North East Governors To Build Power Plants In States

The North-East Governors’ Forum (NEGF) has resolved to work with Shanghai Electric to build a 60 megawatts coal power plant or 50 megawatts solar power plant in each state in the region.

This was contained in a communique issued at the end of the ninth meeting of the forum read out by Governor of Mai Mala Buni of Yobe State in Yola yesterday.

The forum urged the North East Development Commission (NEDC) to work with state governments and the Federal Ministry of Works  to remove the encumbrances and  find more practical ways to intervene on poor  road networks in the region.

The forum said it was concerned that  federal roads within and between states in the region had been neglected. 

It urged the Federal Ministry of Works to follow through with road contracts awarded in the region. 

“Poor road network is fueling insecurity and stalling development and making life more difficult for our people in the region,” the communique said. 

It noted that the contractual encumbrances on some of the bad federal roads within and between the states are major setbacks to  infrastructure development in the region. 

It also notes with dismay, the poor rail system in the region, including the repairs on the old gauge rail lines. 

The forum called for inclusion of the region in the Nigerian National Railway Transport Plan using the modern gauge rail and the National Road Plan from which it said the region was conspicuously missing. 

The governors expressed delight at the growing cooperation and collaboration among member states, and reaffirmed commitment to foster a common ground and pursue a collective cause on matters of security, social and economic integration of the region, among others.