The long-debated South-East Development Commission Bill successfully passed the third reading at the House of Representatives on Thursday, marking a historic moment after facing multiple rejections over the years.
Sponsored by the Deputy Speaker, Benjamin Kalu, alongside other lawmakers from the South East region, the bill’s explanatory memorandum outlines the commission’s crucial role in receiving and managing funds from the Federation Account. These funds are earmarked for the reconstruction and rehabilitation of roads, houses, and other infrastructure damaged during the civil war.
I am delighted that the House of Representatives successfully passed the bill for the establishment of the South East Development Commission after fifty-three long years, today.
This commission when established will be charged with the responsibility of receiving and managing… pic.twitter.com/yLWJ21Cnfd
— Benjamin Kalu (@OfficialBenKalu) December 21, 2023
According to a statement from the Chief Press Secretary to the Deputy Speaker, Mr. Levinus Nwabughiogu, the commission, when established, will have the mandate to address not only the physical reconstruction but also ecological problems and other environmental or developmental challenges faced by the Southeast States—Abia, Imo, Enugu, Anambra, and Ebonyi.
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“The passage of the bill is coming at a time members of the National Assembly from the region led by the Deputy Speaker are championing a new initiative known as Peace in South East Project,” the statement read.
This initiative seeks a non-kinetic approach to resolving socio-economic and sociological challenges while concurrently boosting the infrastructural development of the region.
The successful third reading of the bill now paves the way for it to move to the Senate for concurrence before being transmitted to President Bola Tinubu for his assent, ultimately transforming it into law.
Since the end of the Nigerian civil war in 1970, the development of the Southeast region through a regional development commission has remained a contentious issue. In 2017, The House of Representatives was thrown into a rowdy session, forcing a hasty adjournment of proceedings. The cause of the rowdiness was the rejection of a bill seeking to establish a South-East Development Commission.
The lawmakers had been debating the need for the Southeast geopolitical zone to have a commission to develop collapsed infrastructure and the damage suffered by the zone as a result of the Nigerian Civil War.
However, the bill failed at the session, which was presided over by the Speaker, Yakubu Dogara, after it had been debated. South-East lawmakers protested the decision because the House could have, at least, allowed the bill to pass the second reading for more views to be collated from Nigerians at a public hearing.
A similar bill to establish the North-East Development Commission had since been passed by the National Assembly and was hastily assented to by President Muhammadu Buhari.
The 2017 failed attempt to pass the bill in the House was proceeded by other failed attempts. Also, after the bill was passed by the Senate in 2018, it failed to scale opposition hurdles to become a law. Buhari was once accused of refusing to sign the bill into law.
With secession agitation, led by the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), heightened in the Southeast since 2015 – calls to revisit the bill as a way of mitigating the tension and insecurity in the region have been on high.
The passage of this bill is believed to be signifying a crucial step towards addressing historical grievances, fostering development, and promoting peace in the South East region of Nigeria.