…insists Rivers was deliberately deleted
from all projects
…yet you don’t want Rivers state to collect VAT
By Emman Ovuakporie
The Rivers State National Assembly Caucus has declared that loans being requested by President Muhammadu Buhari are unconstitutional and discriminatory in approach and scope.
TheNewsGuru.com, (TNG) recalls that the Federal Government had written to NASS on resumption from its annual recess last week demanding for fresh loans of $4billion and €710million.
The Rivers caucus apparently disappointed with the incessant loans and the manner the projects are Indiscriminately distributed among states has kicked against the move.
The caucus in a statement issued and signed by their caucus leaders, Senator George Sekibo and Rep Kingsley Chinda stated that:
“There’s no equity and fairness in the manner the projects are being distributed which flagrantly violates the provision of the Constitution.
“The manner and approach so far adopted by the Buhari led Government obviously violated Sections 16(1) and 16(2) which states interlia that:
“The State shall…… harness the resources of the nation and promote national prosperity and an efficient , dynamic and self reliant economy and control the national economy in such manner as to secure the MAXIMUM WELFARE, FREEDOM AND HAPPINESS OF EVERY CITIZEN on the basis of social justice and equality…..”
“The State shall direct its policy towards ensuring (a) the promotion of a planned and balanced economic development (b) that the MATERIAL RESOURCES OF THE NATION are harnessed and DISTRIBUTED AS BEST AS POSSIBLE TO SERVE THE COMMON GOOD.
“From all indications, the Buhari government has deliberately deleted Rivers State from Nigeria as all the loans being requested no single project was attached to Rivers and you do not want the state to collect its hard earned VAT guaranteed by the Constitution.
“A look at the spread of the projects in our six geo-political zones indicate that the South West and North West, zones of the president and his vice got the highest.
Anambra, Benue, Ebonyi, Niger, Ogun, Taraba, Nasarawa, Enugu and Kogi are implementing states of various projects.
The benefiting States for the agro-processing project are, Kogi, Kaduna, Kano, Cross River, Enugu and Lagos with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development as the implementing ministry.
The benefiting states for the project to be co-financed by World Bank and European Investment Bank (EIB) are: Akwa Ibom, Borno, Oyo, Sokoto, Kano, Katsina, Edo, Plateau, Abia, Nasarawa, Delta, Niger, Gombe, Imo, Enugu, Kogi, Anambra, Ebonyi, Cross River, Ondo, Kaduna, Kebbi, Jigawa, Bauchi, Ekiti, Ogun, Benue, Yobe and Kwara.
“The question that Nigerians should help us ask Buhari led Government is what about other states such as Rivers and Bayelsa States are visibly missing in all the listed projects across Nigeria.
“This clearly points to the fact that it was a deliberate act to subjugate these states as if they are not part of the federating units in Project Nigeria.
“It’s appalling and disappointing that the Buhari led Government could be this petty in the distribution of projects without capturing some federating units for no just reason.
“We do not need a soothsayer to tell us that this is a political move to deliberately deny us of our constitutional rights as part and parcel of Nigeria
“The Rivers caucus in NASS will not sit on the fence and watch this discriminatory and unconstitutional system of administration of what duly belongs to all Nigerians to only the Buhari annointed states.