The National Youth Wing of Ohanaeze Ndigbo worldwide has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to as a matter of urgency assent to the South East Development Commission bill passed by both chambers of the National Assembly.
In a joint statement by the National Youth Leader of Ohanaeze Ndigbo worldwide, Engr. Damian Okafor and the Youth leader of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Ebonyi State Chapter, Mazi Ndubuisi Okah, which was made available to Journalists in Abakaliki, they decried the delay in assenting the bill by the President.
The duo recalled that the 8th Senate on December 12, 2018, passed the bill for the establishment of the South-East Development Commission, and one week to the end of the 8th Assembly, the House of Representatives also had on 28th May 2019, passed the same Bill, but wondered why the President had not considered it necessary to assent to the bill.
“The news of the passage of the bill by the two chambers was received with high hope by the people of the South East region and beyond, because of the several issues it is meant to address in the region, including tackling ecological and environmental problems that arise from the soil erosion and other related environmental challenges in the South East region and advice the federal government and member states on the prevention and control of the erosion and environmental challenges as well as identifying factors inhibiting the development of the South East and assist members on the formulation.
“The implementation of the policies will ensure sound and efficient management of the resources of the region and it’s also expected to provide a master plan for the reduction of unemployment while also providing the master plan and schemes to promote physical development of the South East region”, the group explained.
The group urged President Buhari to assent the bill in order to assuage the current agitations by the people of the region, saying that until some of the issues of obvious injustice against the Igbo are seen to be addressed, the country would continue to stand on a wrong footing.
“The bad state of roads in the South East is nothing to write home about. Enugu-Onitsha federal road is now a dead trap and so many others. Our public health care system has been totally abandoned. Public Schools in the region are in their worst conditions. Our businesses have been paralysed due to epileptic power supply and social amenities now a luxury in the region. All these have culminated into the high rate of unemployment and underemployment now witnessed in the region. This marginalization and neglect have given rise to uncontrollable agitations by different groups in the region,” the statement added.
