The South West Governors’ Forum, comprising the governors of Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Ekiti, and Ondo States, on Thursday met in Lagos State and agreed to establish a joint monitoring team to tackle worsening food inflation in the region.
The governors accused middlemen of causing skyrocketing food prices, saying the task force would make it difficult for them to inflate prices of food indiscriminately.
Aside from food challenge, the governors also expressed a strong desire to protect the region against the incursion of terrorists.
A communique issued at the end of the forum’s meeting at Governor’s Office, Alausa, Ikeja, Lagos State, revealed that all the governors attended the meeting and extensively deliberated on key issues affecting the South West region.
Agreeing to establish a State Food Inflation Joint Monitoring Team to curb high food prices, the governors including Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos, Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, Ademola Adeleke of Osun State, Lucky Aiyedatiwa of Ondo State, Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State, and Biodun Oyebanji of Ekiti State, also agreed to establish Aggregation Centres/Food Hubs to foster inter-state collaboration and mitigate food inflation.
The Forum who commended President Bola Tinubu for the economic stability and improvements recorded across the nation, particularly in the sustained supply and distribution of petroleum products and the stabilization of the exchange, acknowledged the threat posed by ISWAP activities in parts of the region and strongly condemned any threat to the region’s security.
To prevent insurgency in the region and enhance security operations, the governors agreed to establish a Joint Surveillance Monitoring Team to oversee and coordinate security efforts across the South West region.
It also indicated interest in deploying advanced technology, including aerial surveillance systems to enhance security operations, adding that the its Special Advisers on Security would collaborate on intelligence gathering and sharing between State security agencies, local security networks, and federal law enforcement authorities among South West States.
While commending the Federal Government and the Senate for establishing the South West Development Commission, the Forum collectively agreed to situate its headquarters at Cocoa House, Ibadan, Oyo State.
The governors acknowledged the efforts of Odu’a Investment Company Ltd. in efficiently managing joint assets of the South West region over the past five years.
