Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum and Rivers State Governor, Mr. Chibuike Amaechi
By Chuks Okocha
The Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) rose from its meeting Tuesday in Abuja without a decision on the contentious issues over the ongoing review of the 1999 Constitution that has caused a crack in the body of the nation’s 36 governors.
Chairman of the forum and Rivers State Governor, Mr. Chibuike Amaechi, told reporters after the meeting, that ended at about 11.30p.m, that the governors had suspended further discussions on the constitution amendment until after the Ramadan.
The meeting, which started at about 9.03 pm at the Rivers State Governor’s Lodge had been expected to discuss the controversy over the NGF’s proposals to the National Assembly Constitution Review Committee, especially on state police that Northern governors have turned around to reject.
Other items on the agenda of the meeting of the governors include the revenue sharing, the controversial offshore and onshore dichotomy and the Sovereign Wealth Fund.
It was gathered that some of the Northern governors held a meeting of the group, apparently to take a common front before arriving at the Rivers State Governor’s Lodge for the main meeting.
The meeting, attended by 34 governors and deputy governors of Niger and Jigawa States, who represented their principals, also had Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, in attendance.
Her presence at the meeting may not be unconnected with finding solution to the disagreement between the governors and the Federal Government over the establishment of the Sovereign Wealth Fund and explanations on the sharing of the excess crude and deductions by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) from source of funds accruable to the Federation Account to cover fuel subsidy.
The governors, at their last meeting, had threatened going to the Supreme Court to determine the legality of the deductions.
Okonjo-Iweala who left the meeting at 11.06, responding to reporters’ enquiry on her mission at the meeting, said: “I came for dialogue and it went on smoothly.”