The 36 state governors have charged President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration with failing to address the security issues impeding Nigeria’s economy.
The governors, acting on behalf of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), said that the increased rate of poverty was a result of the pervasive instability in trade and agriculture.
They also alleged that the Federal Government has allowed “bandits, insurgents and kidnappers to turn the country into a killing field”.
These statements were made by the NGF in a press release that was signed by AbdulRazaque Bello-Barkindo, its director of media and public affairs.
Bello-Barkindo was responding to statements made by Clement Agba, the minister of state for the budget and national planning.
He insisted that through pertinent projects, the governors had significantly advanced their respective states.
“This dereliction of duty from the centre is the main reason why people have been unable to engage in regular agrarian activity and commerce.
“Today, rural areas are insecure, markets are unsafe, travel surety is improbable and life for the common people generally is harsh and brutish,” Bello-Barkindo’s statement read in part.
He added that Agba’s opinion “based on a survey of 56,000 households in a country of 200 million people can never diminish the good work that 36 pro-poor-minded governors are doing for this country.”
