South South governors plan regional security outfit

 Paul Osuyi, Asaba

After weeks of speculations and suspense, governors of the South South states, yesterday agreed to establish a regional security outfit to tackle peculiar challenges in the region.

This is coming in the heels of the passage of a bill for the establishment of Amotekun by Houses of Assembly in the South West as the regional security outfit for the region.

Addressing journalists in Asaba at the end of a meeting of South South governors, Chairman of the forum and Delta State Governor, Ifeanyi Okowa, said the governors also agreed to resuscitate the BRACED commission, a regional economic and integration platform.

Okowa said BRACED, which stands for Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Edo and Delta, will be mandated to come up with modalities on the establishment of the regional security outfit.

According to him, the commission is expected to brief the governors on the steps being taken for the establishment of the regional security outfit at the next meeting of the forum in May in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

He said BRACED commission was set up over 10 years ago by their predecessors to facilitate economic cooperation among the South South states, adding that the incumbent governors have concluded plans to provide the needed logistics for the commission to come back to life.

On the 13 percent derivation, the governors prevailed on the Federal Government to adopt the system where the percentage is deducted at source before the revenue is shared.

“And we need to stress that in any allocation that is being done, 13 percen derivation must first be taken out of the funds that come from oil revenue before the rest of the funds is shared.

“This 13 percen is supposed to be for the oil producing states and that has not be the situation for a very long time,” Okowa said.

The governors further urged President Muhammadu Buhari to constitute the governing board for the Niger Delta Development Commission, noting that the interventionist agency will play a great role in the regional development of the South South.

The meeting, which is the first since Okowa was elected chairman of the forum, was attended by governors Duoye Diri (Bayelsa), Nyesome Wike (Rivers), Emmanuel Udom (Akwa-Ibom), Godwin Obaseki (Edo) and the host, Okowa of Delta State.

Also in attendance was the Director General of the BRACED commission, Joe Keshi.

Okowa said Cross River Governor, Ben Ayade, was unavoidably absent as he was held up in Abuja for official engagement.