The Lake Chad Basin Governors Forum has reaffirmed its commitment to advancing stabilisation, recovery and resilience in the region.

This was contained in a 13-point key resolution communique issued after the 5th Lake Chad Basin Governors Forum hosted by the Yobe State governor, Mai Mala Buni in Maiduguri.

The forum also noted with concern, the suspension of donor support for Niger’s National Window of the Regional Stabilisation Facility (RSF).

According to the forum, the action will negatively impact progress across the region, while calling for a concerted effort to urgently address the challenge.

The governor of Diffa, Niger Republic, Brig-Gen Mahamadou Ibrahim Bagadoma read the communique alongside the host governor, Governor Mai Mala Buni of Yobe, who takes over as the chairman of the forum.

Governors of Borno State, Prof Babagana Zulum; Adamawa State, Umura Fintiri; Abate Edi’i Jean of North Region, Cameroon; Ildjima Abdraman of Hadjer Lamis Region, Chad;  Midjiyawa Bakari of the Far North Region, Cameroon; and Gen Saleh Haggar Tidjani of the Province of Lac, Chad were all present.

The forum said it was committed to “ensuring that member states strengthen strategic support to the operational capacity of the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) and/or invest in trans-border security; ensuring that member states effectively occupy the Lake Chad Islands as a means of strengthening trans-boundary security with a focus on securing and controlling the waterways and ensuring that remnants of all non-state armed groups are completely neutralised in all the member states.”