Governor of Ebonyi State, David Umahi, has warned Igbos to prepare adequately for a day when allocations from the federal government will dry up.
According to him, the calls for restructuring of Nigeria will make that day come sooner than expected.
The governor said this at the Ebonyi government house, Abakaliki when he received a women group, Ebonyi Women Movement for Akabaraoha.
Umahi, who is also the Chairman of South-east Governors’ Forum, said only adequate preparations will enable the zone cope with the challenges that may occur if restructuring of Nigeria was achieved.
He said: “Very soon, there will be no more money coming from Abuja, it will happen just suddenly. If they just say okay let us do restructuring and of course the North is doing greatly very well, how do we survive? North has a lot of opportunities, they are moving into agriculture.
“And so some people see restructuring as a dream that may not come to pass. If they say we must restructure and let every region harness its resources and keep it, bring 50% of it to the centre, 30% to common pocket to be redistributed and 20% to the federal government.
“The question is, what are we going to bring to the centre? But this is one of the aspects of restructuring and so we must wake up. I will continue to shout it, we must hear that and I am happy the President commended Ebonyi State in agriculture and fertiliser.
“One of my fights in this state is that Abakaliki rice is not dimmed because it is known all over the world. But we have to do different things if we must excel. We have improved in agriculture actually but we have not reached our destination and we must get to the destination in rice production in this country.”
He called on women of the state to key into his empowerment programmes and promised more appointment of women into his administration.
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