Northern governors have set up a committee to monitor the implementation of the Federal Government’s White Paper on the crisis in the North East geopolitical zone.
The White Paper, coordinated by Minister Abba Moro, has been sent to the Ministry of Justice by the Federal Executive Council for implementation.
The committee was set up owing to the violent attacks carried out in the North East by dreaded sect, Boko Haram.
The Northern governors took the decision to set up the committee at its meeting on Thursday.
The governors, who changed the name of their body from the Northern Governors’ Forum to the Northern States Governors’ Forum because it is similar to that of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, mandated the governors of Borno, Yobe, Zamfara, Adamawa and Plateau States to monitor the implementation of the White Paper.
The Governor of Niger State and Chairman of the NSGF, Dr. Babangida Aliyu, read the communique of the meeting.
The communique said in part: “The Forum, after extensive deliberations resolved to adopt a pragmatic, holistic and integrated regional approach to combating crime through collective effort of all security agencies; to adopt common policies and programmes, build confidence among the people to promote economic prosperity in the North.”
Two other committees were set up by the NSGF.
The committees, made up of three governors each, are to work with the National Assembly and the Federal Ministry of Finance on how Northern states could benifit from programmes run by development partners such as the World Bank and DFID.