An opinion poll conducted by Nigeria’s foremost polling services company, NOIPolls, has revealed that 87 per cent of Nigerians are strongly in support of the constitution of the National Conference, which is currently on-going in Abuja.

NOIPolls, which is reputed for country-specific polling services in the West African region, conducted the exercise in partnership with Gallup Inc. of (USA).

NOIPolls reports that 27 per cent of those in support of the confab are of the opinion that it will bring progress and development to Nigeria, 21 per cent believe it will bring unity while 19 per cent are optimistic that the outcome will bring peace to the country.

However, the 13 per cent that opposed the conference did so on the assumption that it would be another waste of money as it would be incapable of addressing the problems of the country.

The poll revealed that 79 per cent of the respondents would like the outcome of the conference to be subjected to a referendum.

Respondents suggested that the top three key stakeholders who should be part of the conference should be religious leaders (51%), traditional rulers (47%) and civil society organisations (37%).

The opinion poll, according to NOIPolls, was conducted between February 10 and 12, 2014. It involved telephone interviews of a random nationwide sample of over 1000 phone-owning Nigerians, aged between 18 years and above, representing the six geopolitical zones in the country.

“With a sample of this size, we can say with 95 per cent confidence that the results obtained are statistically precise – within a range of plus or minus three per cent,” NOIPolls said.

The implication of this, it noted, is that “if the survey is conducted 100 times using the exact same procedures, the margin of error would include the “true value” in 95 out of 100 surveys”. (More information on this could be found at www.noi-polls.com).

The result of the poll showed that in the North West region, 35 per cent of Nigerians were aware of the discussions to constitute the National Conference while 89 per cent were in support of the Conference as it was then proposed. 83 per cent and 90 per cent respectively in the North East were aware of the discussions and in fact supported the convening of the Conference.

In the North Central, 53 per cent were aware of discussions, 85 per cent supported the move for Nigerians to sit together and address their concerns. In the South West 49 per cent were aware of discussions and 87 per cent were in support of convening the Conference; while 53 per cent in the South East were aware of the flow of discussions and 83 per cent supported the holding of the conference. 49 per cent in South South followed the discussions while 86 per cent supported the constitution and inauguration of a national dialogue.

•Photo shows a cross section of the National Conference delegates.

Update news