The Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) and traditional rulers have established a joint committee to explore assigning formal constitutional roles to traditional leaders.
Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun, noted that the meeting at the Presidential Villa in Abuja focused on defining and potentially strengthening the role of traditional rulers within Nigeria’s constitutional framework.
He said the meeting agreed that “A joint committee of governors and our traditional rulers led by Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodinma should be set up, and that committee should seek to ensure that the various remarks and comments that were made from those that were present that reflect the desires of those that they represent, should be included to make for a robust document.
“Memorandum should also be called for and received, and all that should be synthesised so that whatever document will be presented to the National Assembly will be a very comprehensive, a very inclusive document that seeks to empower our royal majesties, royal highnesses more and seeks to involve them in governance, peace, security of our various states across the country, including the FCT.”
Abiodun said the meeting also discussed the issue of state police, gender-based violence and local government autonomy.
He said, “We spoke about the impact, or otherwise of local government autonomy on traditional rulers. The idea was to inform them of what the Supreme Court ruling means so that they have a better understanding of the impact of that ruling when implementation commences.
“We further deliberated also on the issues of peace and security, food security, and all other emerging threats. The participation of our traditional rulers was also, again, underscored,” he said.
The governor further revealed that the committee was given between five to six weeks to do their work.
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