Loan: Igbo senators who visited Buhari list conditions

  The south east senators who recently visited President Muhammadu Buhari were said to have presented a list of demands before him before supporting the president’s $29.9 billion external loan bid.


   According to Vanguard, President Buhari must focus on the
poor state of infrastructure in the zone, the
continuous detention of Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the
Independent People of Biafra (IPOB), as well as a
construction of a rail Standard Gauge Spur from Agbor to
Onitsha.

   The senators also demanded that the president addresses
the issue of kidnapping, herdsmen invasion while they also
stated their desire to get a dry port in Abia, Onitsha and
Enugu.

   There were several other requests listed as the conditions by
the south east caucus of the Senate as they want to have a
stake in the National Security Council with the funding of
federal projects and institutions in the region as they
lamented that they did not get up to 10 percent of
appropriated funds in the zone in the past ten years.

   Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu
addressed journalists after the conditions were listed to the
president, saying: “For us from the South East, we believe that
dialogue is better than any other form of engagement. So we
decided to visit the President and present to him some of the
concerns of the South East including the issues of roads and
infrastructure.

“We also discussed the issue of security with him and of course
the issue of IPOB. We had a good conversation and he promised
to look into the issues. This is the South East caucus in the
Senate and we came to see the President because of the issues
we have in the South East.

  “We had a fruitful discussion with the President. He has
promised us that he is going to look into the problems of South
East. We know that there are problems everywhere but we also
believe that the South East is the zone that is far much short-
changed at this time than other zones.

  “We also talked about the issue of appointments from the South
East, especially with respect to the National Security Council.
The President also told us that governors of the South East have
also engaged him on the same problems. We were reassured by
the response we got from the President and we look forward to
further interaction with him in this manner.”

  The union also refused to support Mr Buhari’s plan to
borrow about $29 billion. NLC said the government should
instead pursue and recover government funds stashed away
and use same to fund infrastructural development

Source:Naij.Com