APC governors to send Constitutional Amendment Bill to National Assembly

By Tony Akowe, Abuja

All Progressives Congress (APC) governors, under the aegis of the Progressive Governors’ Forum (PGF), have said they will send their concerns on constitution amendment to the National Assembly.

The governors said they were studying the report of Nasir El-Rufai Committee on Restructuring to sort out their areas of concerns.

Edo State Deputy Governor Phillip Shaibu, who addressed reporters alongside Senate Leader Yahaya Abdullahi and House of Representatives Deputy Leader Peter Akpatason, said the governors were trying to synergise with the lawmakers on issues bordering on governance and constitution review.

Shaibu, who spoke after a meeting of the Legislative Compliance Committee of the PGF, headed by Katsina State Governor Aminu Bello Masari and his Edo State counterpart, Godwin Oabseki, said they intended to find how the governors, the legislature and the party could have a synergy to drive the party’s manifesto and issue on governance in their states.

The deputy governor said the committee agreed that budgeting is critical and that all APC states should be on the same page, especially on projects and the development of the states.

He said: “When we have that synergy among the governors and the legislators at the national ad the state levels, that will be the drive for us not to duplicate projects and be on the same page. It would also help us to drive the policies of the party and create the acceptability of the party.

“At the end of the day, the legislative arm and the governors are the political classes. Each time an election comes, the issue of what you want to achieve is there. The only way you can drive this process is when there is collaboration and understanding of what you stand for.”

Abdullahi said APC lawmakers and the governors met to review some of the recommendations of the report the party received from the El-Rufai committee on restructuring to find ways of making the recommendation actionable.

Akpatason said: “We are trying to reduce a whole lot of issues together to have a more compact position that reflects the party’s agenda for taking Nigeria to the Next Level, focusing on critical issues that Nigerians are concerned about and to properly align with the developmental efforts of the nation.”