By Ishaya Ibrahim, News Editor
Governors of the 17 Southern States on Thursday threw their considerable weight behind the position that the collection of Value Added Tax (VAT) falls within the powers of the States.
This is even as they doubled down on their demand that the presidency of Nigeria should come to the South in 2023.
The governors who met under the aegis of the Conference of Governors of Southern Nigeria at the Government House, Enugu also insisted that there will be no open grazing in their states.
The Conference expressed satisfaction with the rate at which States in Southern Nigeria were enacting or amending the Anti-Open Grazing Laws and encouraged those that are yet to enact the law to do so expeditiously.
The meeting which began at 12 noon is the third in the series held by the group. The first and second meetings were held in Asaba, Delta State and Lagos State respectively.
At the previous meetings, the forum deliberated and resolved among other issues, the much-awaited anti-open grazing law in the light of the menace associated with open grazing in the area.
Thereafter, September 1, 2021, was slated as the deadline for the enactment of the law.
Meanwhile, in what looked like a conspiracy, four of the five Southeast Governors were absent at the parley on Thursday.
Enugu State Governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, who hosted the meeting, was the only governor from the region present.
His counterparts from Abia, Ebonyi and Imo sent representatives while that of Anambra State did not send any representative.
The closed-door meeting that was coordinated by Ondo Governor, Oluwarotimi Akeredol, commenced with nine governors and seven deputies.
Other Governors at the meeting included Ifeanyi Okowa (Delta); Gbenga Oyetola (Osun); Babajide Sanwo-Olu (Lagos); Nyesom Wike (Rivers); Udom Emmanuel (Akwa Ibom); Duoye Diri (Bayelsa) and Dapo Abiodun (Ogun).
The Deputy Governors are: Prof Evara Esu (Cross River); Udo Okochukwu(Abia); Bisi Egbeyemi (Ekiti); Kelechi Igwe (Ebonyi); Rauf Olaniyan(Oyo); Philip Shuaibu (Edo) and Prof. Placid Njoku (Imo).
Below is the communiqué:
The Nigerian Southern Governors’ Forum at its meeting of today, Thursday, 16th September 2021 held in the Government House, Enuqu, Enugu State reviewed the state of the nation and the progress of implementation of the decisions reached in her previous meetings and further resolved as follows:
1. Expressed satisfaction with the rate at which the States in the Southern Nigeria are enacting or amending the Anti-Open Grazing Laws which align with the uniform template and aspiration of Southern Governors and encouraged the States that are yet to enact this law to do so expeditiously.
2. Encouraged the full operationalization of already agreed regional security outfits; which would meet, share intelligence and collaborate, to ensure the security and safety of the region.
3. Reaffirmed its earlier commitment to Structural and fiscal federalism as resolved at the inaugural meeting of the Forum held on Tuesday, 11th May 2021 at Asaba, Delta State and emphasized the need for the Southern States to leverage the legislative competence of their respective State Houses of Assembly as well as representation in the National assembly to pursue its inclusion in the Nigerian Constitution through the ongoing constitutional amendment.
4. Following from paragraph 3″ above, the meeting resolved to support the position that the collection of VAT falls within the powers of the States.
5. Expressed satisfaction with the handling of issues around the Petroleum Industry ACT (PIA) and ownership of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) by the larger Nigerian Governors’ Forum.
6. Reiterated their earlier position that the next President of Nigeria must come from the Southern part of Nigeria inline with politics of equity, justice and fairness.
7. The Forum thanked the host Governor, Rt. Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, and chose Rivers State as the next host for the Southern Governors’ Forum meeting in November 2021.