The House of Representatives says the ongoing constitution amendment process presents an opportunity to strengthen the bonds of national unity and peaceful coexistence among the peoples and ethnic nationalities of Nigeria.

Deputy Minority Whip of the House, George Ozodinobi, gave this po-sition as the clamour for an additional state in the South East geopolitical zone gained traction at the Constitution Review Public Hearing, which held in Enugu for South East Zone A comprising Enugu, Ebonyi and Anambra States.

Ozodinobi, who chaired the South East Constitution Review Public Hearing for Zone A Centre, which held at the multipurpose Hall of the International Conference Centre, Enugu, emphasised that the National Assembly is committed to using the ongoing constitution alteration process to building a strong and virile country where no group is oppressed or marginalised.

Ozodinobi said: “The emphasis must be made here that the foundation for the unity of this great nation lies on how seriously we handle this national assignment.

“I therefore urge every presenter or group to focus more on what will bring growth, unity, peace and sustainable development to Nigeria because history beckons on us as the most populous black nation to take the lead in bringing sense of pride to every black person existing on our planet earth.”

The Speaker, Ebonyi State House of Assembly, Moses Ijeh Odunwa, in his presentation stressed the need for the National Assembly to leverage on the current Constitution review to correct what he called imbalance in state creation in the country by creating an additional state for the South East.

He maintained that the imbalance in the number of states across geopolitical zones in the country should be addressed to ensure balance and parity, before the consideration of applications for state creation in other zones.