The six South West governors on Monday in Lagos reaffirmed their full support for the establishment of state police, even as they commended the relative peace in the region due to collaboration between all security agencies and the Amotekun Corps.
This was just as the governors condemned, in strong terms, the group of people agitating for the Yoruba nation.
The governors made their position known to the State Police after a closed-door meeting held at the Lagos House, Alausa, Ikeja, with Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu as the host, whom the Forum later unanimously nominated and adopted as its chairman.
The meeting had in attendance Governors Dapo Abiodun (Ogun), Lucky Ayedatiwa (Ondo), Seyi Makinde (Oyo), Ademola Adeleke (Osun), Abiodun Oyebanji (Ekiti), and the host, Sanwo-Olu.
Reading the 11-point communiqué issued at the end of the parley, which lasted for about four hours, while addressing newsmen, Governor Sanwo-Olu, who disclosed that the Governor’s Forum adopted “Ise wa fun ile wa” as the South West Anthem, said the meeting commended “the House of Representatives and South West Caucus for their efforts at passing the South West Development Commission Bill and looks forward to its speedy passage by the Senate.”
Besides, he said the Forum equally commended President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on the groundbreaking of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Road, the proposed Lagos-to-Sokoto road, urging the Federal Government to rehabilitate other Federal roads in the region.
On Minimum Wage, Governor Sanwo-Olu said the Forum was in support of the efforts of the Federal Government and the Organised Private Sector (OPS) in their ongoing conversations with the Labour Union, expressing the belief that the outcome would reflect true fiscal federalism.
“The Forum also encourages the Federal Government’s efforts on mineral resource exploitation. There should be further collaboration between the federal government and states, especially in granting leases to investors.
“On Food Security, the Forum acknowledges the efforts of the Federal Government and decides that the Honourable Commissioners for Agriculture of all the States should begin to meet and set up a working template, which will ensure collaboration based on each state’s comparative advantage.
“The Forum agrees to strengthen the DAWN Commission on operational efficiency and charges the Commission to focus on economic integration, cooperation, and investment promotion in the South West States. To that end, each state is mandated to appoint a state focal person,” the communiqué read.
Meanwhile, Governor Sanwo-Olu disclosed that the meeting also paid last respect to the late Arakunrin Rotimi Akeredolu, the former governor of Ondo State, who was equally the former chairman of the Forum, saying that it congratulated the incumbent, Mr. Ayedatiwa, “on his emergence as the new governor of the state and for winning the All Progressives Congress APC ticket to contest for the governorship position in September.”
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