By Funso Alarape
Friday February 16, 2024
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President Bola Tinubu in the company of Vice President Kashim Shettima on Thursday at the State House held a meeting with the 36 state governors and the FCT Minister.
The meeting agreed on common ground to address some of the challenges currently facing the country, especially the rising cost of food and insecurity.
After extensive deliberations, the President and Governors agreed to work together to solve the problems and tackle the economic pressure being faced by the citizens. Below are the key takeaways from what the President told the Governors to do:
1. On addressing insecurity which is also affecting farming and food production, President Tinubu made 3 key pronouncements
A. More police personnel to be recruited to strengthen the force.
B. President Tinubu informed the Governors that the Federal Government will work with them and the National Assembly towards putting in place a mechanism that will engender state police instead of the vigilantes that are being used in some states.
C. The President charged the Governors to strengthen their Forest Rangers and arm them to keep all the forest safe from criminals.
D. Modalities for State Police and addressing security issues to be discussed further at National Economic Council.
2. On the rising cost of food: The President directed that the State Governments and Federal government should collaborate to increase local food production. The President advised against the idea of food importation and price control when local food producers should be encouraged to produce more food.
3. The president advised Governors to follow the example of Kano State in dealing with the hoarding of food for profiteering by commodities merchants. He directed the Inspector-General of Police, National Security Adviser, and Department of State Services to monitor warehouses hoarding food items across the country and stop profiteering by merchants.
4. President charged Governors to pay attention to livestock development in their states and increase production most especially poultry and fishing products.
5. The president pleaded with Governors to ensure all salary arrears to workers, and gratuities to workers and pensioners are cleared as a way to put money into the hands of the people since states are now getting more monthly FAAC revenue. Spend the money, don’t spend the people, he urged the governors
6. President Tinubu implored Governors to create more economic opportunities for the youths in their states to keep them more productively engaged.
Bayo Onanuga
Special Adviser to the President on Information & Strategy
THE FULL TEXT
Dear Nigerians,
My administration is dedicated to evolving home-grown solutions to tackle our nation’s food security challenges head-on including setting up schemes to bolster local food production and cut out all forms of rent-seeking tied to food importation.
I reiterated this commitment during my emergency meeting today at the State House, with all 36 state governors, the Vice-President, Kashim Shettima, the National Security Adviser, the Inspector-General of Police, the Director-General of the DSS, and some ministers.
ON THE SECURITY OF LIVES AND PROPERTY
1. I have approved the creation of a committee that includes state governors and federal government representatives to explore, among other things, the possibility of establishing state police.
2. I have also endorsed the training and equipping of forest rangers by sub-national governments to protect human and natural resources in our communities.
My stance is unequivocal: we must move aggressively to examine the issues raised, including the potential for establishing state police.
ON FOOD SECURITY
Following reports out of Kano and other areas about large-scale hoarding of food in some warehouses, I have instructed the National Security Adviser, the Inspector-General of Police, and the Director-General of the Department of State Services to coordinate closely to ensure that security agencies in the states inspect such warehouses and take follow-up action.
1. We cannot allow speculators, hoarders, and rent seekers to undermine our efforts to ensure that food is widely available to all Nigerians.
2. I will not establish a price control board, nor will I approve the importation of food. We must extricate ourselves from this predicament because importation only enables rent seekers to perpetrate fraud and mismanagement at our collective expense.
3. Instead, we will support our farmers with schemes that encourage them to cultivate more food for the nation.
4. We must also rapidly but thoughtfully implement our livestock development and management plans, including dairy farming and others.
ON MONETARY POLICY AND THE CBN
I urge all governors to trust the Central Bank of Nigeria with the management of our country’s monetary policy and emphasize the need for designated institutions to effectively fulfill their mandate.
The “cacophony of postulations” on the fluctuation of foreign exchange rates is adversely affecting the market. Not everyone can be an expert. If we have assigned someone a task, we must allow them to perform it. If they fail, then we must find a way to quickly remove them from the system.
I also ask our governors to always prioritize the welfare and prosperity of our people in their development programs, and I assure them that the federal government will continue to work diligently to improve the nation’s revenue profile.
As leaders, we must all work together to address issues of insecurity, food security, and out-of-school children.
Thank You
Bola Ahmed Tinubu
President
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