Military constitution, cause of Nigeria’s problems – Afe Babalola

Posted by admin Armed Forces, Latest Politics Monday, July 16th, 2012

PRESIDENT and chairman of the governing council of Chartered Institute of Arbitrators of Nigeria, Chief Afe Babalola, has traced the myriad of problems facing Nigeria to what he described as the military constitution currently operating in the country.

Afe Babalola said this while speaking at the annual presidential dinner and presentation of awards and certificates of the institute, in Lagos.

According to him, “what the country needs now is people’s constitution and not military constitution falsely described as a constitution made by all Nigerians.”

Babalola, after making several allusions to newspaper headlines with regards to the activities of the Boko Haram sect, said “the most worrisome aspect of it all is that nobody knows exactly what those who are behind these deadly acts really want.”

The silk was of the view that “if we initiate the process, we can then, at a Sovereign National Conference in which the Boko Haram will participate, know what the group really wants and why its members think their current approach is the only way through which they can secure it.”

He described the Sovereign National Conference as a sort of arbitration, adding that the institute was in a position to mediate and proffer solutions to the problems facing Nigeria as a country, if involved.

In his speech on the occasion, the Ondo State governor, Dr Olusegun Mimiko, said arbitration constituted a departure from the emphasis on the court for dispute resolution.

He stressed the need for training and re-training of arbitrators and dispute managers in Nigeria because, according to him, “the quality of settlement will determine, at the long run, the public acceptability of arbitration as a viable alternative to court litigation for settlement of corporate and social disputes.”

At the event, the governor and 24 others were inducted as fellows of the institute, while 108 others were also admitted as associate members.

-Tribunewp_posts