Uchechukwu Okoroafor,Abuja
To state that the South East region has been marginalized since the end of the Nigeria-Biafra Civil War in 1970 is an understatement. The three-year-old war, which claimed more than 3 million lives, most of them from the present-day South East Zone, ended with the then head of state, General Yakubu Gowon, declaring “no victor, no vanquished’’ and promising the infamous 3Rs (Reconciliation, Reconstruction and Rehabilitation) policy that was largely unimplemented. It is believed that the failure of the 3Rs was behind the feeling of marginalization in the South East, the emergence of separatist groups like the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), and the insecurity in the region.
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However, recent events appear to indicate that there is a light at the end of the tunnel, through the instrumentality of the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Honourable Benjamin Kalu, who sponsored the South East Development Commission Bill. The bill was passed in December 2023 by the House of Representatives.
Also, on Thursday, February 22, 2024, the Senate passed the bill. The Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, announced the passage of the bill during plenary, after it was read for the third time and supported by the majority of the senators.
It will be transmitted to President Bola Tinubu for assent before it becomes an Act of parliament.
The bill seeks to establish a commission to manage infrastructural development such as the construction and rehabilitation of roads, houses, and other infrastructural damages in the south-eastern region.
The commission will also be empowered to tackle ecological problems and any other related environmental or developmental challenges in the region.
The commission will receive and manage funds from the allocation of the Federation Account to execute infrastructural projects in the South-east.
The agitation for the establishment of the commission started many years ago. The bill to establish the commission was passed by members of the 8th Senate, but former President Muhammadu Buhari did not assent to it.
Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu, and some other lawmakers from the South-east reintroduced the bill in the lower chamber last year.
The House passed the bill last December and transmitted it to the Senate for concurrence.
In his remarks, Akpabio said the bill will address the fears and concerns of the people of the Southeast.
The Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Okezie Kalu, the initiator of the bill, has commended the Senate for the passage of the Bill.
Recall. that the proposed legislation sponsored by Kalu was passed by the Senate after considering and adopting its clauses at the Committee of the Whole, chaired by the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio.
Recall also that the House of Representatives, on December 21, 2023, at its Committee of the Whole chaired by the Deputy Speaker, Kalu, unanimously passed the Bill for Third Reading and subsequently sent it to the Senate for concurrence.
Reacting to the development in a statement issued by his Special Assistant on Press Affairs, Udora Orizu, Kalu commended the Senate, noting that the Bill, when passed into law and eventually assented to by President Bola Tinubu, will help to rebuild the South East region from the damage of the civil war.
This is just as he noted that the passage of the bill is coming at a time when South East lawmakers are championing the Peace in South East Project, a non-political movement using a non-kinetic approach to resolving the problems in the region.
Kalu said, “I’m grateful to my colleagues in the Senate led by the President, Senator Godswill Akpabio, for passing through the 3rd reading of the bill seeking the establishment of the South East Development Commission, which I sponsored. I am equally grateful to my colleagues in the House who supported and passed the bill recently.
“The commission is very important because, when established, it will help in the rebuilding of the post-war reconstruction that has not been attended to for over fifty years.
“The Commission shall conceive, plan, and implement, by the set rules and regulations, projects and programmes for the sustainable development of the South East States in the field of transportation, including roads, health, education, employment, agriculture, industrialization, housing and urban development, water supply, electricity, and telecommunications; cause the South East States to be surveyed to ascertain measures that are necessary to promote its physical and socio-economic development.
“Implement all the measures approved for the development of the South East States by the Federal Government and the member States of the Commission; identify factors inhibiting the development of the South East States and assist the member States in the formulation and implementation of policies to ensure sound and efficient management of the resources of the South East States;
“Assess and report on any project being funded or carried out in the South East States by mineral extracting and mining companies, oil and gas producing companies, and any other company, including non-governmental organisations, and ensure that funds released for such projects are properly utilised.
“It shall further tackle ecological and environmental problems that arise from the extraction and mining of solid mineral, exploration of oil mineral in the South East States and advise the Federal Government and the member States on the prevention and control of oil spillages, gas flaring and environmental pollution; liaise with the various solid mineral extraction and mining companies and oil and gas prospecting and producing companies on all matters of pollution prevention and control; and execute such other works and perform such other functions which in the opinion of the Commission are required for the sustainable development of the South East States and its peoples,” the statement further read.
Meanwhile, the Igbo apex socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, has hailed the passage of the bill seeking the establishment of the South-East Development Commission by the Senate, saying ‘although it is coming too late, nevertheless, it is a welcome development as it would help develop the region.’
Reacting to the development, the Vice President, Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, Chief Damian Okeke-Ogene, said, “Inasmuch as it is coming late, it is a welcome development because it is part of Gowon’s administration’s three ‘Rs’ of Reconstruction, Rehabilitation and Rebuilding after the civil war in 1970, which have never been implemented.
“Another major issue that is still waiting to be implemented is the creation of more states in the South-East to balance equity, which is what the Ohanaeze has been advocating for, equity, fairness and justice.’’
“In appreciation of what the National Assembly has done, we believe they will also use this to create additional states in the South-East. We also believe the commission will be well managed when fully established because nothing has been mismanaged in the South-East, and we also believe this will engender developmental growth in the region.”
There is no doubt that the passage of the bill is a major milestone in the development of the South East, thanks to the Deputy Speaker Benjamin Kalu who initiated it, other South East lawmakers in the National Assembly that supported it, and indeed the whole of the two chambers that had passed it into law, now awaiting the assent of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to make it a reality in the lives of South East people. We ask the President to sign it into law and not prevaricate like former President Muhammadu Buhari, who failed to sign a similar bill in the past, but in his usual nepotistic nature, he only assented to the North East Development Commission. Tinubu should note how the South East leaders led by Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, despite the hardship in the land and pockets of protests against the reforms of his administration in the North and South West, have admonished South East youths not to be part of any nationwide protest against the Tinubu administration. By the action of Ohanaeze, the President should note that Igbos have nothing against him and are giving his administration the necessary support to succeed. It is therefore imperative that Tinubu show love to the South East by quickly assenting to the South East Development Commission Bill to become law.