The Northern States Governors’ Forum (NSGF) yesterday constituted a high-powered committee headed by Sokoto State governor, Aminu Tambuwal, to look into the feasibility of restructuring of the country and come up with the position of the Northern region.
Other members of the committee include governors of Nasarawa, Gombe, Benue, Bauchi and Kaduna States, as well as emirs of Kano, Zazzau, Gumni, Etsu,Nupe and Gbong Gwom Jos.
The deputy governor of Plateau State is to also serve as member and Secretary of the committee to collate views and comments on the state of the nation, with specific reference to the agitations for restructuring of the country.
In a six-page communiqué read by Katsina State governor, Aminu Masari, on behalf of the forum’s chairman and Borno State Governor, Kashim Shettima, the Northern governors noted that that the committee had become necessary because agitation for restructuring has assumed different meanings to different people.
They also urged the federal government to urgently ensure the reconstitution of the federal character commission, the federal civil service commission and the Revenue Mobilization, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) to enable them discharge their constitutional responsibilities, adding that “failure to do so has so far resulted in lopsided appointments”.
The forum also advised Nigerians to stop ethnicizing the deadly conflicts and crimes involving the Fulani tribe, even as it condemned in strong terms the recent attacks in Taraba, Kajuru, Kaduna and Borno.
The Northern governors observed that the clashes between farmers and cattle rearers worsened by the infiltration of criminal elements from outside the region posing as Fulani herdsmen to engage in deadly conflicts in order to create disunity and crisis in the North.
They called for more grazing reserves and the provision of adequate infrastructure in such reserves by way of “addressing the needs of cattle rearers and those of their animals before the enactment of the appropriate legislation will also ameliorate the challenges”.
The communiqué further noted: “The escalating clashes between farmers and cattle rearers due to lack of enforcement of security is alarming. The situation is worsened by the infiltration of criminal elements from outside the region who pose as Fulani herdsmen and deliberately engage farmers in deadly conflicts to create disunity and unnecessary crisis in the region.
“The forum therefore discourages ethicizing the deadly conflicts and crimes with the Fulani tribe as any other could be cattle rearers too”.
leadership.