South-East Governors’ Forum has asked the people of the region to remain calm as the the loan package is still undergoing approval process at the National Assembly.
The Federal Government has proposed for the approval of the Assembly a loan of $22.7billion which has drawn some controversy since it was mooted last week.
Some breakdown of the projects for which the loan is being taken have indicated that the entire South East region loudly omitted from the areas that will benefit from the loan, even as Northwest got close to $7b in projects under the package.
But the governors noted in a statement signed by the five of the m from the region, that the loan have not been approved by the National Assembly.
According to them, ‘South East Governors’ Forum met on Saturday, 7th March, 2020, following a lot of calls and condemnations from our people questioning why South East should be excluded from the proposed Federal Government’s Loan of Twenty-Two Billion, Seven Hundred Thousand US Dollars ($22.7 billion), whereas the other 5 zones of the country have visible budget.”
“Our people gave the impression that the Senate had already approved the sum despite objections raised by the South East Senators”..
The Governors noted that the House of Representatives has not considered the loan.
They said they have reached out to Mr. President, the Senate President and Mr. Speaker and gotten assured responses that they will address the issues within the context of the loan.
“We therefore plead with our people to be calm and engage us constructively as we believe that Mr. President has never said no to any of the requests of the South East Governors”.
“The South East Governors believe that we can deploy dialogue, negotiation and good understanding to right any perceived injustice, rather than engage the Federal Government in a battle of which no body is expected to win the boss”
“We have written to Mr. President and the leadership of the National Assembly on this matter and we believe that the inclusion of the South East Rail line corridors, development of our Coal Plant in Enugu and development of limestone deposits in the South East should make the list with the loan”
‘We must however continue to thank our dear President for his unstoppable kind attention on the construction of the 2nd Niger Bridge, renovation/expansion of Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Reconstruction of Port Harcourt/Enugu two-lane expressway, and other projects in the South East by the Federal Government’.
‘We pledge our loyalty and support to Mr. President in the face of this challenging moment of our National history as we keep faith in God Almighty,” he said.
