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B N W: Biafra Nigeria World News |
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Senators' Forum insists on Northern presidency in 2007
SENATORS from the northern bloc who ended their second retreat in Sokoto at the weekend have re-affirmed their belief in the principle of the rotation of the nation's Presidency between the North and the South.
In a statement read by the chairman of the Northern Senators' Forum, Idris Abubakar Kuta, the 58 senators appealed to all parts of the country to abide by the principle.
They called on those outside the North who have expressed interest in the 2007 presidential race to wait for their turn.
"The forum also stands by the principle of rotation of political power at the state and local council levels," the statement said.
The forum also resolved that any amendment to the nation's constitution should not alter the tenure of any elected official as provided in the constitution under which he or she was elected.
"For the avoidance of doubt, elected officials who would have completed their stipulated two, four-year terms shall not be eligible to contest election for similar offices," the forum declared.
The senators opined that if the North was to successfully face its current challenges, it must return to those values that stood the region and its people apart in the past.
Such values included piety, integrity, patriotism, sacrifice for the common good and the culture of sharing and tolerance.
The senators deplored wanton communal violence owing to the "so-called setter/indigene phenomenon" and resolved to support appropriate legislation to address the issue in the interest of peace and stability.
They also canvassed more attention to the economy of the North by the Federal Government.
In doing so, they said, contribution of the North to the nation's economy before the advent of oil should be considered so that the economy would "not be restructured in such a way as to make for uneven development..."
They called for accelerated oil exploration in the North in order to have a geopolitical spread of oil reserves. They also want expansion of oil industry activities to the North, particularly the extension of gas pipelines and completion of butanisation programme to provide alternative energy sources and stem further desertification.
The northern senators were of the belief that the economy of the nation and the North can be radically transformed by the accelerated development of the solid minerals sector.
Consequently, they urged the solid minerals ministry to, for a start, embark on a comprehensive survey, within the next two years, adding that a regulatory framework would automatically eliminate illegal mining.
The forum praised government efforts in road development and investment in the water sector and pledged support for future budgetary provisions for sustaining these programmes.
The legislators resolved to develop a legislative agenda for the North while pledging continued cooperation with the federal and northern state governments in all legislation aimed at improving the living condition of the people.
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