The North East Governors’ Forum has expressed their disappointment that despite media hype, the so-called Mambila Hydroelectric Power Project only exists on the pages of newspapers.
The governors in a communiqué issued at the end of the 4th North East Governors’ Forum meeting which took place in Bauchi on Wednesday said the project despite its anticipated benefits was yet to kick off.
“The Forum deliberated extensively on the Mambilla Hydroelectric Power Project and noted with dismay, that the project as important as it is to Nigeria and the North-East sub-region, is only existing on paper but in reality, even the project has not commenced”, the communiqué read in part.
The Forum urged the Federal Government to accord the project the desired seriousness in view of its anticipated impact in turning around the fortunes of the sub-region and the country at large.
The communiqué also “notes the need to be aggressive in repositioning Education in the sub-region and resolved to form the North East Council on Education.”
The mandate of the council according to the communiqué was “to improve quality and performance of students, set up peer review, and collate data to drive decision making on education including performance, admissions, regulatory framework, human resource management, and digitalization among others.” The Council according to the communiqué will be headed by the Bauchi State Commissioner for Education – Dr. Aliyu Tilde.
The North East Governors’ Forum also expressed its disappointment that “the zone remains short-changed in Capital Appropriation in the 2021 budget.”
The communiqué said; “while recognizing that the budget is already passed and signed into law, in view of the precarious situation of the sub-region with the fact that the region requires aggressive infrastructural intervention to defeat the insurgency and build the resilience of the communities, there is a need to make an adequate allocation for capital projects for the sub-region in the build-up to the supplementary budget which is the only appropriation window to redress the apparent injustice to the region.”
