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Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodimma, has called for the establishment of a special fund to compensate the south-East over the devastation of the zone during the civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Uzodimma spoke in Owerri, Imo state capital, on Wednesday while declaring open a zonal public hearing on the review of the revenue allocation sharing formula.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The event was organized by the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The governor said if created; the special fund would provide succor to those who lost their properties and family members during the civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI think the debacles of the civil war led the south-east into a deep poverty level; houses were burnt down, people were killed,\u201d Uzodinma said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOnly 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.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Uzodinma said the current revenue allocation formula which was last reviewed in 1992 is \u201cobsolete\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The governor said the south-east has suffered \u201cgreat injustice\u201d on how revenues accruing from the zone are shared.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cToday, as it stands, the federal government takes home 52.68 per cent, state governments, 26.72 per cent, while the 774 local government areas take home 20.60 per cent,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said Imo currently has seven oil-producing companies but 43 oil wells were \u201cwrongfully\u201d allocated to Rivers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Uzodinma said 25 percent of gas production in Bonny is piped from Imo, but revenue accruing from it does not go to the state \u201cwhile pollution is threatening the lives and assets of the residents of the area\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He urged RMAFC to look into the matter with a view to resolving it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He called on the federal government to establish petrochemical industries, fertilizer plants and other value chains in the oil and gas sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt 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,\u201d the governor said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI think that God did not make mistake endowing Imo with natural resources.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodimma, has called for the establishment of a special fund to<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27176,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33917","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-frontpage"],"yoast_head":"\n