Members of the Nigerian
Governors’ Forum (NGF) have called for a special review of the nation’s
security challenges for an in-depth understanding of the enormity of the
situation.
They made the call on Wednesday at
a meeting presided by the NGF Chairman and Ekiti State Governor, Kayode Fayemi,
at the State House in Abuja.
Briefing reporters after the
meeting which lasted till about midnight, Governor Fayemi explained that a
special review of the security crisis was necessary to further engage the
federal authorities at the political and security levels and find a solution to
insecurity in the land.
He noted the rising concerns by the
forum, following incidents of attack on correctional and police facilities in
Imo State, the killing of soldiers in Benue, and successive acts of violence
across the country, among others.
Nigeria witnessed increased
insecurity recently as a result of the alarming rate of attacks by bandits and
insurgents in the North, and attacks on security facilities in the South.
At least three police facilities,
including the State Command Headquarters, came under attack in Imo in April,
while no fewer than 1,800 inmates were released by gunmen at the Owerri
Custodial Centre in the state capital.
Pockets of violence were also
recorded in other southern states, including Oyo, Ogun, and Rivers, while
dozens of villages were attacked by bandits in Kaduna, Zamfara, and Benue among
others.
Financial Autonomy
Apart from security, Governor
Fayemi also briefed reporters on what his colleagues discussed about the
nationwide strike by members of the Judicial Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN)
demanding financial autonomy for state legislature and judiciary.
He stated that the NGF committee
responsible for engaging with representatives of the legislative and judiciary
would convey the position of the governors on the Executive Order 10.
The governor, however, declined to
state specifically what positions have been adopted by the forum.
President Muhammadu Buhari had
signed the Executive Order 10, which deals with the implementation of financial
autonomy for state legislature and judiciary.
Although the governors said they
were not against the implementation of the law on financial autonomy, they
insisted that they would not be stampeded by the executive order.
Following the refusal to implement
the executive order, members of JUSUN commenced an industrial action on April
6.
The decision of the judiciary
workers has paralysed activities in courts across the country, with various
individuals and groups such as the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Tanko
Muhammad, and the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) urging the union to end the
strike.
Source: channelstv.com
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