President Goodluck Jonathan on Thursday disclosed that recommendations of the just-concluded National Conference will be transmitted to National Assembly for incorporation into the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
The development may have dashed the hope of some the delegates who want the outcome of the conference to be subjected to a referendum.
Closing the conference which lasted for about four and a half months, President Jonathan assured the delegates that the report of the conference will be implemented, adding that painstaking efforts of the delegates will not be wasted.
He said the successful completion of the conference has proved cynics wrong that the it will end in deadlock.
The President said: “The discourse reflected our latest challenges. We shall send the relevant aspects of your recommendations to the Council of State and the National Assembly for incorporation into the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. On our part, we shall act on those aspects required of us in the Executive.
“Let me reaffirm this: Nobody has a monopoly of knowledge. We who are in government need to feed from the thoughts of those who elected us into power. You have done your patriotic duty, we the elected, must now do ours.
“As I receive the report of your painstaking deliberations, let me assure that your work is not going be a waste of time and resources. We shall do all we can to ensure the implementation of your recommendations which have come out of consensus and not by divisions.
“In this regard I appeal to all arms of government and the people of Nigeria to be ready to play the different roles that the volumes of reports you have produced would assign to you. It is my hope that with what you have done, our country is on the right road to getting the job of nation building done.
“The report of the National Conference, coming 100 years after the Amalgamation, promises to be a landmark in our history. I have always believed that dialogue is a better way of driving change in the community and I am happy that this dialogue has gone very well. With the far-reaching recommendations touching on several areas of our national life, I am convinced that this will be a major turning point for Nigeria.
“We have gone through many challenges in our first centenary, now is the time to hit the track and take our proper lane for the race of progress. Our moment for national rebirth is here. We have to rekindle hope not only within our country but in the entire African continent where collectively our leadership is acknowledged.
Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, in every governance index, we are making progress. In 2009, our life expectancy was forty seven years, it has now risen to fifty-two. We were spending over a trillion naira importing food four years ago, it is now down to a little over six hundred billion naira and still falling! The size of our economy has grown.”