The South-East deserves additional state
The apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, has rekindled the campaign for the creation of additional state for the South-East geo-political zone. The group renewed the call at a recent retreat in Enugu, the capital of Enugu State. Without mincing words, we believe that the demand is just and deserves urgent attention by the federal government.
This is not the first time the apex-Igbo socio-cultural group will be making a case for additional state for the region. Despite several presentations made by the zone to successive Nigerian administrations, the demand for additional state for the South-East has been treated with levity. It has not been given adequate consideration. Ohanaeze Ndigbo had presented the request to the former President Muhammadu Buhari asking him to send an executive bill to the National Assembly for the immediate creation of additional state and more local governments in the South-East region. Unfortunately, the request was not granted.
Ohanaeze Ndigbo has also urged President Bola Tinubu to consider the creation of additional state for the South-East in order to address the decades of marginalisation of the region. It is sad that the South-East is the only geo-political zone with five states in the country. While the North-West region has seven states, the rest has six states each. This lopsidedness in the distribution of states among the six regions cannot be explained. It can never be justified. For equity, justice and good conscience, the South-East deserves additional state to bring it at par with the other zones. The denial of one state to the people of South-East is a grave injustice that must be addressed forthwith. We hope that President Bola Tinubu will rise to the occasion.
The President General of the Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Dr. Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, had at a particular point noted with concern, the obvious inequality and injustice manifested in the appointment of members of the Federal Executive Council (FEC), in which altogether, 48 members were appointed and sworn in, but only five were appointed from the South-East region. If the Federal Character principle, which is enshrined in the 1999 Constitution, is anything to go by, the South-East should have at least eight ministers.
According to Iwuanyanwu, “this action has put the South-East region in an absolute minority in the Federal Executive Council. For the avoidance of doubt, the Ohanaeze Ndigbo stands for equity and justice. Ohanaeze-Ndigbo believes that equity and justice are fundamental prerequisites for an enduring harmonious relationship in a country such as Nigeria with much diversity.”
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The demand for additional state for the South-East is in order and in line with the thinking of the people of the zone and other concerned Nigerians. For a balanced federation, the South-East should be given additional state. Undoubtedly, the structural imbalance has denied the zone of adequate representation in the nations civil service, politics, military and paramilitary agencies, as well as admission into unity schools and federal universities and other higher institutions.
The South-East zone has lost a lot of federal revenue because of having only five states. It has made the South-East the only zone with 95 local government areas out of the 774 councils in the country. The North-West has the highest number of local government areas with 186; North-Central, 114, while the South-South has 125.
The continued marginalisation of the south-East is against the spirit of “no victor, no vanquished” as declared by former Nigerian leader, Gen. Yakubu Gowon, at the end of Nigerian civil war in 1970. It is even against the vision of Reconciliation, Reconstruction and Rehabilitation (3Rs), enunciated by the federal government to reintegrate the people of South-East into Nigeria. We believe that giving the South-East region additional state will douse the current agitation in the zone fueled by marginalisation and other injustices.
For the sake of equity, let the federal government sponsor an executive bill to the National Assembly for the creation of additional state for the South-East region. The matter deserves urgent attention. Above all, the leaders of the region and their representatives in the National Assembly should liaise with their colleagues from other geo-political zones to ensure that the South-East is given additional state. For Nigerian federation to achieve the much-needed socio-economic development, the federal government must right the wrongs of the past.