The governors of the 36 states of the Federation have demanded that the controversial control of infectious diseases bill be stepped down until all necessary procedures were followed.
In a statement by the NGF Chairman and Ekiti State Governor, Kayode Fayemi, the governors noted that a bill of such nature needed proper consultation to gather the pulse of the public before its introduction into the chambers of the National Assembly.
The call to step down the bill formed part of the resolutions of the governors after the eighth teleconference meeting of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) on Wednesday.
While directing the NGF Secretariat to comprehensively review the bill and its implication on states, a committee comprising the Governors of Katsina, Sokoto, and Plateau States – Aminu Masari, Aminu Tambuwal, and Simon Lalong, was set up to lead a meeting with the leadership of the National Assembly on the proposed bill.
The governors also raised serious concern about the effects that the regular deductions from revenues accruable to states would have on their capacity to effectively respond to the demands of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The NGF, therefore, resolved to review the 2020 budget and amend procurement guidelines to support e-procurement, as a way to mitigate the effects of the pandemic on states’ resources.
To fast-track the deployment of e-procurement across States, the Forum says it will be adopting a Software as a Service (SaaS) model with the Kaduna State government providing the framework agreement that other States can leverage on.
A Second Committee comprising the Governors of Gombe, Nasarawa, Delta, Ebonyi, Oyo, and Kaduna was also established to steer the activities of the NGF-NESG Economic Roundtable (NNER) – a sub-national platform of the NGF and the Nigerian Economic Summit Group created to promote sub-national competitiveness through public-private collaboration.
Finally, the Forum congratulated the newly appointed Chief of Staff to President Muhammadu Buhari, Professor Ibrahim Gambari.
The Forum wishes him well and looks forward to a fruitful partnership that will support the development of the country.
