Governors of the South-South region of the country on Monday met in Rivers State. The meeting, hosted by Governor Nyesom Wike, held at the Government House in Port Harcourt, the state capital. The meeting was attended by Governors of Delta, Edo, Bayelsa, Akwa Ibom and Rivers.
One of the actions they took was to reiterate the approval of a regional security outfit. The governors under the umbrella of the South-South governors forum, however, did not disclose when the security outfit will be launched.
The governors took the decision during a meeting of the forum in Port Harcourt on Monday.
Amongst other resolutions passed at the meeting, the forum also resolved that the governments of the states in the region would join in the suit challenging the collection of Value Added Tax (VAT) by state governments.
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Speaking with journalists in Port Harcourt after the meeting, the Chairman of the Forum and Governor of Delta State, Ifeanyi Okowa stated, ‘After an extensive deliberation, the Council resolved that bearing in mind that most of the states have established their security organs, we approved the regional security architecture which will be launched soon.’
According to the communique, the governors also resolved; ‘To equivocally support the decision of states to collect the Value Added Tax by states, we resolved to join the suit at the Supreme Court.’
‘The Council urged the President and the National Assembly to take necessary measures to revisit some unfair aspects of the recently signed Petroleum Industry Bill now Act, to ensure fairness and equity.’
‘We urge that the amendment should include a clear definition of host communities and that the trustees should be appointed by the state government.’
‘The Council called on the President and the federal government to uphold the law establishing the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) by appropriately constituting its board.’
‘In addition, we express the hope that the federal government will make the forensic audit report public and do justly and fairly with the report with a view to strengthening the capacity of NDDC to meet its obligations to the people of the region.’
‘Council regretted that the President and the federal government entirely failed to give reasonable consideration to requests made by the region during the dialogue with the special delegation led by Professor Ibrahim Gambari, the Chief of Staff to the President. Notable among the requests was the relocation of NNPC subsidiaries and IOCs headquarters to Niger Delta and the completion of a number of projects in the region, notably roads’, Okowa added.
It was also noticed that the governor of Cross River State, Ben Ayade, was again absent at the meeting of the South-South Governors’ Forum where the state Chief Executives met to establish a regional security outfit that will tackle issues of degenerating security in the geo-political zone.
Ayade, who has come to be seen as the black sheep among the South-South Governors, was originally elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) but later defected to the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC.
AFRICA TODAY NEWS, NEW YORK