Governors call for review of Nigeria’s security challenges

The Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF) has called for a special review of the nation’s security challenges for an in-depth understanding of the enormity of the situation.

They made the call on Wednesday at a meeting presided by the NGF Chairman and Ekiti State Governor, Kayode Fayemi, at the State House in Abuja.

Briefing reporters after the meeting which lasted till about midnight, Governor Fayemi explained that a special review of the security crisis was necessary to further engage the federal authorities at the political and security levels and find a solution to insecurity in the land.

He noted the rising concerns by the forum, following incidents of attack on correctional and police facilities in Imo State, the killing of soldiers in Benue, and successive acts of violence across the country, among others.

Financial Autonomy

Apart from security, Governor Fayemi also briefed reporters on what his colleagues discussed about the nationwide strike by members of the Judicial Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN) demanding financial autonomy for state legislature and judiciary.

Fayemi, who did not disclose the resolutions, said that the NGF committees would meet with representatives of the judiciary and legislature on Thursday to present those resolutions directly to them.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Judicial Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN) are currently on strike protesting the non-implementation of financial autonomy for the nation’s judiciary.

NAN also reports that on Jan. 14, 2014, a  judgment of Adeniyi Ademola, then a judge of the Federal High Court, abolished the piece-meal funding of the state and federal courts by the executive.

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The court held that funds meant for the judiciary should instead be disbursed directly to the heads of court and not to the executive arm of government.

The federal legislature and judiciary, have to a large extent, been enjoying financial autonomy status as they receive their appropriated funds in bulk unlike their counterparts at the state levels who always get what the governors feel like releasing to them.

In May 2020, President Muhammadu Buhari, signed Executive Order 10 to give force to the provision of section 121(3) of the Constitution which guarantees the financial autonomy of the state legislature and state judiciary.

The Executive Order authorises the Accountant-General of the Federation to make a deduction from the Federation Account the money allocated to any state of the federation “that fails to release allocation meant for the state legislature and state judiciary in line with the financial autonomy guaranteed by Section 121(3) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as Amended)”. (NAN)