The governors of the 36 states of the federation have resolved to go to court to seek legal redress against the Federal Government over what they call illegal deductions from the Federation Account.
The governors, under the umbrella of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), disclosed that the deductions which the Federal Government was currently making were specifically to offset oil subsidy payments, Excess Crude Account and other unconstitutional withdrawals.
The governors concluded this, among others, at their meeting held at the Rivers State Governor’s Lodge in Abuja, on Wednesday.
The meeting, which came to a close on Thursday morning, reviewed the security situation in the country and resolved to constitute an economic and security intervention committee with membership drawn from Rivers, Bayelsa, Ekiti, Abia, Plateau, Adamawa and Zamfara states.
The committee, according to Rotimi Amaechi, would meet with President Goodluck Jonathan on an emergency economic intervention plan focusing initially on “agriculture and other regeneration programmes for employment generation in the northern states.”
Amaechi, who is also the governor of Rivers State, explained that the forum sympathised with the government and people of Plateau State on the recent loss of lives, calling on the Federal Government to urgently commence the recruitment, intensive training, equipping and proper deployment of security agents across the country.
He, however, called on the Customs and Immigration Services to tighten security at the nation’s borders.
