By Saawua Terzungwe Southern and Northern Senators have disagreed over the agitation for the return of Nigeria to the regional form of government. They expressed their views at the sidelines of the ongoing two-day retreat on the amendments to the 1999 constitution organised by the Senate Committee on Constitution Review in collaboration with the Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC) in Kano. While senators from the northern part of the country who spoke on the issue vehemently opposed it, those from southern Nigeria, described it as a welcome development that would improve the economy, tackle insecurity and fast -track infrastructural development.
The Red Chamber through the Senate Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele, has however assured Nigerians that issue of regionalism was not part of the ongoing review of nation’s constitution. Residents, NAF disagree as airstrike kills scores in Kaduna Heart diseases spike, fuel sudden deaths in Nigeria A ranking Senator from Bauchi Central Senatorial District, Abdul Ningi, told journalists, said his people will never support the idea because they did not enjoy any form of development when the system of government was practiced in the defunct First Republic. The Chairman, Senate Committee on Finance, Senator Sani Musa, advised Nigerians against mistaken the establishment of the Zonal development commission for regionalism.
He said the various geopolitical zonal development commission was strictly for the social and economic development of thei.