The Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), has decried the spate of crude oil theft and oil bunkering in the Niger Delta region and called for urgent action to stem the tide.
The position of the forum followed a report by Governor Nyesom Wike of Rovers State which highlighted the impact of the heightened spate of crude oil theft and losses in the oil rich region.
The State Governors commended the role played by Governor Wike in tackling the spate of oil bunkering in the Niger Delta and pledged to cooperate with the Nigeria National Petroluem Corporatoon (NNPC) in the region as well as security agencies in the country to protect the country’s oil infrastructure and investments and the ecosystem of the Niger Delta region.
The forum said it remains concerned about the impact of the state of insecurity on citizens’ safety, means of livelihood and the exercise of the rights of Nigerians, particularly the right to life, right to movement, and ultimately the country’s socio-economic development.
Consequently, it vowed to see that all States design and operationalize an action plan to strengthen inter-ministerial coordination on peace and security, including the establishment of peace building agencies and a multi-level policing framework to combat the threat of insecurity in the country.
Governor Fayemi had briefed members on the resolutions of the two-day Multi-stakeholder Summit of the NGF Peace and Inclusive Security Initiative which held on the 10th of March 2022.
The Forum also received an update on the implementation of the World Bank Nigeria COVID-19 Action Recovery and Economic Stimulus (NG-CARES) programme.
It is an emergency programme “to support state-level response to and recovery from the COVID-induced socioe-conomic crisis–from the Task Team Leader for the World Bank programme, Prof. Foluso Okunmadewa, in the company of the World Bank Country Director for Nigeria, Shubham Chaudhuri.”
During the meeting, Dr Osagie Emmanuel Ehanire, Minister of Health, briefed the forum on the Federal Government’s plan to develop 100 oxygen generation plants, and to rehabilitate general hospitals in order to guarantee access to oxygen in all primary healthcare centres (PHCs) in the country.
Members of the forum resolved to interface with the Federal Ministry of Health to ensure oxygen sufficiency for all PHCs in the country.