Senate passes North-central Development Commission bill

On Thursday, the Senate passed a bill establishing the North-central Development Commission (NCDC).

The Deputy Senate President, Barau Jibrin, who presided over the plenary, announced the establishment after most lawmakers supported it through a voice vote.

The clauses of the bill were considered and approved by the Committee of the Whole.

After considering a report of its Committee on Special Duties, the upper chamber passed the bill, presented by Kaka Shehu, its chairman.

Mr Shehu, the senator representing Borno Central Senatorial District, said the bill aims to strengthen the economy and infrastructural development of the North-central geopolitical zone.

The commission would manage funds for resettlement, rehabilitation, integration and reconstruction of roads, houses and business premises of victims of flood and farmer/herders clashes, communal clashes, construction of large format drainage systems, dredging of rivers Niger and Benue to control flood and incidental matters in the region.

It would also tackle poverty, illiteracy and other related environmental or developmental challenges facing the North-central states.

Mr Shehu recommended the passage of the bill and urged his colleagues to support the commission’s establishment.

The lawmakers did not debate the bill before the deputy senate president put the passage to the vote, and most lawmakers supported it.

States in the North-central region are Kogi, Niger, Benue, Kwara, Plateau, Nasarawa and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.

The bill will now be sent to the House of Representatives for concurrence.

Existing commissions

If the bill scales through legislative hurdles in the House, it will be part of the commissions established for intervention in geopolitical zones.

The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) was established in 2000 to intervene in issues and development in the Niger Delta areas.

The states in the NDDC are Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Edo and Delta in the South-south, Abia and Imo in the South-east and Ondo in the South-west.

The North-east Development Commission (NEDC) was established in 2017 following the devastation of the region by Boko Haram insurgents. The board of the commission was inaugurated in May 2019 by President Muhammadu Buhari.

The current Senate also passed the South-east Development Commission (SEDC) bill in February, while the North-west Development Commission (NWDC) bill was passed in May.

The bill seeking the creation of the South-west Development Commission passed a second reading in the Senate in February.

There are, however, concerns that all the geopolitical zones in the country are seeking to have development commissions established for them.

Some analysts have attributed it to the determination of the zones not to be cheated.