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Two months after the symbolic communique released by the southern Nigeria governors, they gathered at the Lagos State Government House, Ikeja last week Monday to emphasise the position of the governors on socio-political matters.

The meeting which held on Monday, 5th July 2021 produced a communique centring on the insecurity in the country, constitutional amendment, Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) and others.

Some of the issues agreed on at the Southern Governors Forum are:

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Zoning

The Forum reiterates its commitment to the politics of equity, fairness and unanimously agrees that the presidency of Nigeria be rotated between Southern and Northern Nigeria and resolved that the next president of Nigeria should emerge from the Southern Region.

The doctrine of rotation of powers popularised since the days of President Olusegun Obasanjo seems to be making a comeback.

A rather surprising development of the meeting was that the governors from the southern states left all political differences to agree on presenting a southern candidate as the next Nigerian president. How this resolution will hold water before the 2023 elections are left to be seen.

Security

ii. Re-emphasised the need for State Police;

iii. Resolved that if for any reason security institutions need to undertake an operation in any State, the Chief Security Officer of the State must be duly informed;

In order to shore up the prospect of better security in states, the governors’ group re-emphasised the need for state police as it gives them better control over the security architecture of their respective states.

The governors’ forum also read the riot act to the federal government that no security institution should enter their states for any operation without first notifying them about it.

Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB)

i. The Forum commends the National Assembly for the progress made in the passage of the PIB;

ii. the Forum rejects the proposed 3% and support the 5% share of the oil revenue to the host community as recommended by the House of Representatives;

iii. the forum also rejects the proposed 30% share of profit for the exploration of oil and gas in the basins;

The recent controversy surrounding the Petroleum Industry Bill also emboldened the southern governors to make even more demands of the imminent PIB. The governors would not have the proposed 3% and the 5% share of oil revenue by the Senate and House of Representatives respectively. They also condemned the 30% of exploration profit earmarked for prospecting oil in so-called frontier states as wasteful.

The governors are of the opinion that the new PIB structure will affect the revenue sharing formula between states and the federal government so they are calling for caution in its handling.

Electoral Reform Bill

“In order to consolidate our democracy and strengthen the Electoral process, the Southern Governors’ Forum reject the removal of the Electronic transmission of the election result from the electoral act; and also rejects the confirmation of exclusive jurisdiction in pre-election matters on the Federal High Court.”

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One key element of the electoral reform bill, which Nigerian citizens have been looking forward to, is the enabling of electronic transmission of elections to collation centres. Since INEC used it in Edo state elections, it has enhanced the delivery of top credible elections.

Rumours filtered in the earlier week that the section covering the electronic transmission of results was about to be secretly expunged from the bill secretly. Hence, mobilisation began to protest such. The southern governors have now backed one more effort aimed at ensuring electoral integrity by making a bold statement about the electronic transmission of election results.

Featured image source: Guardian Nigeria
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This article was first published on 13th July 2021

adedoyin

Macaddy is mostly a farmer in the day who also dabbles into technology at night, in search of other cutting edge intersections. He's on Twitter @i_fix_you

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