South-South Governors Blame Buhari For Uncompleted Projects In Region

South-South Governors of Nigeria have accused President Muhammadu Buhari administration of failing to complete certain federal projects in the region, especially roads.

This was captured in the communique the governors issued on Monday while making their resolutions known to the general public.

“Council regretted that the President and the Federal Government had generally failed to give reasoned consideration to requests made by the region during the dialogue with a special Federal delegation led by Professor Ibrahim Gambari, Chief of Staff to the President.

“Notable among the requests were the relocation of NNPC subsidiaries and IOCs headquarters to the Niger Delta and the completion of a number of Federal projects in the region, notably, roads,” the communique partly read.

Recall that the federal government, through the Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami SAN , had on September 2 said that despite disbursing about N6 billion to the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), its handlers failed to translate it towards the development of the region resulting in over 13,000 uncompleted projects.

NDDC was established by FG to bring development to the region, but a forensic report submitted to the president revealed a huge compromise by management of the commission.

“The Federal Government is particularly concerned with the colossal loss occasioned by uncompleted and unverified development projects in the Niger Delta Region, in spite of the huge resources made available to uplift the living standard of the citizens.

“We have on record over 13777 projects, the execution of which is substantially compromised,” the AGF had said on behalf of the president.

With regards to that, the South South governors further urged FG to make the forensic audit public and deal justly and fairly “with the report with a view to strengthening the capacity of NDDC to meet its obligation to people of the region.”

Furthermore, in a bid to address the insecurity affecting all parts of the country, the South-South Governors of Nigeria unanimously agreed to set up what they described as a “joint security outfit”.

Details of the outfit’s formation is not clear for now but the Bayelsa state government, via a Facebook post on Tuesday stated that the decision was reached after the respective governors and their representatives met in Portharcourt on Monday.

“In a communique read by Gov. Okowa, the region’s governors among other pressing issues also said they would soon unveil a joint security outfit,” it stated adding that
“Bearing in mind that most of the BRACED states have established their states’ security organ, we approve a regional security architecture which will be launched very soon.”

The governors disclosure is coming months after their South West counterparts established ‘Amotekun’ – a code name for its regional security operatives.

Nevertheless, the federal government has assured the international community that though insecurity is a challenge, it was doing its best to resolve the menace.

Furthermore, the South South governors also declared intention to join the Rivers State Government in a Value Added Tax Supreme Court application against the Federal Inland Revenue Service and others.

The suit at the apex court was filed by Governor Nyesom Wike following a stay of execution ruling made by the Appeal Court regarding the implementation of a Rivers State High judgement which backed his state on VAT collection.

FIRS had asked the Appeal Court to set aside the trial court judgement.

The matter was ongoing but Lagos Sttate subsequently joined as a respondent in the matter.

The matter which is still pending before the Appeal Court will be heard at the Rivers State division of the court.

Furthermore, part of the demands of the South South governors is that the head offices of all oil multinationals be relocated to the region.

“We Unequivocally support the decision for states to collect value added tax, and resolved to join the suit before the Supreme court.

“Council urges the President and National Assembly to take necessary measures to review some unfair aspects of recently signed Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) to ensure fairness and equity.

“We urge that the amendments should include a clear definition of Host Communities and that the Trustees should be appointed by State Governments,” it stated.