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Over the years, the South-Eastern part of Nigeria has faced neglect or marginalisation among other regions in the country. The agitation of the people of the zone for some remedy has been to no avail. But recently, it appears their cry is being attended to with the recent passing of the South-East Development Commission (SEDC) Bill by the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Commission, when established, will be responsible for receiving and managing funds from allocation of Federation Account for the reconstruction and rehabilitation of roads, houses and other infrastructural damage the South-East suffered as a result of the civil war.
Among others, the Commission shall “conceive, plan and implement, in accordance with the set rules and regulations, projects and programmes for the sustainable development of the South-East states. These are in the field of transportation including roads, health, education, employment, agriculture, industrialisation, housing and urban development, water supply, electricity and telecommunications.”
It will also tackle ecological and environmental problems arising from the extraction and mining of solid mineral and exploration of oil mineral in the region. It will as well assess and report any project being funded or carried out in the South-East by mineral extracting and mining companies, oil and gas producing companies and any other company and ensure proper utilisation of funds released for such projects.
There are many reasons for sponsoring the bill. It is obvious that the South-East region has been short-changed in a number of ways. For instance, the minimum number of states the other zones have is six. But the South-East has five. The same thing goes for the number of local governments. The other zones have more than the South-East. Every attempt to remedy the situation has failed. This has impacted on the development of the zone. The ongoing restiveness in the region can be traced to gross neglect and marginalisation by the central government.
Immediately after the civil war, the Yakubu Gowon regime instituted what it called the three Rs: Rehabilitation, Reconstruction and Reconciliation. Regrettably, the programme was not effectively implemented. Federal presence in the zone, in terms of industries and infrastructure, is almost zero.
South-East has been the most devastated region in Nigeria. Its ecological problem is huge as erosion has eaten deep into many areas of the region. Prospecting oil and gas in the zone has also made a nuisance of its environment.
Politically, the zone is also marginalised. Since the advent of the Fourth Republic, no person from the South-East has been found worthy to be the president of the country. Even in major political appointments, the region is shut out. It also suffers discriminatory admission policies into federal unity schools. All these have fuelled agitations and emergence of separatist groups like the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) and the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB). In the area of infrastructure, the South-East also does not have much federal presence compared to other zones. In 2018, former Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, debunked the allegation of low federal presence in the South-East. He claimed 69 projects were ongoing in the region and that the zone got N16.6 billion worth of projects from the N100 billion Sukuk Bond like other zones. However, the claim did not reflect the reality in the zone.
It is good that attention is now being directed towards the development of the zone. Hence, we support the establishment of the SEDC and pray that it will hasten the development of the region. Senate President, Senator Godswill Akpabio, expressed the importance of the bill when he also prayed that the commission would bring a lot of development and assist in stopping any form of agitation and bringing peace to the region.
Now that both chambers of the National Assembly have passed the bill, a conference committee will be set up to harmonise differences before transmitting it to the President for his assent. We urge President Bola Tinubu to graciously sign the bill into law. It will enable the South-East to benefit from what some other zones like the South-South and the North-East are already enjoying. Already in existence are Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) and North-East Development Commission (NEDC).
However, leaders of the region should also step up action to develop it. That is why they should speak with one voice and be in the forefront of the efforts to correct the mistakes of the past in the zone.
