It has been one year that the Ekiti State Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, emerged as the Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) after he was unanimously elected by his colleagues. In this analysis, ODUNAYO OGUNMOLA examines some major highlights of Fayemi’s first year in office as the NGF boss.
History was made on 22nd of May, 2019 when the Governor of Ekiti State, Dr. John Kayode Fayemi was unanimously elected by his colleagues as the Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) for a two-year tenure.
The Ekiti helmsman was elected by consensus after being nominated by the Governor of Kaduna State, Malam Nasir Ahmad el-Rufa’i with the nomination seconded by the Governor of Delta State, Dr. Ifeanyi Arthur Okowa.
The Governor of Sokoto State, Rt. Hon. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, was also elected unopposed as the NGF Vice Chairman on that fateful day making it a combination of two vibrant young and brilliant men for the two top posts in the Forum.
Fayemi’s ascendancy to the NGF chair was historic as it marked the first time a governor from the Southwest geopolitical zone would be privileged to be entrusted with the prestigious and coveted position.
It was a fitting crown to a stellar political career for the Isan- Ekiti born scholar-turned politician in an odyssey that had its highs and lows and an endorsement by his equally illustrious colleagues who put their trust in him to do a very good job of leading them.
He took over the baton from the former Governor of Zamfara State, Alhaji Abdulazeez Abubakar Yari, who was leaving office after serving out his two terms as the governor of the Northwest state.
Fayemi, shortly after his emergence as the NGF chairman, expressed gratitude to his brother governors for the trust and confidence reposed in him to lead the exclusive club of state chief executives in Nigeria.
He immediately hit the ground running and unfolded his agenda to galvanise the governors, who belong to different political parties, to represent the interests of Nigeria irrespective of their political affiliations.
The NGF boss also pledged that the Forum, under his watch, would partner with the Federal Government of Nigeria to pursue interests of the citizens of the country to make life easier for them at different tiers of governance.
Fayemi said: “We will build on commitment with strong partnership with the Federal Government as federating units and trash out issues as amicably as possible, in the overall interest of the country.
“This is something of all parties, of different persuasion have done and as you can see, the leadership is comprising of both myself of the majority party and Governor Tambuwal from the People’s Democratic Party.
“What is important is that this is unanimously chosen and we represent Nigeria regardless of our political persuasions and the work we are going to do will be in the overall interest of our country.
“This is in ensuring that our states are continuously strengthened; our country derives the benefit of strong, dedicated states to our citizens and that the partnership with all arms of government, the federal (government), the legislature and development partners will be in the overall interest of Nigerians.”
One year down the line, Fayemi has been walking and working the talk and ensuring that issues affecting the welfare of the Nigerian people in the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) are on the front burner.
Fayemi had his work cut out for him as the NGF chair but he enjoys the advantage of being a leader in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and a man in whom President Muhammadu Buhari is well pleased and this he has fully deployed to the advantage of the body and by extension the 36 states of the federation.
In bringing his vision for the body into reality, the Ekiti governor had developed a 17-point work plan indicating his activities, time frame within which to achieve them and success indicators in addition to a strategic plan and roadmap for NGF chairman.
The Fayemi-led NGF had taken up the gauntlet in advocating for sharing of more equitable resources, policing and setting up of Police Trust Fund, resuscitation of peer review and mechanisms for revving up internally generated revenues by states.
The body, under Fayemi’s leadership in the last one year, had worked with a range of institutions like the Nigerian Investment Promotion Council (NIPC), the Ministry of Communication and Digital Economy, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and reinvigoration of Primary Health Scheme and launch of Basic Healthcare Foundation.
The NGF,under Fayemi’s watch, backed the Federal Government’s implementation of the petrol price modulation mechanism to eliminate petrol subsidy permanently in the country. The Forum also supported the unification of exchange rates into a simple, market-determined exchange rate to calculate all revenues due to the federation.
Another talking point of Fayemi’s first year in office as NGF chair was the body’s quick response to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) which had, in the last count, affected 34 out of the 36 States of the federation with el-Rufa’i, Engr. Seyi Makinde of Oyo State and Sen. Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State, who are all members of the Forum, suffering infections of the novel disease at one time or the other.
