PANDEF calls for equal treatment for all regions

Chairman, Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), Air Commodore (rtd) Idongesit Nkanga, said for Nigeria to truly attain the status of nationhood, it must not continue to treat any of the regions as second class.

Nkanga who disclosed this during a send-off party organised by the Commissioner for Information & Strategy, Mr. Ini Ememobong, for his predecessor and Commissioner for Environment, Sir Charles Udoh, as well as five retired Directors of the Ministry on Friday, insisted that Nigeria must be restructured, else it would restructure itself. 

He maintained that Nigeria cannot experience true peace without justice, saying the country has over the years, been meted untold social injustice, which has culminated in economic injustice on the Niger Delta region. 

“Nigeria is at a cross road, Niger Delta is in trouble. Social injustice has translated to economic injustice. We want Nigeria to be a nation. One of the sacrifices is that you cannot have a second-class citizen in a first class country. If you do not restructure this country it would restructure itself. 

“We are interested in the first pillar of restructuring that is fiscal federalism. 50 per cent was for the people to use to develop itself. We are operating a unitary system of government where one person sits and decides.”

Earlier, the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Ememobong, described the Deputy Governor and pioneer Commissioner for Information, Mr. Moses Ekpo, as a living legend, noting that, the night was set aside to celebrate his predecessor, Udoh and the retired directors for their respective mark’s in the ministry.