NIGERIAN Governors’ Forum (NGF) has stated that what happened in Kaduna State will “reverberate in each of the states” of the country. It is not clear what the NGF meant by the statement as it is both contradictory and subject to multiple interpretations.
The NGF stated 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,” a statement that is totally not reflective of the situation in Kaduna State.
The NGF followed this with an ambiguous statement: “NGF recognizes that what is happening in Kaduna State, will reverberate in each of the States and 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.”
While on the one hand, the statement could meant that each of the governors would embark on mass sack as Governor el-Rufai had done and would face the wrath of organised labour as had just occurred in Kaduna, it could, on the other hand, also be interpreted to mean that the NGF is on the side of labour in ensuring that issues of industrial relations are handled in accordance with the law.
The NGF meeting was held virtually and chaired by Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State.
In an attempt to hit a middle ground, the governors appealed “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 communiqué reads.
The communiqué also noted that the NGF resolved to put the necessary legal frameworks and institutions in place for States Fiscal Transparency, Accountability, and Sustainability (SFTAS), a World Bank support and intervention designed to support Nigerian states to implement a Fiscal Sustainability Plan.
The communiqué revealed 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.
The World Bank team, the communiqué said, commended the commitment and actions of state governors for establishing and resourcing CARES programme State Coordinating Units under their ministries of Planning, with the bank however requesting 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.
The communiqué added that Governor 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. Governor Fayemi urged his colleagues to share details of their local government budgets and financial statements in addition to state government data already published.
