The Northern Governors’ Forum has commended President Muhammadu Buhari for taking the bold step of changing the country’s Service Chiefs.
Chairman of the Forum, Simon Lalong, who doubles as the Governor of Plateau State, gave the Forum’s commendation, while speaking to State House Correspondents, after he met with President Buhari on Friday.
The Governor said the step taken by the President further shows his commitment towards addressing insecurity in the country.
He said: “I came into the Presidential Villa in two respects; on behalf of the Northern Governors’ Forum and also as State Governor form Plateau State. I extended our felicitations to the President on a new year and also congratulated and commended him for the steps he is taking in addressing insecurity in the country especially in Northern Nigeria.
“The change of Service Chiefs is very commendable and also to remind him about some of the things left behind by their predecessors so that we can hasten and conclude them so as to make people safe. We had serious cases of banditry, kidnapping and so many issues of insecurity in the country, we will not expect that to continue. So, we are going to give maximum cooperation to the new Service Chiefs, while also commending the outgone ones for their roles in addressing issues of insecurity.”
Furthermore, the Chairman of the Northern Governors’ Forum used the occasion of his visit to thank President Buhari for intervening in the financial constraints of the Northern Nigeria Development Company (NNDC) by settling the outstanding retirement benefits of workers of New Nigeria Newspapers.
“For the Northern Governors, we had a protracted problem in NNDC especially about the New Nigeria Staff, who were laid off or retired, about their gratuity and pension. The President intervened and that has taken a whole lot of weight from us as we address the issue of reviving the NNDC,” he said.
Governor Lalong said the Northern Governors are also happy with the President’s inauguration of a steering committee on alternate education programme, which will help address the problem of out of school children.
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