briefs on the March 21st Rockview Conference

21st March, 2009

Dear Compatriots,
This is to let you know that the Abuja 21st March meeting was held in Abuja as scheduled. The meeting was attended by 56 persons. Most of the participants came from Abuja but the discourse was very rich.

All the scheduled lead presenters for the three sessions (Sam Amadi, Joseph Sopade and Osaro Odemwingie) were present. One of the discussants (Jaye Gaskia) was present. The second discussant (Ms. Comfort Ogunye) was represented by two persons. The two moderators (Otive Igbuzor and Auwal Musa Rafsanjani) were present. Emma Ezeazu also joined the team of moderators.

There was a robust discussion on the need for a broad based inclusive movement for change. It was agreed that the mobilisation for change should ultimately produce a democratic and developmental state. It was also pointed out that there is the need to engage the electoral process (electoral reform and the conduct of elections) and the governance process (citizen participation, openness, transparency and accountability, responsive government, infrastructural development and provision of services).

It was concluded that there was the need to create a political platform that will be the organisation for engagement with different interest groups. The importance of forging alliances for change was underscored.



At the end, we agreed on the following next steps:

1. The rapporteurs for the meeting (ken Okoimene and Hilary Ogbonna) will prepare the communique and report of the meeting for circulation.
2. A committee of four persons (Sam Amadi, Joseph Sopade, Jaye Gaskia and Ene Obi) was set up to prepare a working paper for the platform.



We wish to thank all those that made the meeting a success.

Aluta continua.

Otive Igbuzor
Otive Igbuzor, PhD
Plot 590 Cadastral zone,
2nd Floor, NAIC Building,
Central Business Area,
Abuja.
Tel: 234 9 2348480 & 3 (office)
"Leaders are not born...They are produced during the course of the Struggle" ...Amandla

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Trade unionism and trades unions; an introductory perspective

Introduction Trades unions have become key components of most modern societies be such societies democratic or totalitarian, advanced capitalist or backward post-colonial. The nature of trade unions and trade unionisms are however quite different, even in otherwise similar societies. The United Kingdom and the United States for example could be considered as similar as societies could be (being the leading “liberal market economies” in the world), but they have quite different types of trade unions and approaches to trades unionism. Similarly France and Germany, two leading “coordinated market economies” in the West, have clearly different trades unions’ characteristics. Coming closer home; on one hand there are distinct traits that mark the industrial relations systems and trade union practice as heritages of our colonial past i.e. along English-speaking and French-speaking Africa lines. On the other hand, there are specific features of trade unionism and trades unions even in the cl
Read more

Tools and skills for trade unions’ engagement with the state’s policy cycle process

1.0 Introduction It gives me great pleasure to present this paper for several reasons. NUPENG is definitely one of the most important unions in the country today, due to the strategic place of oil in the economy, nationally and globally. It has also, along with its PENGASSAN sister union which I have had much closer training relations with , played very progressive roles in the trade union movement, and national polity, over the last three decades, in different ways. This is the more reason why the theme of this workshop and the topic I am to speak on is very germane, for which I commend the leadership, and education department of NUPENG. I have taken the liberty of re-phrasing the topic somewhat in two different ways, which have key significance for our discussion. First, I have replaced “government” with “state”. The former is more temporal, as we can talk of the governments of Babangida, Obasanjo, Yar’Adua and Jonathan for example, while the latter is the structure that governm
Read more

Nigerians Should Expect More Mass Protests – Baba Aye*

Image
You are a Co-Convener of the Coalition for Revolution (CORE) that organised peaceful protests across the country for a revolution that was expected to usher in a positive change in the lives of Nigerians. What is the state of CORE and the other affiliates now? The series of peaceful protests you are talking about comprise the #RevolutionNow campaign, which was launched on 5 August 2019 with a nationwide #DayOfRage protest. The campaign helped to catalyse the reawakening of a spirit of revolt against the oppressive rule of the APC in particular and the exploiter ruling class and their repressive apparatus in general. It contributed significantly to igniting the #EndSARS rebellion in October 2020. A lot has happened since, with both the coalition and its affiliates. CORE unfurled the campaign in the wake of a resolution adopted by the African Action Congress (AAC). The Take It Back movement of the AAC, as you know, was a member-organisation of CORE. In fact, it was one of the two blo
Read more