From Laide Raheem, Abeokuta
The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has commended the governors in the southwest over their resolve to establish a joint security network and food hubs to address insecurity and hunger, respectively.
The student body, in a statement signed by the NANS Ogun Joint Campus Committee chairman, Gabriel Francis, on Monday in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, described the resolution by the Southwest Governors Forum as not only laudable but a catalyst that would further enhance regional growth and development.
The governors, at a meeting held in Lagos last week, had announced to set up a joint security network and food hubs in the region to further foster socioeconomic development of the southwest.
They equally declared that they would collaborate to ensure the workability of the Southwest Development Commission to drive coordinated development in the region development.
Gabriel, in the statement, however, said the governors took the right decision to collaborate on key issues such as insecurity and hunger, noting such regional cooperation would go a long way in boosting economic prosperity on the southwest.
He pointed out that the resolutions by the governors, especially concerning insecurity, could not have come at a better time than when insurgents and terrorists are suspected of flooding to the southwest.
The NANS leader expressed optimism that the southwest would regain its enviable position in the country, if the governors work in unity and collaborate on issues underpinning the growth of the region.
According to him, the region is blessed with vast fertile and arable land suitable for agriculture, mineral and other natural resources, urging the governors to harness the comparative advantages of the various states for the overall benefit of the southwest.
He noted further that apart from the issues of insecurity and hunger, the Southwest Governors Forum should expand their cooperation to transportation, joint trade fair, youth development programmes, industrial, ICT, and other socioeconomic development activities.
While calling on the governors to ensure they actualise the laudable resolutions, Gabriel urged them to begin work in earnest by jointly setting various committees to develop a working template towards making their resolutions work accordingly.