The Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF) on Monday said it will meet on Wednesday to come up with a definitive pronouncement regarding the second wave of the pandemic as schools reopen across the country.
This was disclosed in a statement released on Monday morning and signed by the NGF spokesman Abdulrazaque Bello-Barkindo.
According to the statement, the Governors forum said it was alarmed by the intensity of the second wave of the global pandemic and the country’s “tardy commencement of inoculation”.
Recall that in the past few weeks Nigeria has recorded an increase in the number of COVID-19 infection across the nation both in cases and fatalities.
As at Sunday night the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control reported 1,444 new cases and 15 deaths.
According to the statement, the NGF meeting will be the first for the Governors in 2021 and will be conducted virtually as usual since the pandemic started.
Part of the statement reads: “Alarmed by the intensity of the second wave of the Covid19 pandemic, and Nigeria’s tardy commencement of inoculation that is sweeping through countries globally, the 36 governors of the federation may finally come up with a definitive pronouncement, as they will be meeting on Wednesday January 20 to find the way forward for the country.
“The meeting which will be the first this year, 2021, by the governors, will as usual, be virtual, in conformity with the Covid19 protocols. It is the 23rd of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum teleconferences. The meeting commences at 2pm prompt but Governors are expected to start logging on from 1pm.
“The Governors’ PTF Committee, headed by Delta State Governor, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa, which is charged with the responsibility of liaising between the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on Covid19 and the Governors’ Forum, will brief the Forum on what it needs to know on the vaccines and the way forward.
“Governor Okowa is also expected to give a panoramic view of the second wave of the pandemic.
“The Chairman of the Forum, and Governor of Ekiti State, Dr John Kayode Fayemi will brief the Forum on his meeting with the President as well as update the Forum on all pending matters that have remained inconclusive, flowing from the previous year’s meetings.”