
South East Governors at a forum in Enugu
Chairman of All Progressive Congress (APC) Governors Forum and Imo State Governor, Owelle Rochas Okorocha was among the five South East Governors who have bitterly alleged negatively skewed implementation of the 2017 federal budgets in the zone.
The summary of the governors’ observations was presented by the Director General of the South East Governors Forum, Prof. Simeon Otuanya, who averred that the region has continued to be allegedly shortchanged in projects’ execution.
The report, jointly organized by the South-East Governors’ Forum in collaboration with some non-governmental organisations, including Hope Givers Initiative, Christian Aid and Partnership to Engage, Reform and Learn in Enugu, therefore called on the Federal Government to faithfully implement the recently passed 2018 budget for the zone considering volumes of projects yawning for federal attention.
Besides, a co-presenter of the document, an economist, Dr. Uzochukwu Amakom, stated that projects allocated to the South East in the 2017 budget were either not started, abandoned, poorly executed or still ongoing.
In his remarks, Prof. Simeon Otuanya, on behalf of the governors made it clear that “We believe that such re-balancing must take into consideration the concepts of equity and fairness vertically and horizontally in order to develop every nook and cranny of the nation.
“We will continue to work as think tanks to review budget allocations and implementations at the state and national levels for all the years forward with special interest on how they are helping the region towards economic renaissance.”