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The 36 state governors, under the aegis of Nigeria Governors Forum, NGF, said they would make their position on state police known soon, and raised a committee to discuss the issue and come up with a position.
The governors on Wednesday night, held its first meeting after the election of the leadership of the forum, with issues of security topping the agenda
The meeting which started at past 8pm at its Secretariat, Lake Chad, Maitama, Abuja, ended in the early hours of yesterday.
At the end of the meeting, the governors “resolved to set up a security committee at the National Economic Council level, NEC.”
The NEC, which consists of the 36 state governors, and governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, is the highest economic advisory body in the land and is presided over by the Vice-President.
Addressing journalists at the end of the meeting, Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State, who is chairman of the NGF, disclosed that the forum will soon make known its stand on the issue of state police, stressing that security is an issue of concern to citizens and the governors as well.
According to Fayemi, the Forum will “retain security as a recurring item on its agenda for the foreseeable future.”
He said: “We know that state police is an issue of interest and concern to the citizens and governors themselves and we will review it and make our position as a forum known soon.”
Fayemi also disclosed that the Forum resolved to re-launch its flagship State Peer Review Mechanism programme designed to assist states foster good governance and accelerate the rate of development through periodic reviews of progress made by state governments.
According to him, the forum has also agreed to hold a one-day interactive session with the World Bank and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation on on-going development engagements across the states on June 26, 2019.
The governor added that the forum will also organise an IT retreat with the Joint Tax Board, JTB, and chairmen of internal revenue services of states.
Also on the agenda was update on Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit, NFIU, Guidelines on Local Government Funds.
It would be recalled that NFIU had issued a guideline which prevents state governments from making withdrawals from local governments’ funds.
The new guideline mandates financial institutions to distribute funds meant for local governments directly to them for development and not for other purposes, just as the guidelines also limit cash transactions in the accounts of local governments to a daily maximum of N500,000.
The meeting commenced at exactly 8.00pm with 22 states represented. Present at the meeting were governors of Kano, Borno, Lagos, Kaduna, Sokoto, Ekiti,Kogi, Ogun, Plateau, Ondo, Jigawa, Kebbi, Ebonyi, Gombe, Bayelsa, Nasarawa, Niger and Oyo.
Others were deputy governors of Enugu, Zamfara, Cross River, Imo and Katsina.
