It’s election season again in Nigeria, a time when almost everything in the newspapers, on TV and radio is related to how to help the country overcome conflicts and compromises that have become part of its social contract. In this regard, former diplomat Nnamdi Onochie has called for a national conference arguing that the Nigerian ship “may be currently adrift and requires concerted stabilisation and fortification”.
But this is not the first time Nigeria will be holding such a conference to tackle similar issues.
In fact, four such meetings have already taken place since Nigeria gained independence and each of them were concluded in more or less the same manner, to the point that some stakeholders see such gatherings as an attempt to distract attention from the very challenges they ought to address.