The Nigeria Governors’ Forum NGF (NGF) says parties involved in Executive Order #10 are working earnestly to resolve the issues surrounding the implementation of the order.
It also called for full deregulation of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) known as petrol.
The forum said these and many more in a communiqué issued on Wednesday night after its 30th teleconference.
President Muhammadu Buhari in 2020 signed into law Executive Order No. 10 of 2020 for the implementation of financial autonomy for state legislature and judiciary order.
The forum in the communiqué signed by it Chairman and the Ekiti State Governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi, said talks on the Order had reached an advanced stage with the Ministry of Labour, conference of Speakers and the National Judicial Council.
“There are, however, legal aspects of the order that need to be tied up, but which cannot take place if officials responsible for these final processes are on strike.
“Governors are happy to implement the demands of the judiciary and the Legislature,” he said.
The NGF, however, resolved to call for the immediate dissolution of the Presidential Implementation Committee on the Autonomy of State Legislature and Judiciary.
The forum said the presidential committee was now acting as a permanent committee “basically misguiding and overheating the relationship between state governments and the other arms of government.”
The NGF also agreed on the need to continue to maintain COVID public health guidelines and vaccination protocols to ensure that the transmission of the virus was kept at the lowest level possible.
The communiqué noted that the Governor of Delta State, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa, who is the NGF Chairman, Sub-Committee interfacing with the Presidential Steering Committee (PSC) on COVID-19 provided an update to the Forum on the activities of the PSC.
It stated that Okowa informed the forum’s members of the expected commencement of the administration of the second dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine in the country, starting with those who received the first batch of the vaccine.
“The Governor noted that the PSC is currently working to get additional vaccine doses for the country.
“He urged his colleagues to continue to maintain COVID public health guidelines to ensure that the transmission of the virus is kept at the lowest level possible,” the communiqué stated.
It added that Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir el-Rufai, gave a briefing on the appropriate pricing of PMS in Nigeria, calling for full deregulation.
It quoted el-Rufai as noting that between N70 billion and N210 billion was estimated to be spent every month to keep petrol price at N162/litre, “a situation that is completely unsustainable.”
It noted that el-Rufai also briefed his colleagues on the labour crisis in Kaduna State.
“The NGF noted that it stands with the Governor of Kaduna State in his quest to improve the productivity of workers and their rights for a better quality of life.
“NGF recognises that what is happening in Kaduna State, will reverberate in each of the states.
“The forum encourages the governor of Kaduna and all other governors to remain steadfast in the pursuit of human rights protection while ensuring that actions taken do not undermine the safety and security of lives.
“NGF appeals to both parties in Kaduna State to resolve the issues in the interest of the state as the protection of human rights for the collective good of all citizens and growth of our dear country, Nigeria, is what matters most.”
The teleconference was the 7th of such in year 2021.
NGF also resolved to put the necessary legal frameworks and institutions in place for States Fiscal Transparency Accountability, and Sustainability (SFTAS).
SFTAS is a World Bank support and intervention designed to support Nigerian states implement a Fiscal Sustainability Plan.
It also agreed on the need for states to meet their SFTAS obligations.
It noted that the governors at the meeting received presentations from the World Bank team led by the Country Director for Nigeria, Shubham Chaudhuri, on the Nigeria Covid-19 Action Recovery and Economic Stimulus – Programme for Results (Nigeria CARES) and SFTAS.
It stated that the World Bank team commended the commitment and actions of state governors for establishing and resourcing CARES programme State Coordinating Units under their ministries of Planning.
It stated that the bank, however, requested the governors’ additional support in areas such as the adoption of a fund release policy for improved predictability of resources flow to CARES delivery MDAs.
The bank also called for governors’ support on adoption and institutionalisation of protocols for reporting, management and investigation of fraud and corruption in MDAs implementing CARES.
Other areas of expected supports includes the release of 2021 State budgets to MDAs for the commencement of CARES-related activities.
“The Bank also urged the support of governors to ensure that their ministries of finance and ministries of justice fast track the execution of subsidiary agreements for the CARES programme,” said the communique.
It noted that updates on the SFTAS programme showed that targets for results and disbursements on the 2018 and 2019 Annual Performance Assessments (APA) and new COVID-19 2020 Disbursement Linked Indicators (DLIs) had been exceeded.
“For the SFTAS 2020 APA and new COVID-19 DLIs, all 36 states are on track to fully meet the eligibility criteria of having National Chart of Account (NCOA) compliant FY2021 budget published online by Jan. 31, 2021.
“Under the SFTAS Programme for Results, 23 States have already passed strong state-level debt legislation,” it said.
The legislation stipulates the responsibilities for contracting, recording/reporting state debt; as well as state fiscal and debt rules/limits.
The forum, however, said a strong collective commitment was made for the remaining 13 States to pass such state-level debt legislation by Dec. 31.
This was to help Nigeria successfully meet the World Bank Sustainable Debt Financing Policy (SDFP) by strengthening debt management, debt transparency and fiscal responsibility at the state-level.
The communiqué added that NGF SFTAS Programme Lead, Olanrewaju Ajogbasile, provided key lessons that accounted for the success of performing states in the implementation of the SFTAS programme.
These, according to Olanrewaju, included the institutionalisation of a steering committee, high level monitoring and ownership.
It also included regular briefings to the state governor or state executive council; dedicated budget under the Ministry of Finance to support SFTAS operations.
It also includes an incentivised environment for state government officials working on SFTAS activities, and provision of basic ICT infrastructure arrangements for focal MDAs to ensure that they are able to access remote technical assistance and meet reform actions in time.
The communiqué added that Fayemi briefed the forum on an ongoing consolidation exercise between NGF and the Budget Office of the Federation to consolidate public finance data of the federal, states and local governments into a national budget portal.
Fayemi urged his colleagues to share details of their local government budgets and financial statements in addition to State government data already published.
It added that the forum received presentation from Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development, Mohammed Nanono, on the second phase of farmer enumeration for the Agric for Food and Jobs Plan (AFJP).
AFJP is a component of the Nigerian Economic Sustainability Plan (NESP) approved by Mr President and the Federal Executive Council (FEC) on June 24, 2020.
The programme is designed to help mitigate the impact of COVID 19 on smallholder farmers and the entire agricultural value chain.
The second phase of the enumeration targets the registration of up to 10 million farmers in the AFJP database.
To boost food production, 2.4 million small holder farmers were initially targeted for registration to be provided with input funding, with about 30,000 N power (N Agro) graduates engaged and trained to carry out the farmer registration.
