Vice President Yemi Osinbajo is currently attending the opening the ceremony of Nigeria Governors Forum Secretariat, induction programme for newly-elected and returning governors.
The programme is to support governors and help create a workable framework that will aid the achievement of a smooth transition into their new administrations.
The induction which first held in 2011, will for the first time feature the Governors’ Spouses’ Summit, which is designed to be an introduction to public life for the spouses of newly elected and existing governors.
The programme which holds between 28th April – 1st May will be multi-layered and interactive.
It is also to support incoming governors to develop key governance and management skills that will enable them transition from campaigning to managing the processes of governance.
In his remarks, Chairman of NGF and Governor of Zamfara State, Abdulaziz Yari, commended the President Muhammadu Buhari for bailing out the states a number of times to enable them pay salaries.
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He charged governors to give priority to agriculture to diversify the economy from oil.
He called for higher import tariff to be imposed on rice, maize and wheat to encourage local farmers and boost chances of foreign earnings.
The NGF chair reminded the governors and incoming ones that it will not be smooth ride as they begin new administration. According to him, while the crude oil price was over $100 from 2011-15, the price noise dived to less than 75 percent from 2015 leading to recession.
Governor Yari said the outgoing governors had rely on federation accounts to run their states while internally generated revenue has been nothing to write home about, he advised the incoming governors to think outside the box to generate funds away from what has been the norm.
He said borrowing is never a good alternative for building infrastructure, urging them to also seek alternative funding outside borrowing.
He urged them to strengthen tax laws to encourage Nigerians to pay their taxes.
Details later…
