Group Urges FG to Create Two Additional States Within Ijaw Region
A group under the aegis of Ijaw Patriotic Movement (IPM) has called on the Federal Government to, as a matter of utmost importance, create two additional states within the Ijaw ethnic nationality.
The National President of IPM, Comrade Mislaw Ganren who stated this while chatting with newsmen in Yenagoa further noted that the call for the creation of these two additional states became expedient when viewed against the backdrop of the fact that the Ijaws are the fourth largest ethnic groups in the country but unfortunately have the least number of states as compared with the other ethnic groups like the Ibos, Hausas and the Yorubas.
Ganren Mislaw also opined that the Ijaw speaking states in the country dominate the Niger Delta and produce majority of the revenue inflow accruable to the Federal Government basically because of the large deposit of oil and gas in the region which has over the years, became the mainstay of the nation’s economy, adding that the region deserves a better deal for the sake of justice, equity and fairplay.
He pointed out that the present geo-political structure whereby Bayelsa State is the only homogeneous Ijaw state has become outdated, calling on President Bola Tinubu to consider the creation of these two additional homogeneous Ijaw states as a matter of utmost priority to be known as Rivers Oil and Toru Ebeni states as it would go a long way in expanding the frontiers of the socio-economic indices and development of Ijaw region.
He however dismissed the notion that Nigeria at the moment does not need more states but the strengthening of the existing ones but insisted that the country can fully harness it’s heterogeneous nature if more states are created, adding that it would also reduce or eradicate the cry of the minority groups of being marginalized and their interest would also be protected.
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