Governors of the six North-east states in Nigeria have appealed to the international community, development partners and donor agencies to help provide solutions to the armed conflict and its consequences in the region.

The governors made the appeal after a meeting of their forum at the Taraba State Government House in Jalingo.

The meeting, which was the fifth in the series, was convened to review the security situation in the region.

It also considered strategies for fighting poverty for sustainable development as “peace slowly returns to the region”.

Apart from the Yobe State governor, Mai Mala Buni, who was represented by his deputy, Idi Barde Gubana, all the governors from the zone attended the meeting.

Chairman of the forum, Borno State Governor Babagana Zulum, reading the communique issued at the end of the meeting, said the governors discussed how to take advantage of improved security situation in the region towards fighting poverty and vices.

“The Forum calls on the diplomatic community, partners and donor agencies supporting the region to activate the process of transiting from humanitarian to stabilisation and durable solution within the region.

“This will ensure sustainability and give people the opportunity to help themselves out of poverty. This will address socio-economic dimension of insecurity in the region,” he said.

“The Forum also notes the negative impact of drug and narcotic substances in the region and the extent to which it fuels the insurgency and other forms of criminality in the region. It therefore calls for support in the area of stopping drug trafficking and enforcing narcotic control within the region and across the borders.

“The Forum notes the technical support on potentials for growth and development of the region especially the Agribusiness Programme using innovative financing model of the Adamawa State Government by the Arewa Research and Development Project (ARDP), and agreed that the research be extended to all the states of the region.”

In pursuance of this, the forum “directed the management of ARDP to immediately prepare and submit the project proposal” to the forum’s secretariat for onward transmission to the various sates for implementation.

“The Forum deliberated extensively on the presentation on the Mambilla Hydroelectric Power Project and noted with dismay, that the project as important as it is, to Nigeria and the North-East sub-region, is surrounded by a lot of contractual encumbrances which have stalled its take-off and realisation.

“The Forum, therefore, calls on the President to accord the project the desired seriousness by establishing a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) to address the encumbrances and bring the project to reality.

“Also in its bid to reposition Education in the sub-region, the Forum has received report from the North East Council on Education.” It has taken the Councils’ advisory on the improvement of quality and performance of students and teachers screening and training in the region.

The next meeting of the Forum is to be held in Damaturu, Yobe State, on Saturday October 9, 2021.

PT