The conference was inaugurated last Monday with plenary session due to commence next week.
Top of the agenda is the adoption of the conference rules of procedure.
The rules which will guide the conduct of delegates throughout the duration of the talk shop were released to them on Thursday by the conference secretariat in Abuja.
Each of the delegates is to be paid over N12million for the three months that the talks will last, although at least two of them –Pastor Tunde Bakare and Mr.Olise Agbakoba – have rejected their own allowance.
It was gathered that some of the other delegates are considering writing to the conference secretariat on the need to pay their aides who will be assisting them at the talks.
A member told The Nation that “the issue of paying our aides a little allowance cannot be swept under the carpet for obvious reasons”
The delegate from Anambra State noted that “what we have come to Abuja to do is a serious business and should be seen as such.”
He added: “We have come here for a serious business.Whatever will assist us to do a thorough job should be accorded priority by the government. For most of us allowing us to hire one or two aides that will be paid by the conference secretariat will not be out of place.
“We are meeting and talking about how to impress it on the conference secretariat to pay our aides. Our aides are no less important than us. We may have to put it in writing if need be.”
The aides ,he said, would be assisting them a great deal in gathering facts that would be useful for the assignment at hand.
If the delegates succeed in pushing through payment of allowance for their aides, N7 billion the Federal Government was reported to have set aside for the conference may be increased.
One of the delegates, Chief Mike Ezekhome, has underscored the fact that the conference involves a lot of brain work and research.
Another delegate from Adamawa State pointedly asked the conference leadership how many aides they were entitled to hire.
The conference Seceratry, Valerie Azinge, however told delegates that there was no provision for payment of personal assistants to the delegates.
Funds provided by government, Azinge said, were specifically meant for delegates alone.
Another delegate, Pastor Tunde Bakare, however admonished delegates on the need for sacrifice.
For Bakare, delegates should be ready to make sacrifice for the good of the country.
He enjoined them to be less concerned about monetary gains from the exercise, citing the wide condemnations that trailed the disclosure of National Assembly lawmakers’ take home package.
According to him, most of the participants have had to complain about the allowances of Federal lawmakers,
“We should be ready to make sacrifices during this assignment since we are quick to take our lawmakers to the cleaners over their allowances,” Bakare said.
A major problem facing the delegates is shortage of accommodation.
The conference secretary said that ‘about three quarter of the delegates have so far been accredited for the conference”
She noted that all the delegates have not been accredited because they had been coming in trickles.
Source: The Nation
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