THE newly elected Western Province Premier says the province must be economically prepared if it wants to achieve federal statehood.
Billy Veo highlighted this in his opening remarks at the full assembly meeting in Gizo today, Friday 20 January.
He said the issue has long been debated and many provinces have been vocal about it and there have been several consultations on this issue.
“I know it will come. But a million-dollar question is are we prepared? How do we prepare ourselves?
“To adapt the new federal system is easy but sustaining ourselves in the long run is another thing.
“So, to prepare ourselves we need to have a strong economic foundation to prepare for the changes,” he said.
He said many successful governments having been talking about statehood in order to gain self ananomy to run their own affairs.
“So, its important to be prepared for any change,” Mr Veo said.
MPA Jeffery Wickham in his remarks said the final federal system draft is before Cabinet.
He said the call for federal system is urgent.
“Thus, government must review the Provincial Government Act in order for provinces to prepare for the federal system,” he said.
He said, the province will continue to highlight this issue.
By Moffat Mamu
