Meeting with South-East leaders “extremely fruitful“ — Minister

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has described as “extremely fruitful“ the meeting which a presidential team had with leaders and stakeholders of the South-East.

“The meeting of the presidential delegation with South-East leaders was very useful,’’ Mohammed told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Enugu.

The delegation, led by Prof. Ibrahim Gambari, Chief of Staff to President Muhammadu Buhari, met for more than eight hours in Enugu with selected South-East leaders.

Mohammed said that it was quite instructive that all the groups which took part in the meeting believed in the unity and oneness of the country, pointing out that they clearly spelt out this in their presentations.

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“We listened clearly and carefully to all the positions and demands and we are going back to report directly to President Buhari,’’ the minister told NAN.

He noted that the Federal Government had been spreading development and infrastructure to all parts of the country, simultaneously and equitably.

“We want the South-East people to be confident that the Federal Government is spreading development and infrastructure to all parts of the country equitably and will never marginalise any zone in the ongoing development and infrastructure agenda.

“This is what I want to assure Nigerians living in the South-East,’’ Mohammed noted.

According to the minister, when the team gets back to Abuja it will see what can be done immediately concerning some of the positions and demands made by the South-East leaders.

The presidential delegation met with South-East governors, statesmen, elders, religious and traditional leaders, as well as market women and youth leaders.

Apart from the Mohammed and Gambari, other members of the presidential delegation were the Inspector-General of Police, Mr Mohammad Adamu; the Minister of Labour and Productivity, Dr Chris Ngige, the Minister of Science and Technology, Dr Ogbonnaya Onu and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Geoffrey Onyeama.

The Minister of State for Trade and Investment, Dr Uchenna Ogah, the Minister of State for Education, Dr Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba and the Minister of State for Environment Sharon Ikeazor. (NAN)