The Class of 1999 governors have called on President Bola Tinubu to intensify efforts in addressing the nation’s security challenges, emphasising that progress cannot be achieved without stability.
Additionally, the governors advised the President to establish cottage industries across all local government areas to generate employment opportunities, rather than relying on temporary measures such as the distribution of N5,000 palliatives, which they deemed unsustainable.
The Class of 1999 governors, who served alongside President Tinubu between 1999 and 2007, conveyed these recommendations following a closed-door meeting on Friday at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
Chairman of the group and former Governor of Edo State, Chief Lucky Igbinedion, stressed the urgency of economic intervention, noting that rural communities are disproportionately affected by the current economic hardships.
“We came to see one of our own Class of 99 and to bring about topics about the state of the nation. We are glad that Mr. President received us warmly, and we spoke basically about the security situation of the nation, the economy, and, of course, agriculture. The President expressed his concern about these various issues that we came to discuss with him.
“And we also proffered our own solutions about how he can go about bringing about succor to the people. The people, especially in the rural areas, are feeling the impact of the harsh economy, and he assured us that he is looking into it.
“We also spoke about the stability of the naira, which he also addressed appropriately. So it has been a very fruitful deliberation with Mr. President. And of course, he assured us that whatever suggestions, way forward that we might have, his doors are always open for such conversation”, said Igbenidion.
On their assessment of the President’s efforts and what they want him specifically to address henceforth, he said:
“Well, the first and foremost thing is security, because we told him that without security, there can be no progress, there can be no stability.
“And secondly, the economy, of course, needs to be stabilized by ensuring the foreign exchange remains stable and people can afford. But what is most important was, let’s create industries, especially cottage industries, that can employ people, rather than just giving out palliatives.
“We implored him to try as much as possible to create cottage industries in all the local governments of the federation where people can be employed, because if you give palliative to somebody today, what happens tomorrow? If he has ¦ 5,000 in the morning, how about lunchtime or dinner time, what is he going to do?
“¦ 5,000 cannot buy much. So I thought these are part of the really heart-to-heart discussions we had with the President, and he agreed with us to say, yes, he’s going to look into it, and we appreciated. “
Discussion about this post