Rotate chairmanship between north and south – Dickson
The Governor of Ekiti State, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, has succeeded the outgoing governor of Zamfara State, Mr. Abdulaziz Yari as the chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF).
Similarly, the governor of Sokoto State, Mr. Aminu Tambuwal was chosen as vice-chairman of the group.
Fayemi who was elected by consensus at the Forum’s meeting held in Abuja on Wednesday night would be the first governor from the southwest to hold the position since 1999.
In his acceptance remark, Fayemi expressed his gratitude for the confidence reposed on him by colleagues.
He pledged to build on the achievements of his predecessors and success stories of the forum.
“We will build on commitment with strong partnership with the federal government as federating unit and trash out issues as amicably as possible, in the overall interest of the country.”
He pledged that they would represent the interests of Nigeria irrespective of their political affiliations.
“Whatever we are going to do will be in overall interest of the nation in ensuring that our states are continuously strengthened.
“Our country derives the benefit of strong, dedicated states to our citizens and the partnership with all arms of government, development partners working with us in the overall interest of Nigeria.
He commended the outgoing chairman and the secretariat for their commitment to states and Nigeria at large.
Meanwhile, Yari said Fayemi was nominated by the governor of Kaduna State, Malam Nasir el-Rufai and seconded by the governor of Delta State, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, and unanimously elected by the governors to lead the forum till 2021.
“Members also elected Gov. Aminu Tambwal of Sokoto State as the vice chairman of the forum from 2019 to 2021.”
He said Tambuwal was nominated by the governor of Lagos State, Mr. Akinwumi Ambode and seconded by his Ondo State counterpart, Mr. Rotimi Akeredolu.
Reading a communiqué at the end of the meeting, Yari said the forum was concerned with the recent guidelines of the Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU).
The guidelines according to him sought to impose restriction on the powers of states and local governments to operate within constitutionally approved parameters.
“The new guidelines have no legal basis under the NFIU Act and are contrary to constitutional provisions which put the state joint local government account under the legislation of the state houses of assembly.
“The guidelines will also be detrimental to the interest of States and local governments by crippling programmes such as the Universal Basic Education (UBEC) programme, primary health care under one roof, as well as the payment of the salaries of teachers, medical doctor and health workers among others which are primarily funded by state governments.”
On the call by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governors to declare state of emergency on insecurity, Yari said they had all agreed to meet President Muhammadu Buhari for one-on-one discussion.
“The issue of security is under the mandate of Mr. President, we are supporting him because he is the commander-in-chief and we hope to come up with solutions with him,” he said.
Before the start of the meeting, the governor of Bayelsa State, Mr. Seriake Dickson had made a case for the rotation of the NGF chairmanship between the north and the south.
“I am calling on the governors who would assemble today (Wednesday) to take a decision on the chairmanship of the NGF to be guided by the time-tested principle of rotation of power between the North and the South.
“Now that Alhaji Abdulazeez Yari, the governor of Zamfara State will be ending his tenure, we expect that the next chairman should come from the South.
“The precedence is that the ruling party produces the chairman,” said Dickson in a statement by his spokesman, Mr. Fidelis Soriwei.
He also stated that governors elected under the platform of the PDP would not contest the position in consonance with the precedence that the NGF chairman should be a ranking governor from the ruling political party.
He assured that the PDP governors would not make any move to endanger the time honoured principle guiding the emergence of the NGF chairman.
He congratulated Yari on the successful completion of his tenure during which “he collaborated with the federal government to address issues such as the refund of the Paris Club loan and others affecting state finances.”
