South-East senators who visited President Muhammadu Buhari during the week gave a list of demands as conditions for the approval of the $29.9bn loan request, Vanguard reports.
It was gathered that the senators demanded the release of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu and the construction of a rail Standard Gauge Spur from Agbor to Onitsha.
They also reportedly requested a place in the National Security Council, the inclusion of South East when concessioning federal roads and airports and construction of extra River Basin Development Authority for the zone.
The lawmakers also demanded the reconstruction of the dilapidating Enugu airport.
Ekweremadu, who spoke to State House Correspondents at the end of the meeting, said “For us from the South East, we believe that dialogue is better than any other form of engagement. So we decided to visit the President and present to him some of the concerns of the South East including the issues of roads and infrastructure.
“We also discussed the issue of security with him and of course the issue of IPOB. We had a good conversation and he promised to look into the issues. This is the South East caucus in the Senate and we came to see the President because of the issues we have in the South East.
“We had a fruitful discussion with the President. He has promised us that he is going to look into the problems of South East. We know that there are problems everywhere but we also believe that the South East is the zone that is far much short-changed at this time than other zones.
“We also talked about the issue of appointments from the South East, especially with respect to the National Security Council. The President also told us that governors of the South East have also engaged him on the same problems. We were reassured by the response we got from the President and we look forward to further interaction with him in this manner.”
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