The Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodimma, on Wednesday urged the Federal Government to compensate the people of the South-East for the losses recorded during the country’s civil war of more than 50 years ago.
The governor made the call during the public hearing on the review of the revenue allocation formula held in Owerri, the state capital.
He described the effect of the war as most “devastating,” and urged the federal government to establish a special fund that would address the complaints of people of the region.
According to him, the special fund will provide succour to those who lost their properties and family members during the civil war.
Uzodinma said: “I think the debacles of the civil war led the South-East into a deep poverty level; houses were burnt down and people were killed.
Only recently, a special law was enacted as the North-East Development Commission, arising from the disaster of Boko Haram incidents. But the 30-month civil war that ended in 1970 left the South-East in a state of penury.
“Today, as it stands, the federal government takes home 52.68 percent, state governments, 26.72 per cent, while the 774 local government areas take home 20.60 percent.
“It should not just be about multi-billion-dollar pipeline projects that siphon oil and gas from the state which results to youth restiveness, quantum violence and subsequent deaths.”
