Abia State residents have urged the Federal Government to create Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) Centres in the South East region where their vehicles can be converted from the use of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), popularly known as petrol, to that of CNG.

They said that after online searches for the reported designated 100 CNG centres, none was specified in/for the South-East, describing the scenario as denying the region of federal projects and interventions.

They made this call, yesterday, during the public townhall forum tagged, “Sensitising the Citizenry on Federal Government Interventions,” organised by the Federal Ministry of Information and National Orientation, held at the Police Officers Mess, Umuahia, the state capital.

The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Dr. Mohammed Idris, in his address read by the Head of Federal Information Centre in Abia State, Mrs. Gloria Ify Abiakam, said that the forum was to inform and empower fellow Nigerians about the Federal Government’s intervention programmes designed to ease the impact of recent policy changes, particularly the removal of fuel subsidy.

He said: “The removal of the fuel subsidy, while necessary, has brought about challenges that many of us are feeling today, but the good news is that our government is not blind to these challenges, nor are we indifferent.”

The residents/participants drawn from across the state and various walks of life also cited some other federal interventions from which they alleged the zone had been marginalised, including the recently introduced Students Loan Scheme, N40,000.00 per bag rice, among others.

Stressing the imperative of the zone being treated equitably like others, the traditional ruler of Umutowe Olokoro in Umuahia South Council, Eze Godfrey Chinedu Onwuka, commended the Federal Government interventions but decried the marginalisation of the zone during their implementations.

He welcomed the public sensitisation forum stating that such fora would educate the citizenry on federal interventions and how to apply and access them.