By Raymond Gukas, Jos
The Chairman of the Northern Governors Forum, (NGF), Governor Simon Lalong has said governors in the region are aware of the challenges faced related to security, economy, education, health, agriculture, employment and infrastructure among others.
He stated this when secretaries to the various state governments paid him a courtesy visit prior to thier meeting in the state.
According to him, “while we individually address these challenges within our various States, we also realise that working together will give us faster and better results.
“If we do not work in synergy and collaboration with one another, it will be difficult to tackle issues of insecurity which manifest in insurgency, banditry, kidnapping, violent clashes and attacks of innocent persons”, we warned.
The Governor also asked them to look into the issue of the almajiri phenomenon which the Forum has resolved to address once and for all.
He said the Forum was looking forward to the outcome of the meeting which will form its agenda for the next meeting scheduled for the first quarter of this year.
On the fortunes of the New Nigerian Newspapers, Lalong disclosed that the Federal Government has finally approved the payment of all outstanding salaries of all the workers. This he said will enable a final decision to be taken on the future of one of the oldest newspaper in the country.
The secretaries led by the secretary to the Government of Kaduna State Balarabe Abbas Lawal said they were in the State for a meeting to review some of the pending issues of the Northern Governors Forum including reports that have been pending for many years.
He said they will meet to look at reports on security, economic development, education, health, investment, youth employment and others which are critical to the progress of the region.
According to him, the issue of a Commercial Bank with controlling shares from the region which has been on table for a long time despite financial commitments by some member States needs to be resolved as soon as possible to ginger economic revival of the region.
