SOUTHERN GOVERNORS’ FORUM COMMUNIQUÉ ISSUED AT THE CONCLUSION OF THE MEETING OF THE GOVERNORS OF SOUTHERN NIGERIA AT THE OGUN STATE PRESIDENTIAL LODGE, G.R.A, IBARA, ABEOKUTA, OGUN STATE ON MONDAY, 24TH JUNE 2024
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At the end of the Southern Governors Forum meeting held on Monday, 24th June 2024, the following resolutions were made by the Governors:
The Forum paid respects to the immediate past Chairman, late Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu SAN, and extended their courtesies to his family while appreciating the past Chairman for the solid foundation he laid by putting the forum in good stead.
1.The forum thanked all member Governors for their support and commitment to the “Asaba declaration” which was a resolve to ensure that Southern Nigeria produced the Presidential Candidate. The forum also thanked their counterparts in the North under the auspices of the Northern Governors’ Forum for their unwavering support for the resolution.
2.The Forum commended the laudable economic recovery reforms and policies of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR and the implementation of the Renewed Hope Agenda (RHA). The Forum unanimously reaffirmed their support for him in his unwavering resolve to reposition the country and build a great future for all of us.
3.The Southern Governors applauded the President for conceptualizing and commencing the construction of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Road project, which cuts across eight states. The forum noted that this laudable project will create employment in the construction industry ecosystem, boost productivity by drastically reducing travel time, promote tourism, and open up and integrate all the Southern States to more investment opportunities.
4.The Southern Governors advocated that the Federal government should rehabilitate, repair, and reconstruct Trunk A roads and transfer roads to states that have expressed interest in taking them over.
5.The Forum will commission a regional multimodal transport master plan that prioritizes connectivity by rail, road, air, and water to enhance regional connectivity and facilitate the interstate and intra-region ease of doing business.
6.Being the economic and industrial hub of the country, the Forum highlighted the need to address the inadequate power supply in the region. To achieve 90,000 MW of electricity to adequately serve the estimated 90 million people in the Southern Region (using the rule of thumb of 1,000 MW per 1 million population), member states were encouraged to take advantage of the recent constitutional amendment that now allows states to regulate, generate, transmit and distribute electricity whilst also considering renewable sources of energy. The forum also noted the pressing need for an alternative power infrastructure grid to reduce the impact of grid collapse in the region.
7.The Forum recognized the necessity of total PMS (petrol) deregulation and pledged support to the Energy Transition program of Mr. President. The Forum urged member states to implement a quick transition to Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) and Electric Vehicles (EVs) as a condition precedent to full deregulation to cushion effects on citizens.
8.Members of the Forum commended Mr. President on the different food palliative support to the states by way of rice and grains. Governors were also commended for complementing Mr. President in their various states through several initiatives ranging from food palliatives to transport allowances. The forum resolved to be more aggressive and intentional about food security. All states were enjoined to intensify their agricultural resurgence/revolution initiatives based on the cash and food crops best suited for each region to achieve food sufficiency, self-reliance, and employment generation. States are encouraged to set up special agro-processing zones to extract the most value from the agro-value chain.
