A bill to establish the South South Development Commission passed second reading in the Nigerian Senate on Thursday.
The proposed Commission, according to the bill sponsored by Senator Ekpeyong Asuquo (Cross River South), “was meant to receive and manage funds from the Federation Account Allocation and other sources, donations, aids, grants for integration, development, resolution of infrastructural deficit, militancy, communal crises as well as tackle ecological, environmental problems; and for related matters”.
Similar bills concerning five other geopolitical zones have been signed into law.
Speaking on the bill, Senator Seriake Dickson (Bayelsa Central) maintained that the South South Development Commission, if approved, would develop the region.
According to him, the South South Development Commission is distinctly different from the Niger Development Commission, which some Senators compared to it in terms of developmental responsibilities.
He said the NDDC was a resource based Commission, as only states with oil could benefit certain percentages of oil production. According to him, not all states in the South South are benefiting from the NDDC.
He said: “The NDDC is a resource based Commission and that is the reason OMPADEC was scrapped and replaced with NDDC. It is interesting to note that Ondo in South West, and Imo and Abia in South East, are beneficiaries of NDDC despite not being South South States.
“States in the North Central have the North Central Development Commission, despite having HYPADEC because they have water bodies generating electricity.
“The South South Development Commission is created based on geopolitical zones and I plead that senators should support this bill as it is often said, what is good for the goose is good for the gander.
“Also not all states in the South South region are benefitting from NDDC. For instance Cross River did not get anything after the court judgment some time ago, but if there is a geopolitically based Commission, they would get something.”
Senator Suleman Kawu (Kano South) and Enyinnaya Abaribe (Abia South), leveraging on Seriake Dickson’s explanation on the differences between NDDC and South South Development Commission, supported the bill.
In his remarks, the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio thanked the sponsor of the bill for this foresight and commended senators from other geopolitical zones for their understanding.
The bill was passed for second reading through voice vote and was referred to the Senate Committee on Special Duties.
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