The Nigerian Governors Forum has appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari for interventions as the COVID-19 pandemic takes a toll on the nation’s economy.
The governors said their states were going through tough times, appealing to the president to take decisive decisions to ameliorate the sufferings of the citizenry.
The chairman of the forum and governor of Ekiti State, Kayode Fayemi, made this known during his first teleconference meeting with Buhari.
Fayemi, according to a statement by the spokesman of the NGF, Abdulrazaque Bello-Barkindo, appealed to Buhari to grant the states debt relief in place of the drop in the federal allocation occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Governors Beg Buhari
“I know your penchant for caring for the poor and the downtrodden in the country, Mr President, and I am telling you that allocations from FAAC have dropped significantly.
So, if you turn your magnanimity towards governors and their States into looking at other debts that continue to linger in the system and prioritise their payments, poor people will be happier.”
He assured that if the federal government’s debts to the states were defrayed, the poor and vulnerable in the country would be better-taken care of.
He thanked Buhari for the approval of the release of $150mto augment the projected FAAC shortfall in June, but added that more needed to be done to keep the states properly afloat.
Fayemi said all the 36 states’ governments were currently reviewing their budgets downwards to conform to the prevailing realities.
He urged the president to encourage the evolution of a national strategic plan that would encompass the sub-national level so that the country would find a fast and easy way out of the woods.
Also, he acknowledged that the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 was doing a great job.
Responding, Buhari asked Fayemi to formalise all the requests of the governors and forward them to him so that he would promptly address them.
