approve N346.3bn NDDC’s budget,Reps endorse South-West Devt Commission,

TRACKING>>The House of Representatives, yesterday, passed through second reading a bill seeking for the establishment of South-West Development Commission.

Leading debate on the bill, the sponsor, Hon. Femi Fakeye informed that the British colonialists left the country with a political configuration that comprised three regions: the Northern region, the Eastern region, as well as the Western region.

He said: “The three regions co-existed, each with a unique dose of policies tailored to the specific needs of its citizens.

“The post-independence South-West region not only included the current six South-West states of Ekiti, Lagos, Ogun, Ondo, Osun and Oyo, but extended to parts of today’s Edo and Delta states.”

Fakeye noted that “today, the country has evolved into a political structure that consists of 36 states and one Federal Capital Territory, all constitutionally summarized into six geopolitical zones.”

He said the bill seeks to “legislatively explore how to cure some of the ailments in the South-West, just as has been done and would still probably be done for other political zones in this hallowed Chamber where issues of nation building daily engage our minds under the current exceptional leadership.

“The Bill seeks to redirect federal budgetary attention to some areas of growth that could have multiplier effect of geometric proportions, such as Agriculture, Transportation, Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Environment, etc., on the overall economy.

“Therefore, this aspiration is the rationale for all the Honourable Members from the six states of the South-West, along with some of their colleagues who are not even native to any of the South-West states, proposing this historic bill.

“By passing this bill, we would be demonstrating the courage as national leaders to lift a finger towards turning the current sordid socio-economic fortunes of the zone (and therefore of the country) around, so that our youths could confidently channel their collective energy into productive endeavours that would yield for us a better future, rather than them, out of frustration and misguided desperation, engaging in anti-social practices that tend towards criminality.”

The bill was passed without dissenting voices.

Also yesterday, the House approved N346.388 billion budget for the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) for the 2020 fiscal year.

The approval followed the unanimous adoption of a report by House Committee on NDDC presented by the chairman, Hon. Olubunmi Ojo at the plenary.

While giving details of the report, Ojo explained that out of the N346,388,900,000, the sum of N22,338,900,000 only is for personnel expenditure, the sum of N13,466,810,000 is for overhead expenditure, while the sum of N4,083, 000,007 is budgeted for internal capital expenditure.

He added that the sum of N306,500,899,992 is for development projects for the service of the NDDC for the financial year ending on 31 May 2020.