Worried by the continuing insecurity in the country, governors elected under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have resolved to raise a panel of consultants to thoroughly examine the security of Nigeria and proffer ways to deal with it.
Rising from their regular meeting in Yenagoa, Bayelsa state on Monday under the aegis of the PDP Governors Forum, they also reiterated their call on President Muhammadu Buhari to sign the reworked Electoral Act Amendment Bill, 2021 now before him and present further amendments to the lawmakers later if he has more issues with the law.
They met to review “the state of the nation, the readiness of the PDP to rescue the nation from APC misrule.”
The governors also called on the National Assembly to revisit the issue of devolution of power to states as it concludes the process of Constitution Review and as well not let the opportunity to rej-ig the policing of Nigeria pass by.
The communiqué issued at the end of the meeting said: “As the National Assembly winds down this current phase of the Constitution Review exercise, the Forum urged that they revisit the issue of devolution of more powers to the States and Local Governments.
“This opportunity to rejig the framework for policing and securing Nigeria should not be missed. To this end, the Forum would set up a Panel of Consultants to have a thorough look at the security architecture of Nigeria and make recommendations.”
The governors also urged the National Assembly to transfer some items from the Exclusive Legislative List to Concurrent List.
They welcomed the Court decision on Police Trust Fund deductions from the Federation Account, a suit at the instance of Rivers State and urged the Federal Government to stop similar unconstitutional deductions from the Federation Account.
They posited that in the same vein, the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission should expedite action on the new Revenue Allocation formula in such a way as to increase allocation to States and Local Government.
The governors further deplored what they observed as “the way and manner the CBN is being run as an alternate government, indeed, a government within a Government,” noting, “It is time to streamline its functions and processes to be constitutionally compliant.”
The communiqué added: “The Forum once again decried the opaque nature of NNPC operations. They called for accountability and reconciliation of NNPC remittances into the federation account.”
The governors expressed their displeasure on the issue of contaminated fuel supplied to Nigerians and urged government to bring perpetrators to account.
They frowned at “the duplicity, inconsistency, insincerity of the APC led Federal Government on the fuel subsidy regime, which has been badly and corruptly administered.”
The PDP state chief executives affirmed that the figures of consumption and ascribed to Nigerians appear fictitious and bloated, noting that they called for proper investigation to be conducted on this matter.
On the Electoral Act, the PDP governors urged the resident to “immediately sign the Electoral Act Amendment Bill into law. Waiting to run out the 30 days is yet another sign of unwillingness by Mr President to give Nigeria a reformed Electoral framework. If there are still misgivings on any aspect of the Bill Amendments may be introduced at a later stage.”
The governors congratulated PDP for winning 43 out of 62 Councillorship positions in the Abuja Area Council election results conducted last Saturday.
They admonished: “Inspite of improvements in the conduct of elections, the Gwagwalada and Abuja Area Council results show that manipulations are still possible. They urged INEC to tighten all observed loopholes and further improve on the functioning of the BIVAS Machine for future elections.”
They also congratulated Governor Douye Diri of Bayelsa state on his second anniversary in office “as he has made a positive difference for the people of Bayelsa State. They thanked him for being such a gracious and wonderful host.”
Present at the Yenegoa meeting were Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia State), Vice Chairman; Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri (Adamawa State), Udom Emmanuel (Akwa Ibom State), Bala Mohammed (Bauchi State), Sen. Douye Diri (Bayelsa State), Samuel Ortom (Benue State), Ifeanyi Okowa (Delta State), Godwin Obaseki (Edo State), Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu State), Oluseyi Makinde (Oyo State), and Nyesom Wike, (Rivers State).