The meeting of the Northern States Governors’ Forum (NSGF) holding in Kaduna on Wednesday opened with an unusually high number of deputy governors representing their principals, a development that underscored the increasing pressure on state chief executives amid mounting security, economic and political challenges across Northern Nigeria.
Of the 19 northern states expected at the meeting, about 75 per cent were represented by their deputy governors rather than the governors themselves, while only a handful of governors attended in person. The meeting, hosted at the Sir Kashim Ibrahim House in Kaduna, comes after Secretaries to the State Governments (SSGs) from the region met on Tuesday to harmonise issues for deliberation.
Although representation by deputy governors is constitutionally valid, the turnout reflected the growing demands on governors, many of whom are engaged in official assignments, political consultations and security engagements in their respective states.
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