Ebonyi Nominates Team For South-East Summit

The Ebonyi Government on Tuesday nominated a three-man economic team to participate in working out modalities for an economic summit for the South-East geo-political zone.

Mr. Chike Onwe, the Commissioner for Information and Orientation in the state, stated this on Tuesday while briefing newsmen in Abakaliki on the outcome of the State Executive Council meeting.

Our correspondent reports that the members would join their counterparts from other states of the zone to accomplish the task

Onwe said “…other governors of the zone … accepted proposal by Gov. Elechi for an economic team to articulate and formulate the basis for the proposed regional economic integration.”

The commissioner named the three nominees as Prof. Egwu U. Egwu, the Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Ebonyi State University; Dr. Benjamin Ozo, the former Managing Director of the defunct Spring Bank and Mr Mike Chukwu.

Onwe said that Elechi never opposed the economic integration of the zone but had only requested that the modalities be clarified before such marriage.

“On the integration of the South East, we are saying that the states should retain their independence to develop at their own pace, and there should be no kind of forced marriage at any level or for any programme or project.

“Ebonyi State Government has never opposed the integration of South East states, never. So whatever we are doing now does not amount to a u-turn.

“It is in the interest of the state that the summit holds, and that a team be put together to come up with a masterplan that will be evaluated and confirmed by the governors of the states, after which another team will be assembled for the implementation of the master plan.”

Onwe also said the state executive council condemned the arbitrary electricity bills given to Ebonyi consumers by the Power Holding Company of Nigeria in recent times.

He, however, appealed to members of the public to remain calm and pursue their rights through legitimate means.