Plateau governor Lalong is chairman, Northern Governors’ Forum
By Raymond Gukas, Jos
The Northern States Governors Forum has made a demand for special funding in order to cater for needs occasioned by COVID-19.
Chairman of the Forum and governor of Plateau state, Simon Lalong said this during a meeting of the governors where he added that their concerns have already been forwarded to President Muhammadu Buhari.
The meeting which was convened via teleconferencing with 17 governors participating according to a press release issued by Lalong director of press affairs, Simon Macham Makut, the special fund will assist the region deal with the COVID-19 pandemic.
Lalong told his colleagues that President has assured him of the support of the Federal Government within the context of Federal Government programmes both under the Corona Virus response and under other incentives to farmers and States.
The meeting further further made a case for “COVID-19 Testing Centres within the Northern Region where it noted some improvement, but again insisted that all States in the region should have at least one centre in order to make the detection of the disease and its management easier and faster.”
Although, the Northern Governors retained their earlier decision for the states to individually decide on the measure to adopt on border control, they however, reaffirmed the need for border closures to stop inter-state spread of the disease, which is rising in the region.
“The Governors also discussed the risk that Almajiri children are exposed to because of the Coronavirus disease where they unanimously decided to totally ban the Almajiri system and evacuate the children to their parents or states of origin.
“They vowed never to allow the system persist any longer because of the social challenges associated with it including the perpetuation of poverty, illiteracy, insecurity and social disorder”, the release addled.
The Governors also raised concerns about the challenges of insecurity especially the activities of bandits, Boko Haram insurgents, Kidnappers and other criminals who they say pose great threat to farmers who are afraid to go to their farms – a development that could result in food insecurity.
They therefore resolved to engage relevant Federal Government Agencies and heads of security agencies to urgently address the problem.
According to it, the meeting “also engaged the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Alhaji Muhammed Sabo Nanono on the incentives available to Nigerian Farmers and how those in their region can benefit.
“The Minister outlined all the agricultural programmes of the Federal Government including provision of farm inputs and fertilizers, cluster farming, training and deployment of extension workers, provision of rural roads, value chain addition, development of irrigation facilities, agro-mechanization and mobilization of agro-rangers”, the release stressed.
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