Roundtable on National Issues
Organized by Development Specs Academy, Abuja.
Venue: Nigerian Army Resource Centre, Abuja.
Convener: Dr Okey Ikechukwu, mni
Conceptual Framework: To drive informed discussion and proffer solutions maintain a non-partisan manner, using Chatham House Rules and on a monthly basis.
Focus of Today’s Engagement:
1. State of the Nation, covering security, growing citizen apathy and the need to work too inclusiveness and greater national cohesion. Proposed solutions include paying greater attention to results, and the actual condition of oir fighting forces, rather the cost of security infrastructure and newly procured hardware.
2. Our youths face challenges at the levels of capacity, opportunities and wrong role models. Proposed solutions include reopening of universities for their continuing education, promotion of vocational skills and innovative entrepreneurship and values Reorientation to create the tight mindset that can function successfully in a 21st Century world
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3. Only increased productivity and a change in our consumption patterns will shore up the value of our national currency and keep it up in lasting manner. The CBN has made several interventions in this regard, including, among others, the Anchor Borrowers Program, which created and capacitated several farmers cooperative and enhanced there access to loans. It has created millions of jobs, taken many youths off the crime path and rescued many local economies. Only economy-reflating activities, such as the foregoing, in addition to consuming what we produce and producing what we consume, offers the nation the prospect of bringing up the value of the National Currency and keeping it up.
4. The Aspirants to various political offices have every to their aspirations in a democracy. Which one of them will ultimately emerge candidates of the various parties is a matter beyond the control of the average citizen. The cost of forms for contesting various political offices is to high, elitist, exclusivist and seems designed to ensure that only individuals and group with heavy war chests can contest for political office. This is wrong. The proposed solutions include outright reduction in the cost of forms, by over 95% and return of the balance to the Aspirants, except for those of them who may wish to donate such excess to the individual parties concerned.
5. Fake news, unverified and correct statements taken out of contest are one of the greatest society facing society today. This is with regards to the deliberate mischief of iconoclasts, as well as the malevolent machinations of those who distort, misquote of misrepresent audio and video content in order tarnish rhe image of am individual, or organization.
6. The independent national electoral commission has made tremendous progress in the management of elections. The introduction of beavers has increased the credibility of the the electoral process and electoral outcome tremendously. The only suggestion here is that INEC increases its public Enlightenment and political education programs, as information about some of the positive strides of the organization are yet to fully penetrate the society and the political parties.
The Roundtable rose with a firm resolve to continue driving objective national discourse, informed commentary on National issues, commitment to Chatham House Rules, rejection of hearsay as knowledge and the determination to keep all discussions rancour-free. Concerning fake news, distortions of original media content and the general disregard for verification of sundry media output, the Roundtable noted that organizations like the CBN, INEC and several other have been victims of near image damage because of this. In the final analysis, the Roundtable has xalled for a new approach to national conversations, sociopolitical education and citized engagement.
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