Loan: Igbo senators who visited Buhari list conditions

The meeting took place on November 9, at Aso Rock

– The Igbo-speaking senators have tabled a long list before the Nigerian president before agreeing to his bid to borrow $29.9 billion

– They listed the continuous detention of Nnamdi Kanu as a condition to support the president’s bid

– The south easterners have also highlighted some needs of their region

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.”

Recently, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) sounded a serious warning to President Buhari government over the purported plan to increase pump prices of fuel.

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