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• Our region needs intervention commission more than any other -Stakeholders
By Vincent Kalu, Scholastic Hir, Makurdi and Abel Leonard, Lafia
Various groups from the North Central Zone have expressed disappointment with the federal government over its failure to establish a development commission for the zone.
In their words, the government’s failure to create a North Central Development Commission was a grave injustice to the people of the North Central.
Of the six geopolitical zones, only the North Central has yet to have a development commission, an agency created for the five other zones to address developmental challenges in the respective zones.
Before the coming of the Bola Tinubu administration, there were two development commissions – Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), and the North East Development Commission (NEDC) created by former President Muhammadu Buhari.
Last year, President Tinubu created three development commissions – North West Development Commission (NWDC), South East Development Commission (SEDC) and the South West Development Commission (SWDC).
A total of N2.493 trillion has been allocated to fund these five development commissions in the 2025 budget.
NDDC got N776.53 billion; NWDC, N585.93 billion; SWDC, N498.40 billion,
SEDC, N341,billion and NEDC, N291billion.
While expressing his disappointment, President of the Middle Belt Forum (MBF), Dr. Bitrus Pogu, poignantly told Saturday Sun that the exclusion of the North Central from having a development commission was a grave injustice to the zone.
He noted that the South West Development Commission that is still on the drawing board has a budgetary allocation, adding that, it is only proper, just, and fair for the North Central Development Commission to be established properly and budgeted for. He argued that in terms of suffering from insurgency and devastation, the region has suffered as much as, if not more than many other parts of the country.
“Much of the killings and the mayhem, the destruction by insurgents, including even things done through natural happenings that devastate the area, the North Central has had more than its fair share of such things.
” It is only proper that the North Central has a fully functional developmental intervention by government. The commission, as established in the South East and other parts should also be established and made fully functional in the North Central, with monies allocated to it, just like it has been allocated to the other development commissions in the country.
“It is only fair and just that the North Central Development Commission is fully functional and has its own share of the national cake, which is being provided for the others,” Pogu stated.
Also, the President General Mzough U Tiv (MUT) Worldwide, CP Iorbee Ihagh [rtd], called President Tinubu, to urgently create a development commission in the Middle Belt.
According to him, other regions have theirs and there is no reason the North Central should be sidelined.
Ihagh, the Tiv leader, who retired as the Comptroller of Prisons, said the North Central fought and united the country and should be treated like others in the scheme of things
“We have suffered much for this country, we have united this country. During the Biafran war, we fought in the war and we are not getting anything commiserate with our contributions to the development of this country. Rather, herdsmen are killing us on a daily basis.
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“We are not saying the president has not done anything for us, he has done much, especially with the award of the construction of Buruku Bridge, the road from Yandev to Ugbema, from Makurdi to 9th Mile in Enugu and from Makurdi to Naka to Adoka.
“But, the insecurity in the state is worrisome. Our people are killed everyday and he is not saying anything. He has appointed credible service chiefs: he should order them to drive these people back to where they came from so that IDPs can go back home and continue farming to feed Nigerians. Since they are not farming, food items are very expensive, ” he said.
He lamented that the herdsmen have taken over his council ward, Moon, in Kwande LGA and for almost nine years now, residents have been unable to access the place.
He noted that when his wife died, he couldn’t bury her where he buried his father, mother and senior brothers, which he said was very painful.
He called for the creation of the North Central Development Commission and also urged President Tinubu to also curtail the excesses of herdsmen, which he said are everywhere. He warned that if nothing is done, Nigeria might become like Afghanistan.
A North Central Development Commission, he stressed, would take care of issues in the north central region and so , the zone shouldn’t be excluded.
Also speaking, a financial expert, former MD/CEO, Trancorp, and leader of Bristow Alumni Association Worldwide, Ortamen Manz Denga, noted: “First, the Niger Delta Development Commission came as a result of the agitations for compensation by the youth in that region, which threatened the country’s oil earnings, due to depleted export volumes. So it was needful to have the commission.
“Then the Boko Haram happened in the North East, attracting sympathy donations from International CSOs and NGOs, making it logical for the Federal Government to follow suit through the legislative process and establish the NEDC.
“If we agree with the above, then I fail to understand why the North Central should be playing catch up, when the South West and South East regions have stepped up and caught up with the initial two. If for the sake of argument, we insist that a security event must happen, to qualify a region for the development commission, the North Central is worse off.
“From Niger, where the army has reportedly been vacated off and their barracks occupied by armed militias, to Benue, the hotbed of herdsmen militia onslaught, to Plateau, the station for meaningless massacre, or Kogi, the kidnapping headquarters of Africa to Nasarawa that boasts an admixture of herdsmen, kidnapping and massacre activity.
“All the above should have made elected officials from the region to be proactive and table for urgent debate, the need for a North Central Development Commission (NCDC), following their inauguration in 2023.
It’s even embarrassing that while the other regions woke up, we slept on the matter.
“Be that as it may, it’s better late than never, and with no budgetary allocations even when we finally catch up, we will have to depend on the sympathetic emotions of the president to accommodate us under the supplementary provisions.”
Denga said: “It’s safe to conclude that we need proactive representation, rather than the reactive posture we have seemingly assumed in this matter, judging fairly.”
Reverend Jerry Nji Auta, Zonal Vice Chairman of the North Central Chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), emphasised the region’s vulnerability to crises and disasters. He argued that if the consideration for creating the commissions is based on such issues, the North Central region deserves inclusion.
“We are at the receiving end when it comes to landslides and other crises. Take, for instance, when Ajaokuta Steel was operational, the minerals used were largely sourced from the North Central, especially Nasarawa State. Many homes and families were displaced as a result of mining activities,” Reverend Auta said.
He further highlighted that in his local government, Wamba, landslides and abandoned farmlands caused by mining are still evident.
“Excluding the North Central from this development initiative is unfair and unjust,” he argued, even as he urged the federal government to reconsider the region’s inclusion.
In the same vein, Pastor Abel Daniel, District Pastor of Deeper Life Bible Church in Lafia and a stakeholder in Benue State, lamented the region’s consistent neglect in national policies.
“The North Central is always sidelined because there are no strong men to fight for our cause. Benue State, for instance, has been severely affected by floods, communal crises, and rampant kidnappings,” he stated.
He also pointed out the insecurity in Niger State, where communities were overrun by bandits before regaining their freedom.
These challenges, he pointed out are not unique to Benue or Niger; they are prevalent across the North Central states. He urged the federal government to address these grievances and include the North Central in the development commissions to ensure fairness and equitable national development.
