The apex Igbo socio-cultural group, Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, has stated that restructuring the country is key to national development, News About Nigeria reports.
The President-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, stated this while speaking at the Ohanaeze Ndigbo Retreat with the theme “Ako Bu Ije” (Development with Wisdom) on Wednesday in Enugu.
He noted that, in addition to restructuring the country, there is a need for the creation of additional states in the Southeast.
According to him, this will help the states have reasonable autonomy to develop at their own pace without any hindrance from the federal government, adding that they will be able to build their own seaports, railways, and other infrastructure to develop the zone.
The Igbo Leader also lamented that the southeast had lost trillions because of inadequate states like in other geopolitical zones and threatened to take legal action against the Federal Government if it failed to give the region additional state equivalents to other zones in the country.
“We are assembling Igbo lawyers to pursue it,” he stated.
He further stated that the group is against the merger of the Project Development Institute (PRODA) with other science institutes, stressing that the institute was born out of the experience of the Nigerian Civil War.
“Ohanaeze is in full support of the implementation of the Oronsaye report but will request all Igbo anywhere to ensure that PRODA is not merged with any other institutions,” he added.
He, however, maintained that the Ohanaeze was not happy with the 1999 Constitution as amended and called for the restructuring of Nigeria, where power would devolve from the federal government to the state government.
