Osinbajo, Others Shun Okorocha’s Meeting
By Ogbolu George
Acting President, Yemi Osinbajo, some All Progressives’ Congress (APC) governors, and party leaders, failed to attend a meeting organised to discuss the 2017 budget by Rochas Okorocha, the Imo State Governor.
The meeting dubbed ”Round-table on 2017 Budget Proposals” was billed to hold at the Musa Yar’Adua Centre.
Yahaya Bello, Governor of Kogi and Sonni Gwanle Tyoden, the Deputy Governor of Plateau, had to leave after waiting for over an hour.
Also, John Odigie Oyegun, the chairman of the APC, who was supposed to deliver a goodwill message, arrived after the meeting had been postponed.
Chairman of the Progressive Governors Forum (PGF), Rochas Okorocha, who organised the event also arrived about an hour behind schedule.
Speaking on the reason why the meeting failed to hold, Okorocha said, ”We wanted the Acting President to be here in person. This programme coincides with other programmes because there are lots of questions that might come up that require national answers and most of the legislators, the Senate president and Speaker are also engaged in other programmes.
”Only last Friday, most governors left for their states to come back on Monday but it was not convenient. The dispatched messages could not get to them, some had come and some did not get the message, so we agreed we should shift it to next week.”
He said the meeting was an opportunity for the executive to rub minds with the legislatures on the budgetary system in the face of the present economic recession.
”Most of the time, when the federal government makes its budget, states make their budgets and local governments make their budgets, they are at variance with one another but if we can unite and have a common understanding about the budgetary system, it will help for faster development,” he added.