Fayemi engaged brother governors in virtual meetings where he briefed his colleagues on coordination with the World Bank to mobilise support for states to mitigate the economic and social cost of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The body had secured the commitment of the private sector-driven Coalition Against COVID-19 (CACOVID) set up by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to support the states to increase their capacity to mitigate the spread of the virus and care for the confirmed cases through the construction of isolation centres and distribution of personal protective equipment to states.
Fayemi in a teleconference with President Buhari on April 14, 2020 noted that while the targeted testing strategy adopted by the country has done a lot, stressed the need for more testing at the state levels.
He emphasized that governors were more desirous of having more testing facilities to sustain the gains made by the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC). This has been achieved in many states (including Ekiti) where test facilities are now available to save patients from other diseases like Lassa fever, Ebola virus, among others.
The NGF during the period under review had interface with the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) who also doubles as Chairman of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19, Mr. Boss Mustapha; the PTF National Coordinator, Dr. Sani Aliyu; the CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele; President of Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote and Mr. Herbert Wigwe.
The most notable achievement so far recorded by Fayemi as the NGF chief was securing the approval of the President for the suspension of deductions of loans and bailout funds from monthly allocation to the states. This is to save the states from financial crunch occasioned by COVID-19 pandemic.
Federation Account projected revenue has dropped by more than half and this was consequent upon a slump in global oil price, a situation that would have made it impossible for states to cope with the financial challenges posed by COVID-19.
It was learnt that after series of talks involving the governors, Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed and other relevant agencies, it was agreed that the suspension of payment of debt obligations would serve as a succour for states and FCT.
If not for the Fayemi-led NGF’s representations to Mr. President, about 15 states won’t be able to pay salaries as from the end of June but the states have now gotten a respite as the nation’s leader has granted their demands to have their domestic debt servicing obligations suspended for one year.
This has brought down tension hitherto building up in many states where industrial crises were looming over the prospect of difficulties non-payment of salaries would unleash on them.
The Debt Management Office (DMO) as at December 2019 had put the domestic debts of the 36 states and the FCT at a staggering N4.106 trillion.
Another plus recorded by Fayemi’s stewardship as NGF chair was the peer review on security which led to the formation of legally established security outfits to complement the efforts of the conventional police and other statutory security agencies.
Fayemi’s pivotal role in the establishment of AMOTEKUN Security Network in each of the six states in the Southwest is being replicated in other geopolitical zones to tackle kidnapping, banditry, armed robbery, ritual killing, and other violent crimes and protect lives and property of the people.
This was borne out of the fact that security of lives and property is a harbinger for local and foreign investment needed by the states to stimulate their economies and provide job opportunities for the people.
Although the issue generated furore at the initial stage, consultations with the Presidency and resort to constitutional and legal frameworks ensured legislative backing for such security arrangement to legitimise it.
Achievement of a more robust and effective security architecture that puts governor in charge had been a major objective of the NGF to remedy a situation in which the 1999 Constitution made them Chief Security Officers of their states but they lacked the power to to command federal security apparatus to tackle security emergencies in their areas of jurisdiction.
The security networks coming up in the states have checks and balances attached to them like boards of eminent persons and quasi-judicial bodies to which residents can seek redress all in a bid to insulate them from abuse and allay the fears of being used as instruments of political vendetta and crackdown on perceived and real enemies.
As Fayemi enters the second year of his tenure as NGF chair, many thorny issues in the polity are expected to engage his attention in the areas of institutional reforms, policy advisory, addressing legal and constitutional conflict between federal and state governments, among others.
The NGF boss will definitely etch his name in gold if he succeeds during his tenure to assist the states get a favourable and upward adjustment in the revenue allocation formula with the states perceived to have more responsibilities than the federal government which enjoys the largest share of the Federation Account.
Being a development expert himself, Fayemi is expected to leverage on his pedigree to seek the support and partnership of bilateral and multilateral development partners with NGF as well as key players in the voluntary sector.
Actions along that line include inventory and mapping up previous and ongoing work by development partners and current ongoing partnerships; negotiating and setting up of frameworks for partnership with member states on specific programs and starting a process of developing a strategic plan and frameworks for targeted cooperation and reviving partnership with the Nigeria Economic Summit Group (NESG).
It has been an eventful and remarkable year for Fayemi in leading the NGF but Nigerians expect more from him to use the position to better the welfare of the states and their people and legacies he will leave behind will be talked about many years to come.
*Ogunmola is Special Assistant (Media) to Ekiti State Deputy Governor and he wrote in from Ado Ekiti.