Nigerians in the United Kingdom have expressed concern over the non-representation of the Diaspora in the 13-member National Dialogue Committee set up by President Goodluck Jonathan.
They expressed their views on Sunday in London at the International Dialogue Forum, where leaders of the various ethnic associations living in the UK voiced their thoughts about the proposed national dialogue.
Jonathan had set up the committee to come up with modalities of convening a national dialogue in order to resolve what he called “issues that currently caused friction in the polity.”
However, the Nigerian community in the UK wanted a review of the committee membership to include representation from the Diaspora.
They also stressed the need for the national dialogue to be sovereign, noting that its submission should not be sent to the National Assembly, but adopted through a referendum.
Chief Ejike Uzoalor, the Chairman of Ohaneze Ndigbo, UK chapter, said the national dialogue was long overdue.
Uzoalor said “given our diversity and interest, it is necessary to have a common position on issues that affect us.”
In his remarks, Dr. Ojibulem Lawrence, the Chairman of the Niger Delta Forum, said: “We want this dialogue to be a sovereign conference where its outcome will be decided by the people and not the National Assembly.”
On his part, Alistair Soyode, the organiser of the Forum, said the international dialogue was to enable Nigerians in the Diaspora to voice out their opinions on the national conference and identify areas of concern that would be their contribution to the dialogue.
The Europe correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria reports that issues bordering on resource control, security, zoning formula, education, diaspora, voting and youth empowerment were on the agenda of the forum.
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