From Azimazi Momoh Jimoh and John Akubo, Abuja

Members of the National Assembly from the North East geo-political zone rose from an emergency meeting in Abuja, yesterday, and protested the exclusion of the zone from key developmental projects of the Federal Government, particularly the Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones (SAPZ).

But the lawmakers quickly absolved Vice President Kashim Shettima, which zone flagged off the first Phase of the project of culpability, insisting he represented the President, not the zone.

Yet seven states from the North, including FCT, were selected without a single state from the zone. The North East Caucus National Assembly Caucus equally expressed support for recent observations by former Senate Leader, Mohammed Ali Ndume, against alleged lopsided appointment by the Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led Federal Government.

Led by a former Gombe State governor, Danjuma Goje, the lawmakers believe that being the zone that suffered most from insecurity and its associated economic devastation, the North East should not be short-changed from any economic development projects.

They described it as a “grave oversight” that undermines the principles of equity and national integration. The lawmakers, comprising Senators and House of Representatives members from Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Taraba, and Yobe States, said the exclusion of the zone was unacceptable, given its vast agricultural and livestock potential.

The briefing followed an emergency meeting called by the lawmakers, many of whom interrupted their recesses to address what they saw as a major policy imbalance by the Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led administration.

In his address, the chairman of the caucus, Senator Danjuma Goje, said, “Despite the enormous agricultural resources in our region, the North East is conspicuously missing from the SAPZ project -an initiative meant to transform Nigeria’s agricultural landscape and generate jobs.”