This is contrary to the calls by some groups and individuals that an SNC will give ethnic nationalities the opportunity to choose how to relate or associate with one another.
Jonathan, who spoke at the Dialogue with the President at the 16th Nigerian Economic Summit in Abuja on Tuesday, said the nation had gone beyond the call for the SNC and should be concerned about how to build a prosperous country.
The President also blamed kidnapping on government’s failure to address the problem when it was evolving.
He also stated that corruption was prevalent in the private sector as it had been in the public sector, adding that what should be done to check the menace was to strengthen law enforcement agencies.
According to the President, the constitution has already prescribed how the fundamental law can be changed; adding that any attempt to change the law by any other method would be an illegality.
The President said, “We have the 1999 Constitution which clearly prescribes how the constitution can be changed. We have the National Assembly that makes laws for the nation.
“Sometimes we get carried away by some jargons. It is not the number of conferences that we hold that can solve our problems. The countries that we cite as examples in development, it is not conference that solved their problems.
“We have gone beyond asking how ethnic groups can live together. We will not allow history to hold us down. It was in 1914 that the Southern and Northern Protectorates were amalgamated. In four years now, we shall be celebrating 100 years of our existence as a nation. So we have gone beyond the agitation for Sovereign National Conference.”
The President said the challenges of car bombs and kidnapping had not always been with the country but added that when the government failed to tackle challenges that it faced, they could grow into larger proportions.
Tracing kidnapping to the Kaigama declaration of 1998, Jonathan said the challenge had been laid to rest through the amnesty programme of the Federal Government, adding that what the nation was now experiencing was the commercialisation of the menace.
He said, “Security is a challenge to any government. Before this time, we never had kidnapping in Nigeria. We never had the problem of car bomb in Nigeria.
“The problem of kidnapping we have now is not agitation. The first major kidnapping we had was in 2006 when I was a deputy governor.
“If anything happens and the government does not handle it on time, selfish people exploit it for commercial purposes. What is happening now is commercial. People are doing it to make money.
On the widespread illiteracy in the country, Jonathan said the Federal Government could not force the states to implement free and compulsory education as enshrined in the Universal Basic Education programme.
Also at the event, a former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Alfa Belgore, called for the decentralisation of election petition tribunals for the quick dispensation of justice.
He said that rather than constituting a panel of five judges to hear all election petitions in a state, a judge should be assigned to hear petitions in each federal constituency, the News Agency of Nigeria reports.
He said that the delay in the determination of election petitions was caused by the large volume of work for the panel of judges constituted to hear all petitions emanating from elections at state level.
The former CJN said that election petitions should be heard at the constituency level by a judge within a short time frame to be specified by the Electoral Act.
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