10 northern govs hosted in White House

The 10 northern governors attending a symposium in the United States were yesterday ‎hosted at the White House, Washington, during which they held a closed-door meeting with President Barack Obama’s National Security Advisor, Ambassador Susan Rice.
The governors, led by Borno State Governor and chairman of the Northern States Governors’ Forum, Kashim Shettima, also held a closed-door meeting with U.S Secretary of State, John Kerry at the State Department, also in Washington, according to a statement mailed to Daily Trust by Shettima’s Special Adviser on Media and Communications, Isa Umar Gusau, who said the governors also held a meeting with Gayle Smith, the administrator of the multi-million dollars United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in Washington.
Gusau said the three meetings focused on deepening collaboration on conflict elimination, prevention, humanitarian aid and partnerships on solving development factors responsible ‎for recurring ethno-religious violence in northern Nigeria.
The three-day symposium which ends today is being attended by governors Darius Ishaku ‎of Taraba, Simon Lalong of Plateau, Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara, AbdulAziz Yari of Zamfara, Bindo Jibrilla of Adamawa, Muhammad Abdullahi Abubakar of Bauchi, Abubakar Sani Bello of Niger, Kashim Shettima of Borno, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal of Sokoto and Deputy Governor of Kano State, Professor Hafiz Abubakar who is representing Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje of Kano State.
The governors on Tuesday began the symposium organized by the United States Institute of Peace, an agency established and funded by the United States Government, with focus on the conflicts and under-development in Northern Nigeria.