- By Pharm. Ikeagwuonwu Chinedu Klinsmann
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu scored yet another historical goal in line with his Renewed Hope Agenda by his signing into law of the much-desired South East Development (Establishment) Commission (SEDC) Bill on Tuesday, 23rd July, 2024. The Bill seeks to establish a commission to receive and manage all funds earmarked by the Federal Government for the reconstruction and rehabilitation of roads and houses, and to address other infrastructural damages endured by the region as a result of the protracted Nigerian civil war which ended in 1970. Amongst others, the commission’s mandate further includes tackling ecological and related environmental challenges in the six southeast states of Abia, Imo, Enugu, Anambra and Ebonyi States.
In my opinion, the signing of the SEDC Bill is one of the many visionary and audacious moves made by President Tinubu since he assumed the mantle of national leadership last year. It buttresses how a transformational leader can ingeniously utilize state policy as a veritable tool for fostering patriotism, as well as national peace, unity and development. Recall that the President boldly discarded the hitherto controversial policy of fuel subsidy payment, while announcing the tough policy of floating our national currency, shortly after his inauguration on May 29th, 2023. The Tinubu Administration subsequently extended relief and hope to several indigent Nigerian households with the signing into law of the unprecedented Student’s Loan Bill.
Furthermore, to the sheer delight of Nigerians, the Federal Government recently secured a historical judgment at the Supreme Court granting full autonomy to local government administrations in the country. The issue of LG autonomy had been on the front burner of our national quests for several decades. While the 9th session of the National Assembly ostensibly made strident efforts to achieve it through legislation, they hit a brick wall when the bill failed to secure concurrent passage by at least two-thirds of the State Houses of Assembly, as required by law. And barely a few days ago, President Tinubu achieved the expeditious passage of the Bill for an Act to Amend the National Minimum Wage Act 2019, to increase the National Minimum Wage to N70,000.00, against the paltry sum of N30,000.00; and also to reduce the time for periodic review of the national minimum wage from five years to three years.
In the words of renowned American professor of economics, Joseph E. Stiglitz, “Development is about transforming the lives of people, not just transforming economies.” The establishment of a development commission exclusively for the southeast region is not only a giant step by the Tinubu Administration towards pacifying the aggrieved citizens of the South East, which was the unfortunate epicenter of the protracted Nigerian civil war; but a panacea for recreating the enabling physical, social and economic environment for genuine reconciliation and full reintegration of Ndigbo into the core of our national matrix, while ensuring that lasting peace and prosperity returns to the region.
As a proud citizen of the South East, I wish to, on behalf of the entire good people of the region, express copious gratitude and commendation to President Tinubu for making the SEDC a reality in his administration. It is a clear demonstration of the President’s commitment to proffering lasting solutions to the niggling developmental challenges confronting the South East Region of Nigeria, while according Ndigbo a proper sense of recognition and engendering national peace, unity and progress.
Indeed, the vexatious issue of the Nigerian civil war, also dubbed the Biafran War, remains the most indelible sore point in the annals of Nigeria’s development. It is needless to inflame passions by recounting horrid details of the carnage and destruction to properties and the environment as a result of the war. While the end of the war birthed the official policy of “Reconciliation, Reconstruction and Rehabilitation,” otherwise called the ‘Three Rs’, intended to erase the scars of the war and reintegrate the secessionist Biafrans into the core of the Nigerian federation, the policy was adjudged an abysmal failure in addressing the issues that led to the war in the first instance, including grievances of palpable marginalization, sectional dominance, injustice, skewed federalism and inequity against the southeast. All these factors are catalysts for social unrest, insurgency and armed militancy.
However, policy interventions such as the ‘Three Rs’ are designed to avert looming anarchy. There had been frantic calls on the Federal Government by respected individuals and pressure groups, for the implementation of the ‘Three Rs’ of the Gowon Administration. In fact, the youth wing of the apex Igbo socio-cultural organization, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, previously gave former President Muhammadu Buhari up to the end of 2021 to implement the ‘Three Rs’, or risk Nigeria’s continuity as one political entity. The organization was of the view that the failure to successfully implement the ‘Three Rs’ was partly responsible for the formation of Pro-Biafra groups like the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), and Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
We will recall that at the height of militancy and sheer lawlessness in the Niger Delta region, former President Olusegun Obasanjo established the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) in 2000, to curb the violence and tackle ecological problems in the region. To further abate the violence in the Niger Delta, late President Umaru Musa Yar’adua unveiled the amnesty programme for Niger Delta militants in 2009.
Furthermore, the North East Development Commission (NEDC) was established in 2017 with the vision to rebuild the Northeast region of Nigeria into a safe, economically vibrant, ICT-driven 21st century region, in reaction to the devastation of the region by the protracted Boko Haram insurgency. The North West Development Commission Bill was signed by President Tinubu on the same date as the SEDC, in order to mitigate the parlous state of infrastructure in the seven states of the region as a result of Boko Haram activities, armed banditry, and other acts of criminality.
Considering that of the six geopolitical zones of Nigeria, the South East had suffered the most devastating humanitarian and environmental crises as a result of a war which ended in a, “No Winner, No Vanquished” declaration, the region ought to have been accorded priority attention in the establishment of a dedicated commission to foster its development. The SEDC Bill was read for the first time on the floor of the Senate on Wednesday 22nd June, 2016. It was thrown out twice by the House of Representatives in 2017 and 2018 respectively. The Bill was eventually passed by the 8th Senate; unfortunately, former President Buhari declined assent to the bill, sparking outrage, disenchantment and increased feelings of inequity, unfairness and neglect of the South East region.
At this juncture, I wish to commend all those who played active roles towards the passage and eventual signing into law of the SEDC Bill. To this effect, I’ll like to appreciate the pioneering efforts of Sen. Samuel Anyanwu and Sen. Stella Oduah. I also wish to commend the strident efforts of the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Benjamin Okezie Kalu, alongside other House of Reps Members from the southeast region, for reintroducing the bill to the 10th National Assembly. Furthermore, I wish to appreciate the contributions of Sen. Ifeanyi Ubah, CON; Hon. Chukwuma Onyema of the 8th National Assembly, and Hon. Henry Nwawuba of the 9th Assembly.
Also worthy of commendation is Chief Engr. Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu for the crucial roles he played towards the attainment of this laudable feat.
Finally, I wish to thank His Excellency Sen. Hope Uzodinma, the Executive Governor of Imo State for his assiduity and commitment in lobbying for the passage and eventual assent of the SEDC Bill.
With the signing into law of the SEDC Bill, I earnestly hope that concrete steps will be taken by all those who would be appointed to man the commission to bridge the numerous infrastructural deficits in the southeast region, so that the euphoria that greeted the signing of the bill will not soon fizzle out. We must seize this opportunity to achieve the genuine reconciliation, rehabilitation and reconstruction of the southeast. The SEDC must not end up as another bureaucracy of government, or a cesspool of corruption, like the NDDC has literally slid into.
In conclusion, I hope that the operationalization of the SEDC will help in reducing the mass emigration, otherwise called the ‘japa syndrome,’ which is currently prevalent amongst the youths of the southeast, and make the region more attractive and open to local and foreign investors.
Klinsmann, a chieftain of the APC, writes from Dunukofia LGA of Anambra State
