VICE President, Yemi Osinbajo has clarified that the controversial $1 billion originally approved by the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF) from the Excess Crude Account (ECA) at Thursday’s meeting of the National Economic Council (NEC) meeting was not meant for the fight against the Boko Haram insurgency alone.

Osinbajo stated that the fund was approved for the entire nation’s security architecture including “policing in the states, community policing, all of the different security challenges that we have.”

He disclosed this on Tuesday at the Banquet Hall of the Aso Rock Presidential Villa in Abuja at the opening of a retreat organised by the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation for Secretaries to State Governments.

“It was on account of the security summit that the governors, at the Governors’ Forum, subsequently decided that they would vote a certain sum of money, which has become somewhat controversial, the $1billion, to assist the security architecture of the country.

“It was to assist all of the issues in the states, including policing in the states, community policing, all of the different security challenges that we have.

“It was after the security summit that the Governors’ Forum met across party lines. Again, I must add, in order to approve and to accept that this is what is needed to be done to shore up our security architecture,” Osinbajo stated.

His clarification contradicts the disclosure by Edo State Governor Godwin Obaseki, who briefed State House reporters after the NEC meeting, that “Pleased with the achievements that have been made till date in the fight against insurgency, particularly in the northeast, the governors of Nigeria, through their chairman, announced at the NEC meeting that the governors have given permission to the Federal Government to spend the sum of $1bn on the fight of insurgency.”

The SGF, Boss Mustapha, explained that the retreat was to create a full, effective and efficient function of the states’ structure, saying, “It is therefore imperative that we strive to achieve synergy at this level of governance between the federal, state and local government structures.”

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