South-South Govs Agree on Regional Security Outfit

'Dotun Akintomide
Writer

Ad

Dangote Vs PENGASSAN Face-off Escalates as NLC Orders Nationwide Strike

By Abiola Olawale The face-off between Dangote Refinery, owned by Africa's richest man, Aliko Dangote, and the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) has continued to escalate as the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has ordered full-scale mobilization of its affiliate unions for a nationwide strike. The NLC said it ordered the…

PSC warns senior officers: fail promotion exam three times, face retirement

By Obinna Uballa The Police Service Commission (PSC) on Monday conducted a compulsory promotion examination for 30 senior police officers in Abuja, with a stern warning that those who fail the test three times will be forced into retirement. The exercise, held at the Commission’s headquarters, involved one Assistant Inspector-General of Police, two Commissioners of…

Brent Prices Retreat below $70 as OPEC+ Mulls Another Output Hike

Brent Crude prices dropped below $70 per barrel, and WTI Crude slipped below $65, due to increased supply and expectations of further output hikes from OPEC+. Iraq resumed crude oil exports from Kurdistan via a pipeline to Turkey, adding an estimated 230,000 barrels per day to the global oil market after a two-and-a-half-year halt. OPEC+…

Ad

  • Urge Buhari to put NDDC Board in Place

The South-South Governors Forum on Thursday resolved to form a regional security outfit to check crimes and criminality in their region.

The forum’s resolution was made known by Gov. Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta when he addressed newsmen at the end of their meeting in Government House, Asaba.

According to Okowa, the governors agreed that the regional security outfit would help address the numerous security challenges in their respective states.

Read also: Suspension: Finally, Oshiomhole Breaks Silence

He said: “I am sure you know the five governors standing here out of the six governors in the South-South; We have just finished our governors’ forum meeting.

“Unfortunately, the Cross River Governor, Ben Ayade, was held back in Abuja and could not make it to the meeting.

“We took very far-reaching decisions and I must thank my brothers for attending this meeting.

Okowa said that the forum agreed that the BRACED an acronym for (Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Edo and Delta) Commission would work out the modalities for the security outfit.

“We took decision concerning the BRACED Commission which was established 10 years ago by our colleagues who were governors before we came on board.

“We have decided to restart the commission and ensure we provide the necessary logistics for it to function properly.

“The commission is to help us look into the issues of regional economy and the need to collectively develop our region instead of working as individual states.

“A lot has been done in terms of documentation in the past five years. We have agreed to restart the commission with the headquarters in River State.”

He lauded Amb. Joe Keshi, the Director-General of BRACED commission, adding that a lot of documentation had been done by the commission.

The governor said that the forum would have its next meeting in a few weeks’ time in Port Harcourt when the commission would brief it on the modalities of operating the regional security outfit.

“We also discussed the issues of Federation Accounts Allocation. We agreed that the 13 percent derivation fund should be deducted before the revenue derived from oil is shared.

“This 13 percent derivation fund is supposed to be for the oil-producing states and we have agreed as governors to take up this matter at the appropriate level,” he said.

Okowa said the governors also discussed issues pertaining to the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) and had asked that President Muhammad Buhari constitute the governing board immediately.

He said that NDDC was capable of developing the region through the execution of good protects rather than the pockets of projects currently being executed in the region.

The forum chairman said that the governors also agreed to set up a medical team to apply regional approach to check the incidences of Lassa fever and the Coronavirus.

“We took the decision that Commissioners for Health from the region will meet immediately to look into how to contain Lassa fever and also consider how to tackle the issue of coronavirus in case it extends to this region.

“At the moment, we do not have any known case of Covid-19,” Okowa said

The governors forum meeting lasted for about three hours.

Those in attendance were: Okowa of Delta, Nyesom Wike of Rivers, Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom, Douye Diri of Bayelsa and Godwin Obaseki of Edo.

 

Ad

Unlocking Opportunities in the Gulf of Guinea during UNGA80
X whatsapp