IBADAN — THE Catholic Archbishop of Ibadan Diocese, Most Rev. Felix Alaba Job yesterday told advocates of sovereign National Conference to forget the idea declaring that it was not possible to have a Sovereign National Conference when an “elected government is in place”.
Instead, the Arch Bishop asked Nigerians to support the call for the convocation of a National Conference to address the multi-facetted problems confronting the nation. Archbishop Job at a news conference to mark his 66th Birthday and 33rd Episcopal Ordination Anniversary Celebration held at the St. Mary Cathedral Catholic Church Oke-Padi Ibadan, also called for deregulation and liberalization of the energy sector of the country.
The cleric said: “We can not call or have a Sovereign National Conference; we have a government in place but we sit together at a National Conference to find solutions to our problems. One issue that calls for urgent implementation is the call for a National Conference.
"If we must right the wrongs of military rule, a military-approved constitution is surely not the one to bring the much needed Ethnic, Religious and Political integration which in the first instant the military rule aggravated. We need to evaluate critically the various situations we have been finding ourselves and, in the spirit of true Nationalism, find a solution through a National Conference".
According to him, “with the years of our country’s Independence, should our democracy still be on trial? The Military came promising to correct mal-administration of civilians. For years we have been under the yoke of pseudo-saviours”.
While calling for the deregulation of the nation’s energy sector, he said “our electricity service is still epileptic. Despite the colossal amount expended in this sector, there seems to be no improvement. Development of any nation hinges on the volume of energy generated to meet the technological and industrial needs. While the people must pay their bills regularly; we deserve better service than what we receive now.
”In the industrialized world, there is no monopoly of energy supply. I urge Government to create competition opportunities as now obtains in our telecommunication sector to boost productivity and efficiency”.
