Excess crude: Govs drag FG to court

THE last may not have been heard of the crisis of confidence brewing between the 36 state governors and the presidency over the Excess Crude Account as the governors have headed to court.The governors, under the umbrella of the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF), agreed at its meeting on Wednesday that it was better to go to court to enforce the Federal Government's adherence to the constitution.The chairman of the forum and governor of Rivers State, Mr Rotimi Amaechi, told newsmen at the end of the meeting that 'Forum unanimously decided to head back to court to enforce the Federal Government's adherence to the constitution.'He added that it 'supports the upcoming good governance tours as conceptualised by the National Economic Council (NEC) and plans to use the opportunity to showcase achievements of the states in various areas of service delivery.'The tour will be commencing tomorrow, 20th September 2012, with states in the North-Central zone.'Amaechi reiterated that the forum would embark on various strategies to deepen advocacy and administration of polio vaccines with a view to eradicating polio in the country.Meanwhile, the NEC has approved the extension of the new performance measurement and results delivery system recently initiated by the Federal Government to state and local governments.Rising from a meeting in State House Abuja, on Thursday, the NEC noted the need to cascade the new performance management system to sub-national level, in order to harmonise performance management and tracking system, while it adopted a roadmap presented by the national planning minister to that effect.Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara State briefed State House correspondents at the end of the meeting alongside Governor Ibrahim Dankwambo of Gombe State; deputy governor of Bayelsa State, Rear Admiral John Jonah (retd); Minister of National Planning, Dr Shamsudeen Usman and the Minister of Environment, Hajia Hadiza Mailafia.He said based on the presentation by Dr Usman, NEC agreed that states should establish a functional monitoring and evaluation department to coordinate the implementation of the framework and support performance management.The NEC, presided over by Vice-President Namadi Sambo, advised both federal and state governments, currently locked in litigation over the Excess Crude Account to explore an out-of-court settlement.On the good governance media tour being organised by the Federal Ministry of Information, NEC commended the Governors' Forum for its decision to support and participate in the tour which started in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) on Thursday.
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