Governors in the North-East zone have expressed worry over impending flooding across states in the region and the impact on lives and property.

The governors, under the North East Governors’ Forum (NEGF), comprising Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Taraba, and Yobe states, called for proactive measures to confront the looming disaster.

They spoke at the forum’s 12th meeting held in Jalingo, Taraba State, on Saturday, where they also sought the intervention of the Federal Government to fix infrastructure, especially bridges damaged by the flood.

“Forum took into cognizance the forecast of the credible agencies on climate risk and the impending flood disaster in the sub-region. It therefore calls for proactive measures in confronting the flood and robust sensitization of settlers along the flood plains.

“It also called for support from both the Federal Government and NEDC to reconstruct the broken infrastructure, especially bridges [affected] by the flood,” a communiqué signed by the Borno State Governor, Babagana Zulum, partly read.

The governors said that the high cost of agricultural inputs could have a negative impact on farm production and output and lead to a food crisis.

They, therefore, called for more subsidies to farmers and robust preparation for dry-season farming.

“Forum decries the high cost of agricultural inputs, which might have direct negative consequences on farm outputs next year. To avert impending food crises ahead, it calls for more subsidies to farmers and robust preparation for dry-season farming,” they stated.

The North-East governors acknowledged the appreciable success recorded in the onslaught against the insurgency in the region but regretted that the sub-region was still confronted by daunting humanitarian and infrastructural challenges.

The governors agreed to hold the North-East Trade Fair in Maiduguri, Borno state, in December 2025.

While building on the early commitment of exploring solar options as a low-hanging fruit, they restated their commitment to subduing energy poverty by tasking the committee on power and energy in the sub-region to come up with an integrated sub-regional power master plan.

The forum also appreciated the level of cooperation and collaboration among member states in the sub-region and recommitted itself to the pursuit of common issues of sub-regional concern and pursuance of a collective course on matters that are related to the security, social, and economic integration of the sub-region.

The next meeting is to be held in Maiduguri between December 12 and 14, 2025.

The governors had earlier stated that the security challenges bedevilling the region could be resolved only through a multidimensional approach.

Zulum, while speaking at the rotational meeting of the forum, identified the key solutions as education, healthcare, beefed-up security and infrastructural development, among others.

While commending President Bola Tinubu’s effort at ending insurgency in the region, the governors also insisted that the root causes, such as youth restiveness, unemployment, vocational and technical education, poor road networks and inadequate poverty reduction programmes must be tackled. (Channels TV)

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