Amaechi’s Faction of NGF Meets Wednesday. “Its a Time Wasting Venture” Says Jang

Rivers State governor Rotimi Amaechi has fixed Wednesday for a meeting of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum which has since been divided into two factions led by him and his Plateau State counterpart David Jonah Jang have. It gathered that the Wednesday meeting which will be the first at the instance of Amaechi since the May 24 NGF elections and its fall out is to discuss the raging issue of delayed statutory allocations to states of the federation as well as the post-election disagreements of the Forum. A copy of the agenda obtained reads:
“1. Chairman’s brief; NGF in the news; fresh and subsisting litigations; visits to the NGF secretariat; update on FAAC, ECA and SWF; Update on SPRM; other issues.” Also on the agenda is
“2. Moving the NGF forward – post-election disagreements; NGF and its partners; NGF strategy plan (2013-2015). Aside the notice of meeting circulated to journalists, a source at the Amaechi-led NGF faction said all the 36 governors have been invited to the meeting scheduled for the Rivers State Governor’s Lodge, Asokoro, in the nation’s capital.
The federal government recently released the arrears of funds to the states after a meeting with the Jang-led faction of the NGF in spite of the fact that the issue is a constitutional matter. Disputes over the releases of the funds had hitherto lingered at the Supreme Court. But Governor Jang in what could be described as a renewed claim to the chairmanship of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) described Amaechi’s proposed meeting as “a time-wasting venture”, saying the issue to be discussed at the “supposed meeting has been thrashed and successfully settled by NGF”. The director-general of the Jang faction of the NGF, Osaro Onaiwu, in a statement issued in Abuja yesterday said all issues regarding FAAC have been resolved. “Before the current leadership, one of the most contentious issues between the governors and the federal government was the sharing quotient of revenues from the federation account and excess crude fund. “The issue created a big gap between these tiers of government. This was no doubt a worrisome situation that needed to be handled with tact and diplomacy, in order to achieve an amicable resolution of the issues. “Consequently, the forum resolved and set up a committee of its members to engage the federal government on the FAAC issues with a mandate to represent the Governors’ Forum and to critically examine every point of contestation between the governors and the presidency without acrimony and recommend a way to approach the president and tackle the problem amicably. “During the meeting with the president along with all the other governors of the federation, the NGF chairman made a very profound and non-combative presentation on behalf of all the governors present. “It is with delight that I announce on behalf of the Chairman of the Forum that the federal government after reviewing the presentation of Gov. Jang, set up a presidential committee chaired by Gov. Isa Yuguda.” Other members, according to Onaiwu, included “the coordinating minister for the economy and minister of finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala; the minister of state for finance, Dr Yerima Ngama; the accountant-general of the federation, Mr Jonah Otunla; the DG, Budget Office of the Federation, Dr Bright Okogu; Alhaji Ibrahim Dankwambo, governor of Gombe State; Mr. Peter Obi, governor of Anambra State; and Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta State. “The committee resolved some of the issues which led to the immediate release of all outstanding revenues accruable to the states from the federation and excess crude accounts; and the monies have since been released to all the states including arrears,” the statement said.