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Nigeria: Help Rebrand, Govs Urge Media
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This Day (Lagos)
12 May 2008
Posted to the web 12 May 2008
Deji Elumoye
Lagos
The nation's 36 state Governors have called on the media to focus more on positive reports about the Nigerian nation while pledging on its part to adreess the worsening food crises in the country in collaboration with the federal government
According to them, negative reports create wrong impressions of the country and scare away foreign investments. Represented at a media forum in Lagos at the weekend by Governors Bukola Saraki, Babatunde Fashola, Ikedia Ohakim of Kwara, Lagos and Imo states respectively, the Governors' Forum asked the media to partner with the Governors in rebranding the Nigerian nation and repositioning it as a catalyst for development.
Saraki who was the first to speak as Chairman of The Governors' Forum also promised to collaborate with the Federal Government in the area of agriculture to ensure food security as the looming food crises could be a blessing in disguise to the nation and its component parts because it encourages people to embark on commercial farming in large scale on the vast arable lands across the country. Fashola,on his part, explained that Lagos state is focussing more on marine and aquatic agriculture which are areas of the state's comparative advantage because of its aquatic nature.
He reminded the media that as partners it should be realized that whatever resources are managed by the Governors are being held in trust for the people and that the media must ensure that leaders use such resources for the common good of the majority.
He added that with the impact of Information Technology, the world is getting smaller and smaller by the day and that it is the way the local press projects the country that would reflect on the international stage. Fashola called for a revisit of the 1963 Nigerian constitution which espoused true fiscal federalism with the country benefiting immensely in terms of development. According to Fashola, under the 1963 Nigerian constitution, the three regions were in complete control of the resources and wealth and only contributed to the purse of the central government what it considered its due.
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Fashola reminded that part of the ways to ensure fiscal federalism is for the federal nature of the constitution to be allowed to take full effect because government at the centre only exists because of the resolve of the component states to federate alongside it. The classification of local governments as the third tier of government is a misnomer under a federal constitution as the local councils are part of the states and should never be legislated for by the federal Government, Fashola emphasized. He added that the usage of a one size fits all formulae for administering all the 774 local councils have been stunting growth as the council areas are not able to maximize their potentials according to the peculiarities of their locations.
The Lagos State Governor also cited the example of the proposed fuel tax as another example of consumption tax which should be collected by the states where the users reside and use the infrastructure facilities. Fashola added that the fact that several states of the federation have staggered elections is a testimony to the enterprise of the judiciary and that it can no longer be possible for some legislators to gather at a hotel and seek to impeach an elected Governor.
The forum also insisted that it has a zero tolerance for corruption among its members arguing that recent revelations from the investigative panels have shown that corruption does not thrive and germinate only at the state and local government levels. Fashola on his part said as a means of underscoring his administration's premium on transparency and accountability, he has been rendering an account of his stewardship on a hundred days interval basis and would continue to do same till the expiration of his tenure.Also speaking , Ohakim disclosed that the governors had so far spent not less than N40 billion on security matters to ensure that there is security of life and property and support the Federal Government in securing the nation. He lamented that Nigeria recently lost a multi million dollars investment opportunity which could have fetched thousands of jobs to SierraLeone because of misgivings created by media reports on Nigeria.
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