The Nigerian Senate on Thursday passed the second reading of a bill to establish the South South Development Commission.
The bill, sponsored by Senator Ekpeyong Asuquo (Cross River South), proposes that the Commission will manage funds from the Federation Account, donations, and other sources to address infrastructure deficits, militancy, communal crises, and ecological and environmental challenges, among others.
Similar commissions for five other geopolitical zones have already been approved.
Supporting the bill, Senator Seriake Dickson (Bayelsa Central) argued that the South South Development Commission, if approved, would drive the region’s development. He emphasized that it differs from the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), which some Senators had compared it to. According to Dickson, the NDDC primarily benefits oil-producing states, while the South South Commission would have a broader scope to include all states in the region.
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.”
Senators Suleman Kawu (Kano South) and Enyinnaya Abaribe (Abia South), building on Senator Seriake Dickson’s clarification of the differences between the NDDC and the proposed South South Development Commission, voiced their support for the bill.
Senate President Godswill Akpabio, in his remarks, praised the bill’s sponsor for his foresight and commended senators from other geopolitical zones for their cooperation.
The bill passed its second reading via a voice vote and was referred to the Senate Committee on Special Duties for further consideration.
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