NIGERIA GOVERNORS FORUM RETREAT HOLDS IN LAGOS, RESOLVES TO SHARE INFORMATION ON HUMAN SECURITY NEEDS OF THE PEOPLE The Nigeria Governors Forum under the leadership of Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State on Friday held a retreat in Lagos and reiterated their commitment to pursue cooperation on security management, including sharing of information and placing emphasis on human security needs of the people. Reading the communiqué after the retreat with the theme: “Towards the Sustainability of Democracy” held at the Eko Hotels and Suites, Victoria Island, Governor Amaechi said the Governors also resolved that there is a need to revisit funding of education to reflect constitutional mandate while addressing the tyranny of unfunded mandate posed by distorted federalism. It was also resolved at the forum that as part of enhancing educational quality and access, the nation should consider re-introduction of teacher training colleges and addressing policy issues posed by federalism and also adopted the Strategic Plan for 2014-2016. It was also agreed that the debilitating impact of corruption on national development and the adverse human development indices requires a concerted effort to combat corruption in both private and public sectors of the Nigerian economy. The Nigeria Governors Forum also agreed that the anti-corruption battle should be anchored on a massive programme of national value-reorientation involving the state sector, private sector and civil society. It was also resolved at the retreat which was a follow up to the Second National Retreat in Sokoto that the fight against corruption needs strong political will, moral leadership, certainty of sanction and commitment of Governors to succeed and pledged to fill the role. The Governors who deliberated extensively on identified areas of Agriculture, Corruption, Education and Security as contained in the 2014-2016 Strategic Plan also Forum will continue to accord high priority to education by improving access to all including the girl child, quality of teachers, revamping infrastructure, vocational and technical education and transforming educational curriculum and pedagody. The meeting agreed that several State are already making giant strides in the area of agriculture as unveiled in the State Peer Review programme and urged the continuation of the initiatives to increase the impact of agriculture value chain on the nation’s economy. The Governors also agreed to promote synergy such that agricultural policies should be properly delineated such that the federal government will ensure policy and regulatory framework while the states will be responsible for implementation and land tenure management. “Agricultural policies should be long terms and geared towards rigorously tackling the challenges militating against agricultural productivity and yield such as desertification, soil erosion, soil degradation, flooding and social challenges like insecurity and constraints to access to land and finances”, it was also resolved. It was also decided by the Governors present at the meeting that in the task to revamp agriculture, a special focus will be placed on improving post harvesting processing plants, stakeholders’ inclusion and participation in agricultural policy formation and implementation as well as attracting youths back to agriculture to reduce the teeming youth unemployment situation and building policy on the basis of subsidiarity-bottom up, through the state to federal. The retreat was attended by Governors Babatunde Fashola (SAN) of Lagos State, Aliyu Wammako of Sokoto State, Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State, Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State and Abdulazeez Yari of Zamfara State while Osun, Imo, Kwara and Oyo and Ogun were represented by their Deputy Governors namely Chief Mrs Grace Laoye Tomori (Osun), Prince Eze Madumere (Imo), Mr Peter Kishira (Kwara State),Chief Adeyemo (Oyo State) and Prince Segun Adesegun from Ogun State and featured several speakers like former Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC), Justice Mustapha Akanbi, Chairman of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission , Mallam Nuhu Ribadu and former Vice Chancellor of University of Benin, Professor Grace Alele Williams.
Posted on: Mon, 17 Mar 2014 08:32:47 +0000
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