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Inadequate funding could undermine the ability of the North Central Development Commission (NCDC) to deliver on its mandate, the Senate has said, declaring that the N2.9 billion monthly allocation being released to the commission is only “a drop in the ocean” compared to its N140 billion budget for 2026.
The Chairman of the Senate Committee on the North Central Development Commission, Titus Zam, sounded the warning while briefing journalists after an interactive session between the committee and the commission’s management at the National Assembly on Tuesday.
According to him, the current monthly release would amount to less than half of the commission’s approved budget if maintained throughout the year, expressing optimism that the federal government would increase funding as the commission becomes fully operational.
“If you give someone that has a budget of N140 billion, N2.9 billion per month, in 12 months, it won’t be up to half of the entire budgetary sum,” Zam said.
“I suppose that is just a temporary package. When the commission finally comes to fruition, much more funds will be released. So we thank Mr President and the Executive for dropping something now, but we look forward to more.”
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The lawmaker, however, assured that the Senate Committee would ensure the prudent utilisation of the funds already released by providing effective oversight and guiding the commission on areas of priority.
He urged the commission to focus its interventions on agriculture, security and rural development, stressing that the North Central region is largely agrarian and continues to face serious security challenges.
“North Central is mostly an agricultural land. We have arable land, we have good rainfall and vegetation. There is policy for agriculture. We need the department of NCDC to take agriculture very seriously.
“We also have a challenge of insecurity. The commission is advised to support the security forces and state governments to complement their efforts towards mitigating the tide of insecurity within the region.
“We also ask them to take rural development very seriously because we are also rural in nature,” Zam said.
