National Conference Is Not Extended By Six Weeks

The leadership of the National Conference debunked claims on its extension of by six weeks, described the previous reports in the media as “not only misleading but untrue in fact”.

The Assistant Secretary, Media and Communications of the Secretariat, Akpandem James, revealed this in a statement in Abuja, confirmed that the Secretariat was not aware of any formal extension of the conference duration by the Federal Government. 

However, it was confirmed that some committee chairmen complained over the lack of time and the heavy workload. 

The delegates asked to take into consideration the May Day celebrations and Abuja World Economic Forum (May 7-9, 2014) events which required active participation of some of the delegates.

The leadership of the conference was also concerned about the time allotted for the Drafting of Conference Report and noted that it was too short and may not allow for effective and thorough job. Therefore, a suggestion of four weeks (of four working days each) was proposed.

The Conference leadership pointed out that if that is done, it would mean an extension of the Conference duration, which the Secretariat lacks the authority to do.

In his turn, Justice Idris Legbo Kutigi, the Conference Chairman, emphasised that if it “becomes absolutely necessary to have an extension of time, a formal request would be made to the relevant authorities, and the Secretariat will only act when express approval is granted”. However, he noted that such an official request does not exist at the moment, and the journalists must stop relying on delegates who were not well informed on the matter, and who themselves were neither chairmen nor deputy chairmen of the Committees.