TRUE to President Goodluck Jonathan’s earlier promise, the Federal Government Monday released the names of those to lead the upcoming National Conference, with eminent jurist, retired Justice Idris Kutigi, as Chairman.
In a statement Monday evening from the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) signed by the SGF, Anyim Pius Anyim, Prof. Bola Akinyemi is to be the Vice Chairman while Dr. Valerie Azinge would serve as Secretary.
The statement confirms The Guardian’s exclusive report yesterday which had named Kutigi and Akinyemi as Chairman and Deputy Chairman respectively.
The statement reads in part: “His Excellency, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, has approved the appointment of the leadership of the National Conference as follows: Honourable Justice Idris Legbo Kutigi, Chairman, Prof. Bolaji Akinyemi, Vice Chairman and Dr. (Mrs.) Valerie Azinge, Secretary.
“The appointees are to resume at Abuja on Wednesday, March 5, 2014 and would be received on arrival by the Secretary of the Federal Government.”
It would be recalled that after the release of the modalities for the conference last month, the President during the presidential media chat last Monday promised to name the presiding officers yesterday and Nigerians had waited for the names of those to be chosen by the President to superintend the much-anticipated national dialogue.
Idris Legbo Kutigi was born on December 31, 1939 in Kutigi, Lavun Local Council of Niger State.
He attended his elementary school in that town and middle and secondary school in Bida before moving on to Government College, now known as Barewa College and then to Ahmadu Bello University both in Zaria, Kaduna State.
He left Nigeria for England where he studied at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London and the Gibson and Weldon College of Law before returning to attend the Nigerian Law School in Lagos, Lagos State.
Kutigi served as the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice in Niger State before becoming a high court judge in 1976.
He joined the Supreme Court in 1992 and served for 10 years before President Olusegun Obasanjo appointed him to the position of Chief Justice to succeed Salihu Alfa Belgore on January 30 after being confirmed by the Senate.
He was Chief Justice from January 30, 2007 until December 30, 2009 when he retired.
Prof. Bolaji Akinyemi was born in Ilesa, in what is now Osun State.
He attended Igbobi College in Yaba from 1955 until 1959; Christ’s School in Ado-Ekiti from 1960 to 1961; Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States (U.S.), from 1962 to 1964; Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts, U.S., 1964 to 1966; and Trinity College, Oxford University, England, from 1966 until 1969.
He taught at the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva, the Diplomacy Training Programme, University of Nairobi, Kenya; the University of Lagos from 1983 until 1985; and St. John’s College, Cambridge, England.
Akinyemi was Director-General of the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA) from 1975 until 1983.
Appointed Minister of External Affairs in 1985, Akinyemi, in that position, originated the Technical Aid Corps (TAC), a programme which sent Nigerian professionals overseas to engage in volunteer work. It was designed to “promote the country’s image and status as a major contributor to Third World and particularly African development”. He also came up with the concept of ‘Concert of Medium Powers.
In 1987, Akinyemi stated his support for Nigeria developing nuclear weapons, referring to the proposal as the “black bomb,” and said that “Nigeria has a sacred responsibility to challenge the racial monopoly of nuclear weapons.
During the short-lived Third Republic of 1993, he called on the military to overthrow Ernest Shonekan’s administration. When Defence Minister at the time, Gen. Sani Abacha later did so and assumed the position of head of state. Akinyemi was among those who opposed Abacha’s regime.
The Secretary to the National Conference Dr. (Mrs.) Valerie Azinge, read Law, obtaining an LLM from the London School of Economics and later a Ph. D in Law.
A daughter of the Nwodos, she is married to the Director-General, Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (NIALS) Dr. Epiphany Azinge.
She is said to be very hardworking and would be assisted by a number of officers of directorate cadre from the Federal Civil Service.
The Guardian gathered yesterday that Ebele Okeke, an engineer and Nigeria’s first female Head of Service and Dr. Alex Ekwueme’s daughter, Mrs. Onyekwu, were dropped for Dr. Azinge due to some other “over-riding considerations the President could not discount” as a source said.
Culled from the Guardian
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