Chat212 - Mail Summary...►Delegates at the ongoing National Conference voted unanimously for life imprisonment for those who engage in the sale of fake drugs.
►They also said that public schools taken over by various state governments across the country 42 years ago be returned to the religious missions.
►The controversy bothered on whether or not compensations were paid to the original owners of the schools or were forcefully taken over.
Chat212 - Mail News... Report
Delegates at the ongoing National Conference, yesterday, voted unanimously for life imprisonment for those who engage in the sale of fake drugs.
The conference also rejected a proposal for the amendment of the 1999 Constitution aimed at institutionalising the office of wife of the President of the country, which will be called Office of the First Lady, just as an amendment which sought to reduce the age limits for those aspiring to contest for the position of President, governors and other elective positions by five years was rejected by the delegates.
Another strong position taken by the delegates, yesterday, was that public schools taken over by various state governments across the country 42 years ago be returned to the religious missions which were the original owners.
There was, however, mild drama when women delegates protested and brought plenary to a stand still for over 10 minutes on the issue of affirmative action for them, thereby forcing delegates to vote to retain the Beijing Convention that gave 35 affirmative action to women.
The resolutions were reached during debate and consideration of the report of Committee on Social Sector with Iyom Josephine Anenih as Chairman and Professor Ruqayyatu Rufai as Deputy Chairman.
According to the committee in its report, “in returning the schools, it should be ensured that they are affordable and able to serve a wider public as was the original concept of mission schools.
There was, however, a controversy over the circumstances that led to the takeover of these schools before the vote was taken on matter.The controversy bothered on whether or not compensations were paid to the original owners of the schools or were forcefully taken over.
A former Minister of Education, Professor Jubril who made a contribution on the issue had justified the policy, submitting that Yakubu Gowon’s administration paid compensations to the missions.
He further explained that the government was forced to assume the ownership of the schools due to discriminatory admission policies that existed then.
Similarly, former governor of the defunct North Western State, Mr. Usman Farouk, said the schools were taken over because their owners abandoned them during the Civil War and fled the northern region.
Farouk said that compensations were paid to the owners of the schools in the then Northern region.
However, the two submissions met with refutal from the Bishop of Kafanchan, Bishop Joseph Bagobiri, who put the records straight, saying that the earlier speakers were being economical with the truth.
According to him, the schools were neither abandoned nor their owners compensated and that the schools were forcefully taken over by the government.
He said: “Mr. Chairman, I think those who have just spoken are being economical with the truth.
“These schools were forcefully taken. Since 1972, the church has not relented in asking for these schools. In the North, there was no compensation made.
“The schools still cry for justice and we will be happy if the schools are returned to their original owners.”
The conference also voted that all Almajiri schools, from primary one to junior secondary, be converted to conventional schools and voted that teaching of “Nigerian history” as subject of study be mandatory in public schools.
