Reps pass North East Dev commission, offshore inland basin bills

By Emman Ovuakporie

ABUJA—BARELY a week after the rejection of the South East Development Commission Bill, the House of Representatives yesterday passed bills to establish the North-East Development Commission, NEDC, and an act to amend the Deep Offshore and Inland Basin Production Sharing Contracts.

The other bills also passed by the lawmakers at yesterday’s plenary sitting were bills to establish the Federal College of Dental Technology and Therapy to provide for courses leading to the award of degrees, diplomas and certificates in Dental Technology, Dental Therapy and other related matters and an Act to amend the Surveyors Registration Council of Nigeria.

Concerning the NEDC bill,   the lawmakers at plenary, adopted the 35 clauses contained in it for the setting up of the commission during its consideration by members.

The members insisted that the commission when established, would be charged with the responsibility of resettling and rehabilitating victims of insurgency in the North-East.

The commission, they added, would further be required to receive and manage funds from the federation account and international donors for the purpose of reconstructing roads, houses and business premises of  victims of insurgency.

According to the lawmakers, the commission will also be responsible for tackling poverty and illiteracy as well as environmental and developmental challenges confronting the region.

The Bill was presented for first reading by the speaker, Yakubu Dogara, on November 15, 2016, and was transmitted to the President for assent on January 17, 2017.

However, following some observations, the Bill was withdrawn on February 7 for more legislative inputs.

Meanwhile, South East members of  the House of Representatives yesterday hailed senators for passing into second reading a bill to set up the South East Development Commission, SEDC, that was thrown out by Reps last Thursday.

Members of the region, who went to the Senate in their number in solidarity with the bill, said it was reasonable for the Senate leadership to have allowed debate on the bill, subjecting it subsequently to the Senate Committee on Establishment for further consideration.

At yesterday’s plenary,   only a handful of  lawmakers from the South East, such as Tobi Okechukwu (PDP,Enugu) and Obinna Chidoka (PDP, Anambra), participated in the business of the House.

Following the development at the Senate over the proposal, the legislators have vowed not to relent in ensuring that the House rescinded its decision to allow for the consideration of the bill.

Chairman, House Committee on Climate Change, Samuel Onuigbo said it was needless to politicize the issues of the southeast as history has shown that the region has always contributed positively in the social -economic development of the country, before and after independence.

“The Igbos have always been united in channeling their energies towards the development of the southeast. This is the reason, we are saying, we need a commission to help the region put their resources together, in a more formal way.

“This region is different from others, that have set up, because in this case, the Igbos will pull their resources together from within, without placing any financial burden on government for funding of the commission.

“What we are saying is that the time has come for the igbos to collectively develop the southeast that is being neglected in all sense of it, “Onuigbo said.

Also speaking in the same vein, Rep Chike Okafor,APC,Imo,it’s important the Deputy Minority Leader, Chukwuma Onyema decided to go to the senate, we were at the gallery.   We found out that the same bill, all of us, 43 members of the House of Representatives from the South East geopolitical zone sponsored last week’s Thursday but was not was coming up today in the senate.

“We felt that since the spirit and letters of the bill coming up in the senate was of the same content, the same spirit and letter of the same bill all of us co-signed but unfortunately was surreptitiously rejected on the floor of the House was coming up in the senate, we thought that the least we should do was to go up in the gallery to see how probably they were going to kill it in the senate.

“I am happy that it scaled through in the senate and I am also not happy that the House where it started couldn’t pass the same bill. That is the beauty of democracy, that is the beauty of bi-camera legislature that we are practicing in this country. If it was just a one chamber legislature, that would have been the end of that important bill.

“It is important to us as a people, it is important to us as a race, it is important to us as a region. So I am happy to say the least, I am excited. If you were in the chamber, you would have probably seen all of us jumping.

“For us it means that there is still hope in this nation, there is still hope as a people in this nation Nigeria.

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