Nigerian Governors Forum resolves to meet with Buhari in response to Borno killings

GOVERNORS of Nigeria's 36 states have announced plans to meet with President Muhammadu Buhari to discuss the growing spate of insecurity across the country following the recent murder of 43 farmers in Borno State.

Last weekend, Boko Haram beheaded 43 rice farmers at Garin Kwashebe in Jere Local Government Area of Borno State. It was the latest in a series of callous murders, particularly across northern Nigeria where armed bandits, terrorists, Fulani herdsmen and hoodlums have run riot in states like Katsina, Zamfara, Kaduna, Yobe, Adamawa and Benue.

On Wednesday, the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) held their monthly meeting in Abuja and resolved to hold an audience with President Buhari as soon as possible. At the meeting, the governors also elected to support the necessary reforms that will result in a police force that works for all.

They issued a communiqué saying: “As an immediate to medium-term measure, members agreed to pay close attention to the conduct of police officers across the country in order to get them and other internal security operatives fully back to work as they have not been functioning to full capacity since the EndSARS protests with the attendant security exposure to the safety of lives and properties of the ordinary citizens.”

In addition, the governors also discussed the Academic Staff Union of Universities industrial action and urged the federal government and the union to urgently resolve their differences to allow for immediate reopening of the nation’s tertiary institutions. They also faulted the current practice where the federal government is collecting stamp duties, insisting that they belong primarily to states.

Also, the governors endorsed the two proposals canvassing infrastructure development by both the Governor Nasir el Rufai Committee and the Central Bank Nigeria (CBN) governor, Godwin Emefiele. NGF chairman Kayode Fayemi told the meeting about a similar proposal by the CBN governor to enable states access N15trn naira for national infrastructure funding through Infracredit at a lower interest rate of 5%.

Furthermore, the governors agreed to keep active and operational the state Covid -19 task force reams and emergency operation centres. They also agreed to keep temporary treatment centres open, ensure the ramping up Covid-19 testing across the country and support the planned testing week to be launched by the Presidential Task Force.