Chairman of the Trade Union Congress, TUC, in Enugu State, Chukwuma Igbokwe, has accused governors of the Southeast region of laziness and over dependent on federal allocation.
He explained this attitude as the real cause of hindered development in the region.
Igbokwe said the governors were not willing to harness natural resources in their states to bring about additional revenue.
In an interview with The Punch in Enugu, the TUC chairman noted that the impact of the decline of the country’s oil revenue would not have been severe on the South-East states if successive administrations since 1999 had not abandoned large scale agricultural enterprises established during the first and second republics.
According to the labour leader, “The problem with the South-East is over-reliance on federal allocation by the state governors.
“Since 1999, the governors have been lazy; no attempt was made to harness abundant and viable natural resources available for revenue generation and development.
“The palm oil and cashew plantations, rice farms, poultries and similar ventures that were established across the South-East at industrial scale during the first and second republics are wasting away. They have all been abandoned.