The governors had also called for state police and devolution of powers from the federal government to the states.

Some of the resolutions of the southern governors earned them a barrage of attacks from the federal government and from politicians who hail from Nigeria's northern region.

"We owe no apologies, because we spoke the truth and we thought that the truth we spoke was in the best interest of this nation," Okowa said.

Okowa expressed surprise that some elements in the presidency are still advocating for the retention of open grazing of cattle. 

"Can we truly at this moment be promoting open grazing? Thank God that the president was misrepresented, because I have seen news headlines that the president is not opposed to the ban on open grazing.

"We need to begin to look into what is best for us. Where we were 50 years ago should not be where we should be today and tomorrow," he added.

He acknowledged that transitioning from open grazing to ranching could take a while. "But the process has to start and there must be a programme that must become evident, a programme in which we will begin to see actions being taken," he said.

He warned that Nigeria's growing food insecurity may soon spiral to a tipping point on account of the threat posed by open grazing of cattle.

"Today, a lot of money is being spent by the Central Bank of Nigeria to encourage farmers to ensure that we are food sufficient but a lot of these efforts are lost, because of insecurity.

"Farmers can't go to farm, their crops are destroyed, they are maimed and raped and some are even killed. We cannot continue like this, because if you have a programme you are spending billions on, we must secure it and we must ensure the food security of this country," the governor added.

Okowa called for wholesale adoption of ranching given that, apart from safety issues, it is more beneficial for both cattle owners and herders.

"Ranching obviously is the only way out as is happening in other climes and it's not impossible in this place. In some parts of Taraba State, ranching has been on for so many years and we can actually create those ranches where the cattle will have more meat, more milk and then the children can actually afford to go to school", he said.

"We may not go into the big ranches but we can start in some form by acquiring some lands for that purpose and it may not be owned by individuals. Government can own the ranches where individuals can come and populate and pay some form of token," the governor stated.

"The voices for restructuring have been very strong out there. Why will somebody even criticize on restructuring? The only thing you need to know is that restructuring is of various facets, you only have to bring forth your arguments", Okowa said.

Among those who criticized the Asaba Declaration were Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation Abubakar Malami and the president's spokesperson Garba Shehu.

"I actually thought that the voices who tend to criticize the meeting failed to have an understanding. People should learn to approach things after a very deep thought rather than just looking at the surface, picking one thing and speaking about it. 

"We actually came in as state governors to reaffirm our belief in the Nigerian state and secondly we do also realise that there are things going on very wrongly and there was a need to address them", the governor said.