Nigeria Governors on Friday resolved to meet President Muhammadu Buhari over the killing of 43 rice farmers in Zabarmari, Borno State.
The Governors met with President Buhari in August over the same issue of escalating violence and insecurity.
A communiqué at the end of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) meeting in Abuja, the Governors deliberated on issues affecting the country, particularly the recent killings of over 43 rice farmers in Borno State.
The communiqué which was signed by the NGF Chairman, Kayode Fayemi, pledged to support the necessary reforms that would result in police reform.
“As an immediate to medium-term measure, members agreed to pay close attention to the conduct of police officers across the country in order to get them and other internal security operatives fully back to work as they have not been functioning to full capacity since the EndSARS protests with the attendant security exposure to the safety of lives and properties of the ordinary citizens,” Fayemi disclosed.
He noted that the judicial commissions of enquiry instituted by governors across the 36 States of the federation to probe petitions of brutality by law enforcement agents were in progress.
On the Water Resources Bill before the National Assembly, the NGF directed state Attorney Generals to review the bill and send their input to the NGF secretariat.
It added that the secretariat is tracking feedback from states on the Water Resources Bill in order to coordinate the forum’s response to the ministry.
The Governors adopted Governor Nasir el Rufai committee and that of the Central Bank Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Godwin Emefiele, infrastructure development.
While the el Rufai National Economic Council (NEC) ad hoc committee on leveraging portion of accumulated pension funds for Investment in the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA), is proposing N2 trillion at nine percent interest rate, the CBN governor is putting forward N15 trillion for national infrastructure funding through INFRACREDIT at a lower interest rate of five per cent.
The NGF noted that “both were not mutually exclusive and could be adopted simultaneously with one streaming into the other.”
The governors called the Federal Government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to hasten the implementation of the truce elements in their resolutions so as to allow universities reopen immediately.