Goveernors in North Eastern states met yesterday in Yola, Adamawa State capital, to prepare their states for the visit of the country review team of the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), as the states in the region are expected to do their self - assessment next month.

Host governor, Murtala Nyako and Danbaba Suntai of Taraba state, were at the meeting in persons while the governors of Bauchi, Borno, Gombe and Yobe states were represented by their deputies and secretaries to their state governments.

In his opening address, Governor Nyako said the region had for long been suffering from neglect and poor governance, and that the state governments needed to wake up to reverse the trend. He said African Peer Review Mechanism is designed to encourage culture of accountability based on self-imposed standards for good governance and socio-economic development. But he said the system has to be domesticated at the state level to subject governments to self-criticisms and openness to achieve the desired objectives.

He urged the government officials to “ resist the temptation of seeing APRM” as a body that erodes their authority, but to see it as a mechanism for efficient management of government affairs. The governor also called on the public to regard the mechanism as an opportunity to throw open government activities to ensure transparency and discourage corruption.

In his remarks, Governor Suntain of Taraba State noted that there was “ great ignorance and lack of awareness of the programme”, but that he was encouraged by this meeting organized to address the problem. He said APRM was a good initiative for African continent and Tararba State was fully committed to it. “ We are prepared to work with the other states in the region to ensure we take our proper place in this new initiative”, he added.

Earlier, the presidential adviser on African Peer Review Mechanism, Dr Tunji Olagunjo, represented by Alhaji Ali Abacha had told the gathering that the main goal of the programme is to ensure that government conform to the agreed principles of good governance.

He insisted the review mechanism should be established at state level and be free from government interference.
He said under the current arrangement, Nigeria will be peer reviewed in July this year and that the states in the north east region would have their assessments next month.