July 03, (THEWILL) – The governors of the 17 states in the Southern part of the country, under the aegis of the Southern Nigeria Governors Forum (SNGF) will on Monday meet in Lagos.
The meeting, will be hosted by the Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu.
The State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Gbenga Omotoso, confirmed that the meeting would reinforce the Asaba Declaration by the governors as well as deliberate on issues of insecurity, True Federalism, open grazing, State Police, restructuring, food security, among others.
At a meeting in Asaba, the Delta State capital, on May 11, the governors jointly decided to enforce the ban on open grazing in all Southern states.
Hosted by Governor Ifeanyi Okowa and attended by the Southern governors, the meeting arrived at a 12-point resolution which included the banning of open grazing of cattle in all the states.
They also agreed that the progress of the nation required that urgent and bold steps be taken to restructure the Nigerian Federation leading to the evolution of state police, even as they called for the review of the revenue allocation formula in favour of the sub-national governments as well as the creation of other institutions to legitimately advance the practice of true Federalism.
However, The Presidency in a statement accused the governors of playing politics with serious security issues.
It also said the decision to stop herders from grazing from North to South “on foot” is a violation of their constitutional right as Nigerians to live and do business in any party of the country.
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