Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on Tuesday explained that the $1billion approved by governors across party lines was for the security architecture of the entire country.
Controversies have trailed the approval of the fund from the Excess Crude Account, at the National Economic Council meeting last Thursday.
The fund were earlier said to be devoted to fighting insurgency in the North East.
But Osinbajo made further clarification on the matter when he spoke on Tuesday while declaring open the Retreat of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation with Secretaries to the State Governments (SSGs) at the Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
According to him, the decision followed a security summit hosted two months ago by the NEC, which was “crucial in understanding and dimensioning the security problems of the country and the weaknesses of our security architecture.”
He said the security summit examined problems of kidnapping, small arms trafficking, terror activities of Boko Haram in the North East, clashes between herdsmen and farmers and cattle rustling.
He said: “It was on account of the security summit that the governors at the Nigeria 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 needed to be done to shore up our security architecture.”
Charging the SSGs on collaboration with the SGF, Osinbanjo said little would be achieved if relevant state government agencies do not work with the Federal Government to achieve the country’s developmental objectives.
He said the role of the SSGs “is clearly central to cascading the action points and conclusions of the Ministries, Department and Agencies (MDAs) in their states.”
He said all policies of the federal government in agriculture are programmes of the states since land belong to the states.
