Governors Express Concern over State of Security, Economy

Chuks Okocha in Abuja

Rising from its third virtual meeting this year, governors in the country yesterday expressed concern over the rising insecurity in Nigeria as well as the country’s socio-economic development

In a communique after the governors’ meeting signed by the Chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF), Dr. Kayode Fayemi, they expressed concern, “about the impact of the state of insecurity on citizens’ safety, means of livelihood and the exercise of the rights of Nigerians, particularly the right to life, right to movement, and ultimately the country’s socio-economic development.”

They added: “The Forum will consequently see that all states design and operationalise an action plan to strengthen inter-ministerial coordination on peace and security, including the establishment of peace building agencies and a multi-level policing framework to combat the threat of insecurity in the country.”

It revealed that the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC), Mr. Mele Kyari, briefed the governors, highlighting the impact of the heightened spate of crude oil theft and losses in the Niger Delta.

According to the communique, the governors said they received an update on the implementation of the World Bank Nigeria COVID-19 Action Recovery and Economic Stimulus (NG-CARES) programme – an emergency programme to support state-level response to and recovery from the COVID-induced socio-economic crisis – from the Task Team Leader for the World Bank programme, Prof. Foluso Okunmadewa, in the company of the World Bank Country Director for Nigeria, Shubham Chaudhuri.

“Governors in response conveyed their commitment to secure and increase budget provisions that target the economic and social shocks in their states including social transfers, basic services, and livelihood support to poor and vulnerable households; food security and safe functioning of food supply chains; and the recovery of micro and small business enterprises,” it added.

The communique noted that following a briefing by Dr Osagie Emmanuel Ehanire, Minister of Health, on the federal government’s plan to develop 100 oxygen generation plants and rehabilitate general hospitals in order to guarantee access to oxygen in all primary healthcare centres (PHCs) in the country, governors resolved to interface with the Federal Ministry of Health to ensure oxygen sufficiency for all PHCs in the country.

On the implementation of the States’ Fiscal Transparency, Accountability and Sustainability (SFTAS) programme a presentation by Mr. Olanrewaju Ajogbasile, Senior Programme Manager of the NGF HelpDesk, dwelt specifically on the progress made by state governments in terms of the deployment of e-procurement and contract award publication using the Open Contracting Data  Standard (OCDS) format, the Forum resolved to deepen its current collaboration with Ernst &  Young (EY) and the World Bank to strengthen the procurement plans and transaction implementation strategies of State governments.

According to the communique of the meeting, the governors received a briefing on the economy from Dr. Doyin
Salami, the Chief Economic Adviser to Mr. President, after which a consensus was reached to intensify economic diversification and food security initiatives, including support for large scale all-season commercial farming; strengthening fiscal sustainability by crowding in private investment; promoting the development of regional corridors and infrastructure plans; as well as curtailing the uncertainty associated with the oil and gas industry.