AT a time that many
observers are saying that most states of the country are not economically
viable, Special Adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan on Inter-Party Affairs,
Senator Ben Obi, has stressed the need to create more states in the South-East
geo-political zone, to address a lingering inequity and disequilibrium in the
polity.
Responding to a question on
why the South-East was asking for an additional state, Obi, who spoke weekend
at an award ceremony organised by the Association of Anambra State Development
Unions (AASDU) for distinguished Anambra citizens in Apapa, Lagos, said: “South-East is not
asking for an additional state.
The South-East demands! “You see, that is the
mistake; when you are talking about an additional state, it is a different
matter. The South-East has to be brought into equity, into fairness in this
country. Until you do that, the issue of extra state is a disequilibrium in the
system. You should balance it first and then you can now talk about extra state
here and other. That is the truth.”
Among the six geo-political
zones, the South-East with five states is the least. The remaining five have a
minimum of six states. The North-West has seven states. The North-Central has
six states and if the Abuja, the Federal Capital
Territory (FCT) is included, it would be seven.
Igbos and 2015
Asked the preparedness of
the Igbo for the 2015 presidential election, the former lawmaker, who made case
for independent candidacy in the on-going constitution amendment, said: “For
me, 2015 is two and half years away. Those who want to run should go about
making their arrangements, but it is a long time and it is starting early in
the day. The answer is go and get your structures, when your structures are
built, when you get to the bridge you can cross the bridge. It is not a moon
tale outing. It is a serious issue.”
On Boko Haram’s readiness
for dialogue with the Federal Government, the 2007 vice presidential candidate
of the Action Congress, said as much the negotiation is welcome, government
could not negotiate with preconditions like releasing all Boko Haram members
being held in detention
“We have been calling for
dialogue. In a situation where you have uprising there is need to jaw -jaw. I
think if they are truly and seriously interested in dialogue, we should engage
them in dialogue.
You don’t place conditions
before security agencies. If a man is a criminal and has been arrested for
criminality you don’t tell people to release them, it is not their duty. You go
to court and let the court release them. But they want to engage in dialogue,
yes they should be engaged in dialogue not with any precondition,” he said.
Other Anambra citizens
honoured with awards alongside Obi included Professor Peter Chigozie Nwilo, Dr
Joseph Odumodu, Dr Ekwenze Anadili, Hon Uche Ekwunife, Chief Paul Odenigbo, Mr
Godwin Ezeemo, Mr Donatus Agupusi, Engr Augustine Emelobe, Chief Daniel Chukwudozie,
Emeka Oranugo, Mr Eberechukwu Nwosu, Dr Mike Ezeagu, Mr John Nwosu, Peter Obih,
James Ezeifeoma and Chief Sebastin Umeobi.
Speaking at the event, the
Guest Speaker, Professor Ray Okafor, a statistician, tied the problems of the
country to inaccurate data, arguing that government policies were based on
rough estimates and projections.
To address the problem, he
canvassed statistical federalism where every state government would have a
statistical agency because “there is a lot of data to be collected from the
wards up to the state level. Here is no state government that has an agency in
the mould of the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS and that is sad.”
Earlier, Lagos AASDU
Chairman, Chief E.I Anyadike, said the award was for people, who had been
successful in selected areas and were therefore “role models through their
businesses, career or community service or philanthropy.”
On his part, the Chairman of
the ceremony, Dr Obiora Chukwuka, urged Anambra indigenes to pay more attention
to education because “the best you are doing today can be better with more
touch of education.”
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