Governors caution FG against sanctioning ASUU, state position on privatization NIPPS

The Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF) has warned the Federal Government against sanctioning the striking Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).

According to the NGF, the Federal Government should rather resolve the contentious issues in the interest of the students and Nigeria.

The NGF Chairman and Ekiti State Governor, Kayode Fayemi, made this appeal while speaking in Abuja on Thursday after the forum’s meeting.

Meanwhile, the NGF has rejected the plan of the Federal Government to privatise National Integrated Power Plants (NIPPs).

The National Integrated Power Projects (NIPPS) means that you must have all the ingredients that make up power into one single entity (Value chain).

The plants are: Benin Generation Company Ltd, Calabar Generation Company Ltd, Geregu Generation Company Ltd, Olorunsogo Generation Company Ltd and Omotosho Generation Company Ltd.

NGF Chairman and Ekiti State Governor, Kayode Fayemi, while speaking in Abuja on Thursday after the forum’s meeting, noted that the NGF rejected the privitisation plan of the government  because all stakeholders were not carried along in the matter.

He said: “We examined the issues relating to the proposed privatisation of the power project and we took a decision that at this point in time, the NGF is opposed to the sale of any of the plants until appropriate steps have been taken that would take into consideration the interest of states that are also equity holders in those plants.

“We’ll continue to do whatever we can to ensure the resources of Nigeria stay with the Nigerian people and are not filtered away in a manner we can’t explain,” he added.

Fayemi noted that the NGF rejected the privitisation plan of the government because all stakeholders were not carried along in the matter.

During the NGF meeting, President Muhammadu Buhari, represented by his deputy, Yemi Osinbajo, commissioned a multi-billion naira NGF complex at Maitama, Abuja.