Governors to meet EFCC, CBN over security votes

The governors of the 36 states of the federation will on Tuesday meet with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) over the security votes in their respective domains.

Also expected at the meeting are the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC) and the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), spokesman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, Abdulrazaque Bello-Barkindo, said in a statement.

The planned meeting, which will be virtual, is to ensure full attendance by all the relevant officers in the matter.

Bello-Barkindo stated that the governors as well as the economic and financial agencies in the country will use the opportunity to iron out thorny issues surrounding their states’ security votes, towards establishing a better option for managing the funds.

“Furthermore, the meeting will also consider deepening the management and expansion of the cashless policy which took effect from the time of the redesigning of the national currency, the Nigerian Naira, last year, to further the financial inclusion of all citizens in the ensuing scheme of things, going forward,” the statement read.

“This meeting is called at the instance of the Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit, NFIU, in its letter of 30th March, which was addressed to the Chairman of the NGF and signed by the NFIU Director, Modibbo Hamman Tukur.”

Apart from the facilities for national financial inclusion, the governors will propose uniform development and cooperation on the national addressing and postcode project, which will put Nigeria on the same pedestal as all advanced countries across the globe.

Also on the agenda is a consensus on harmonizing and updating the national tax collection and business entry standards and their requirements to help respond to the FATF and the EU grey listing in which Nigeria appeared.

All governors are advised to prioritise the meeting as its contents had been discussed at the NGF emergency meeting on Thursday 30th March, where it was unanimously agreed that a meeting with the agencies was imperative.