Southeast, southsouth governors demand more revenue allocation from FG
– Governors from southeast and southsouth met in a closed door meeting in Uyo
– At the meeting which was held in Uyo, over the weekend, the governors made a list of demands
– They appealed to the federal government to increase revenue allocation to states in the zones
Southeast and southsouth governors recently met to discuss the need for the federal government to increase revenue allocation to states in the zones.
plusmilang.com gathers that the governors urged the federal government to increase the allocation to reflect the current prices of crude oil in the international market.
According to a report by Vanguard, the demand was contained in a comminuque released by the governors after the meeting which was held over the weekend in Uyo, Akwa-Ibom state.
The communique read: “Worried about the abysmal state of road infrastructure in the zones, The Forum proposed that the federal government relinquishes all ‘federal’ roads to states where such roads are located and facilitate legislation that would ease concession of the roads.
“In the interim, the forum appeals to the federal government to intervene urgently to improve on the current state of some critical infrastructural facilities located in the zone. Some of these facilities include: The Port Harcourt International Airport; the Margaret Ekpo International Airport, Calabar; the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu, Sam Mbakwe International Airport; and several other roads located in the zone.
“The forum noted the rather shoddy approach to infrastructural development by some intervention agencies of the federal government operating in the regions and appealed to the federal government to urge these agencies to liaise with the respective state governments in the identification and execution of infrastructural projects.
“The forum believes that this approach will ensure that the projects carried out by the intervention agencies are in sync with the developmental agenda of the respective states and will lead to better standards of project execution.”
Governors in attendance at the meeting were; Owelle Rochas Okorocha of Imo state; Nyesom Wike of Rivers state; Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa state; Ifeanyi Okowa, Delta state; Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu state; Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia state; while deputy governors Professor Ivara Esu of Cross River and Dr Nkem Okeke of Anambra states represented their bosses.
Meanwhile, plusmilang.com previously reported that senators from southern part of Nigeria, on Friday, November 24, met in Calabar, Cross River state, for a 2-day conference on national unity and restructuring. According to a report by Punch, the conference, tagged “National Unity and Restructuring” was headed by deputy Senate president, Ike Ekweremadu.
