Governors Set To Meet Over President Buhari’s Financial Autonomy For State Legislature, Judiciary

Governors across the 36 states of the federation have scheduled a meeting for Wednesday to discuss, among other issues, financial autonomy for states.

The meeting was confirmed by the spokesperson of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum, Abdulrazaque Bello-Barkindo, in a statement on Tuesday, May 26.

The meeting is scheduled to hold at 2pm, and is expected to be attended by all governors.

According to the statement: “Among the issues to be reviewed are a number of critical national questions that revolve around the financial autonomy for the states’ judiciary and legislature code-named the Executive Order 10, 2020.

“The governors will also touch issues around the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) ownership, the controversial National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) Bill.

“Also to be discussed is the restructuring of states’ loans and the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) deductions, which have been a recurring decimal on the governors’ table.

“As usual the governors will be given an update on the COVID-19 pandemic in the country, as well as review a letter from the National Coordinator of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 as it relates to the pandemic draft regulations.”

Recall that on May 22, President Muhammadu Buhari signed an executive order granting financial autonomy to the legislature and judiciary across the states.