Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) has stated that its planned trip to Germany is to seek partnership with investors and not a jamboree.
The forum said this in reaction to comments by lawyer and human rights activist, Femi Falana (SAN).
NGF spokesman, Abdulrazak Bello-Barkindo, in a statement yesterday explained that, “Six governors are embarking on a 3-day trip to Germany to discuss areas of partnership and cooperation with a select group of German technocrats and investors, with a view to seeking other options for economic partnership, against their over-dependence on oil, which has consigned the country to a mono-product economy.”
It said while it did not intend to join issues with Falana, “it is obvious that the real essence of the trip had not been explained to the lawyer, since he was reacting to a story, whose content had not even fully reached the reporter that was asking Falana questions”.
“Six of them are going on behalf of the others in order to assimilate the true import of the presentation by the German ambassador, and work out ways of domesticating the advantages.
“The partnerships they are seeking will cover non-oil sectors such as agriculture, health, renewable energy and vocational training institutions that could employ our teeming unemployed and jobless youths.
“The trip that is being embarked upon is as Spartan as possible as no governor is travelling with more than one aide, who is also responsible for the area of need as it relates to their region, and they will be visiting several industrial installations, vocational training centres and theme-parks to get a firsthand feel of how they are organised so as to replicate same in their domains.”
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