COMMUNIQUE OF THE FIRST SUMMIT OF
SOUTH-SOUTH PDP STAKEHOLDERS
HELD AT IBOM ICON GOLF RESORT IN UYO. MONDAY, MARCH 21ST 2022
The Summit was convened by the South-South Zonal leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party in its committed quest to effectively articulate the interests of the South-South geopolitical zone within the context of prevailing political and economic realities in our nation today, and to reposition the Zone as a key driver of critically needed focussed efforts at national rebirth in these challenging times.
2. In attendance were the National Vice~ Chairman of the Party South-South, four PDP Governors in the zone; members of the National Assembly from the Zone, representative members of the Party executives at all levels, respected opinion leaders and leaders of thought from across the South South zone
3. After the welcome address by Governor Udom Emmanuel the host Governor, the South-South Zonal Chairman in his address, gave an explication of the rationale behind the Summit and stressed the imperative of evolving a zonal consensus on specific issues as they affect the States in the geopolitical zone, and the need to define and engender an agenda for engaging with the rest of the nation in the march towards 2023 and beyond.
4. Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, Chairman of the South-South PDP Governors Forum spoke in the same vein, stressing unity and co-operation.
5. The South-South Summit document was presented by Professor Ehimika Ifidon and exhaustively discussed. At the end of the discussions, the Summit resolved as follows:
I. The Zone is unequivocally committed to the enthronement of true federalism in all its ramifications in principle and practice
II. The Zone finds the prevalent state of insecurity across the country particularly concerning and calls for more concerted efforts to enhance the operational capacity of the security agencies; the zone also demands clarity on issue of State Police.
III. The Zone gravely laments the palpable hardship faced by Nigerians today occasioned by the abysmally poor state of the national economy; a situation that has been compounded by the daunting scenario of prolonged fuel scarcity, ever rising cost of petroleum products, and the all but total collapse of the national power grid.
IV. The Zone is in full support of the stance of the Southern Governors that the next President should come from the South
6. Finally, it was resolved that the Zonal Summit would hold on a regular basis and provide the platform for the aggregation of the interests of the zone with a view to eventual political and economic integration of the States that make up the zone, and clearly defining the terms of engagement with other zones as well as the Federal Government..
