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CONTENTS Introduction Motivation for the Seminar Seminar aims Seminar target groups: who is the conference for? Seminar initiators Seminar framework Preferred date and location Financing organisation
INTRODUCTION Re-designing the entity or nation state known as Nigeria, cobbled together by the British colonialists decades ago, has been the burden of no other people but the most trampled upon people of the Nigerian state. Opinions and ideas are more diverse on the multi-faceted problems of the national entity called Nigeria. No proponent of change has ever been deluded by the bane of our dear old country. That bane follows every Nigerian, be it at home or abroad, wherever and anywhere we go, we carry it around like a tag. Need it be expressed boldly? How often do we suffer in the midst of abundance? So much, yet so little, if at all any, for a people that truly deserve the best, for their steadfastness and resilience, from the vast abundance of human and natural resources. Readily agreeing to MANAGEMENT or “mismanagement” is akin to admitting to being a dupe for most Nigerians, yet, it is the bane of the country. It is the clog in the wheel of progress and achievements made in areas of self-development, education and trade. >From the deceitful beginning through independence and the numerous succeeding military regimes in the country, LEADERSHIP qualities have never been lacking but the effective implementation of leadership plans for the over 120 million people(s) of Nigeria.
Many a Nigerian would readily admit to being fed up, if not angry, at the stagnation of progressive policies of successive governments of Nigeria. Easily identified as an issue and the cause of lack of progress of the republic is CORRUPTION. Unfortunately, living through different military putsches, as a people, the excuse for successive overthrow of incumbent governments has always been flagrant abuse of power, lack of concern for the problems of the Nigerian people, corruption and economic mismanagement.
In essence, it needs no introduction, for our leaders, elected or selected, forced or invited, have always known what we all know. But for reasons that could bother on selfish interest or self centeredness, Nigerian governments have failed the people by directly or indirectly, error or design, omission or commission, choosing at random to use the problems of the nation to perpetuate themselves in government. With the seminar on “Good Governance and The Nigerian State: The Way Forward”, the organisers having identified the lack of good governance as one of the ills militating against the attainment of just Nigerian society, hope to address the importance and advantages inherent in an honest government of the Nigerian state awake and alive to the needs of the people.
MOTIVATION Good Governance and The Nigerian State: The Way Forward” is motivated by the belief of the NAS-INTERNATIONAL in the progressive co-existence of Nigerians in the republic called Nigeria. Individual abilities and capabilities of Nigerians coupled with the rich, abundant natural resources cannot continue to be abused and amassed by a selected few who have continuously been in or around the corridors of power, either as rulers or hangers on to the detriment of Nigerians.
By the seminar holding on a no-holds barred ground, opportunity would be given Nigerians in the diasporas, for in the wake of evident bad governance, lack of security and infrastructural development in Nigeria, the best brains fled Nigeria either in search of the “Golden Fleece” or “Personal Safety”, to come together for a day long brainstorming on the governance of the Nigerian State.
Stemming from the “Humanistic Ideals” principle of NAS-International, participants in the seminar can be assured that theirs would not be a distant voice lost in the thousands of miles between the venue of the seminar and our homeland.
NAS-International through the Netherlands Chapter, the conveners of the seminar, would ensure that the communiqué that emerges from the seminar is made available to those who rule over us individually and in deed to all Nigerians by ensuring its wide publicity in Nigeria.
AIMS The aims of the seminar are the following: Identifying the various effects of good governance and or lack of it on different spheres of living in Nigeria. Ascertaining the impact of lack of god governance on the development of the Nigerian state. The role of good governance as a tool for societal empowerment through effective public administration. Propositions and recommendations of potential solutions to the effects and influences arising from the fore going. TARGET GROUPS The seminar is designed for: All Nigerian groups, organisations and associations resident in Netherlands and the continental Europe. All Nigerian individuals concerned about the stagnation that has become of Nigeria. The Media.
INITIATORS The seminar is the initiative of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF SEADOGS INTERNATIONAL, NETHERLANDS CHAPTER. The National Association of Seadogs International, NAS INTERNATIONAL, is the umbrella body for the international branches of the Nigerian charitable and humanitarian organization known as the National Association of Seadogs (NAS). NAS is the registered name for the group also known as the PYRATES CONFRATERNITY.
The Holland Chapter of NAS International started in 1995 and was officially registered with the Netherlands authority in 1999.
The Pyratical aims of fighting all social ills and conformist degradation within and outside our midst stand supreme. These are translated into the creed, which act as a guide to our acts and thoughts and to the solutions to dilemmas that may face us in making choices in life. There are four compass points whose function provides us with founding principles upon which to direct our lives: They are
AGAINST MORIBUND CONVENTION: It means complacency, conservatism, stagnation; it is anti-initiative, anti-imagination, anti-creativity. “This is how our fathers used to do it ” is the unthinking excuse of the lazy, unadventurous mind. Bribery or “Kola” is also convention. Land monopoly in the midst of the landless masses is also “convention”. Fraudulent acquisition and arrogant display of wealth is also convention. Down, then, with MORIBUND CONVENTION. Raise the banner of REVITALIZATION.
AGAINST TRIBALISM: Any form of discrimination based on ethnic affiliation should be fought with all resources. Which goes also for what went under the camouflage of the Party System. Stand outside it as an independent unit and march with ideas, which cut across petty alliances.
FOR HUMANISTIC IDEALS: No slave to dogma; simply placing man at the center of thought, word and act; thinking and acting for the community of man; village, city, school, college, nation, continent, world wide. Refuse to be blinded by slogans, dissecting what is hidden behind seductive formulae, asking instead: WHAT’S IN IT FOR MAN AND THE COMMUNITY OF HIS KIND? Ask what you can do to raise that community to the highest level of fulfillment.
FOR COMRADESHIP AND CHIVALRY: It means that sense of obligation – moral, communal, human – which makes the strong, the privileged, and the informed, PROTECT the weak, the under-privileged and the uninformed.
SEMINAR FRAMEWORK The seminar would consist of two parts. The first part would consist of presentation of two papers from speakers on the theme, but different backgrounds. The paper presentation would be followed by a short break to allow for brainstorming and preparation for the second part.
The second and final part would be discussion session that would allow participation from the audience as well as presentation of views from Nigerian organizations in Netherlands. There would be in place, for the second part of the seminar, a panel of discussants comprising of five persons. There would also be an independent observer among the discussants.
The seminar would be closed at the end of the second part with an adoption of a team to prepare the communiqué within an agreed time frame. The communiqué would be circulated out here and widely publicized in the media in Nigeria.
DATE AND LOCATION The seminar would hold on the 22nd of May 2004 at the Institute of Social Studies, ISS, Den Haag, Netherlands. The seminar would commence at 11.00 am and close at 19.00 pm.
FINANCING ORGANISATION The seminar would be solely funded and catered for by the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF SEADOGS INTERNATIONAL, NETHELANDS CHAPTER.
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