The Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) faction, chaired by Gov. Chibuike Amaechi of Rivers, wants to meet with President Goodluck Jonathan over allegations regarding the non-remittance of some funds by the NNPC.
The forum underscored the need for such a meeting in a communiqué that was issued at the end of its meeting in Abuja, which ended in the early hours of Thursday.
It would be recalled that the CBN Governor, Malam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, had in a letter to Jonathan, alleged that the NNPC failed to remit 49.8 billion dollars to the Federation Account.
Sanusi said in the letter that the sum represented the proceeds from crude oil sales between January 2012 and July 2013.
“There is a weighty allegation contained in a recent letter to Mr President by the CBN Governor on the state of the economy.
“Therefore, members mandated the forum’s chairman to request for a meeting with Mr President in order to deliberate on issues of critical national importance.
“The meeting with the president has become necessary because the Federal Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) meeting for November, planned for Dec. 9 and 10, was shelved for undisclosed reasons,’’ it said.
The forum also noted that the National Economic Council (NEC) meeting, scheduled for Dec. 12, where such issues could have been discussed, was also postponed indefinitely.
It noted that the NEC meeting had not been convened in the last four months.
However, the forum condoled with the government and people of South Africa over the death of its former president, Dr Nelson Mandela.
It noted that Mandela left a legacy of quality and selfless leadership which was worthy of emulation.
The forum also remembered the late Gov. Patrick Yakowa of Kaduna State, who died a year ago.
It said that it would identify with the Yakowa family during the memorial event which would be organised by the family.
Meanwhile, the NNPC has rejected the CBN governor’s allegation over the unremitted funds, saying that the allegation was borne out of his misunderstanding of the workings of the oil and gas industry.
The NNPC said that the misunderstanding was further compounded by the modalities for remitting crude oil sales revenue into the Federation Account.
The NGF meeting was attended by the governors of Borno, Lagos, Ekiti, Kwara, Adamawa, Zamfara, River and Osun states.
The deputy governors of Oyo and Jigawa states also attended the meeting.
The forum, which became factionalised during its election in May, is an association of all the state governors in the country.
