NIGERIA: The new chairman of the Southern Governors Forum, Governor Dapo Abiodun has listed the five-point agenda of the forum under his leadership as security, infrastructure, food security and agriculture, transportation, and devolution of powers.
Speaking on a Channels Television programme yesterday evening, Abiodun said the focus of the governors is the socio-economic development of the Southern zone and will be pushed under the ‘Southern States Development Agenda.’
Mentioning security as a priority, Abiodun said the governors support state policing such that governors are indeed chief security officers of their states, adding that the zone is resolute about the establishment of a regional security outfit.
He said that the governors remained keen on state and community policing having discovered that federal police lacked the manpower, and resources and were ineffective in understanding their terrains to quickly detect and arrest acts of criminality.
The Ogun governor said the forum was also keen on regional integration through infrastructure.
He said the zone was intent on having a multi-modal transport infrastructure to connect road, air, rail, and water transportation to aid the movement of foods and services and investment.
He particularly lauded President Bola Tinubu’s administration for the Lagos-Calabar highway project which he said epitomized the intended infrastructure drive of the forum.
Acknowledging the current high cost of food items in the country, Abiodun said the governors resolved to be more deliberate about promoting agriculture, and food security in their various states.
Noting that the Southern region had millions of hectares of arable land, he held that the zone had no reason not to grow what it eats as well as export its cash crops.
He said the states resolved to key into their competitive and comparative advantages in the overall interest of the zone.
Abiodun also identified the push for devolution of powers as top on its priority list, which he said would result in states no longer relying on federal allocation.
Specifically, he said the Southern governors demanded that the federal government transfers to states some Trunk A roads, as well as grant it more powers for exploitation and exploration of its resources.
To achieve its goals, Abiodun said the governors would meet quarterly with the meetings rotating among the states of the zone.
