 22.
The committees conferred with senators, ministers, ambassadors, chief executives of parastatal agencies as well as other relevant stakeholders on various burning issues.
The committees, which were divided into two groups, with each group made up of 10 committees, met at the National Judicial Institute and NICON Luxury Hotel.
The first 10 committees that sat at NJI were committees on Devolution of Power, Political Restructuring, National Security, Environment, Politics and Governance.
Others were Law, Judiciary and Human Rights, Social Sector, Transportation, Science Technology and Development as well as committee on Agriculture.
The second set of 10 committees that sat at NICON Luxury Hotel were those on Civil Societies, Labour and Sports, Public Service, Parties and Electoral Matters, and Foreign Policy and Diaspora Matters.
Others were Land Tenure and National Boundaries, Economy, Trade and Investment, Energy, Religion, Public Finance and Revenue and Immigration and related matters.