South-East is being Shortchanged, we need an extra State – Ekweremadu

Senator Ike Ekweremadu has expressed that the South East is shortchanged and needs an extra state to compete with the rest of the country in terms of opportunities and also in the national assembly.

Ekweremadu made this known on Saturday at a town hall meeting in Enugu state.

He said the fair thing to do is to add an extra state to the region as the short change affects the region in voting and resource distribution at the national assembly

He said: “The number [in the national assembly] is lopsided, because of the way the states were created,” he said.

“Right now, the south-east has just five states while others have six and seven. With the senate, we have just fifteen [lawmakers], while some have 18 and some 21.

“So when it comes to voting and resource distribution, we are shortchanged. If you go to the house of representatives, [it’s a] similar thing.

“I believe that the fair thing to do is for the country to agree for us to have an extra state for the south-east. So that will enable us to match with the rest of the country in terms of opportunities and national assembly.”