The two chambers of the National Assembly on Monday, May 9th engaged themselves with two high-profile public hearing on a bill to create the North East Development Commission.
Entitled the North East Development Commission Bill, 2016, the sentiment attached to the bill is understandable given the need to fashion a platform to address the ruinous misadventure of Boko Haram insurgents in the zone.
That the NEDC Bill has all the trappings of the Niger Delta Development Commission Bill that gave birth to the NDDC is not in doubt.
Perhaps, the major difference in terms of funding is that while the NDDC arelies heavily on accruals from oil companies operating in the Niger Delta region for its funding, the NEDC, when passed, will draw its funding from federal allocation and payment by extractive and mining companies doing business in the zone.
Laudable as the steps being taken to set in motion machinery to rebuild the ravaged North East, there appear to be disconnect between the Senate and the House of Representatives on how to go about it.
Keen observers at the senate talk shop wondered why two separate public hearing on the same bill should be held same time, same day by the same parliament?
The two chambers are known to have in the past harmonised their positions and conducted joint public hearing on an important bill such as the NEDC Bill, at least to save cost as well as to narrow areas of disagreement.
Some say ego trip and unhealthy rivalry that have held a lot of legislative activities down in the National Assembly must have been at play.
Again even before the crucial interventionist bill is passed and signed into law, a subtle fight over the headquarters of the commission seemed to have emerged among the North East states.
While Senators from Borno State, the center of Boko Haram insurgency, want the headquarters of the commission to be cited in Maidugiri, lawmakers from Yobe and Bauchi states are campaigning for the headquarters of the commission to be cited in their states.
Yobe State governor, Ibrahim Gaidam, represented by Education Commissioner, Mohammed Lamin, at the House of Representatives version of the public hearing, did not hide his desire to have the headquarters of the commission cited in Damaturu, his state capital.
The question on the lips of some stakeholders is whether there is any need to work at cross purposes on a bill that has one objective, the rebuilding of the badly damaged North East geo-political zone?
Apart from these avoidable downsides, the NEDC Bill has had a smooth sail in both chambers.
No doubt, the presence of the First Lady, Aisha Buhari, at the House of Representatives public hearing was a huge boost for the bill. Her presence however gave the impression that the bill has become, for all intents and purposes, a done deal.
The First Lady was reported to have declared in a memorandum she personally submitted at the public hearing, “I believe that for rapid development to come to the region, a concerted effort must be made. I am Aisha Muhammadu Buhari and I support the NEDC Bill 100 percent.”
On his part, Senate President, Abubakar Bukola Saraki, gave the Senate Joint Committee on Special Duties, Establishment and Public Service up till May 25, 2016 to complete work on the bill and report back to plenary.
Saraki, who gave the charge while inaugurating the public hearing, insisted that what had been witnessed in the North East demanded special attention from well meaning Nigerians and not just from the government.
Chairman of the Joint Committee, Senator Abdul-Aziz Murtala Nyako, had promised that his committee would work assiduously to ensure that the report on the bill was laid and read the third time on May, 25, 2016.
Following Nyako’s remarks, Saraki concluded that though time was running out, he would hold the committee to its promise to turn in the report on the bill to plenary on May 25.
For Saraki, it is imperative to pass the bill quickly to mitigate the precarious situation of those affected by insurgency in the North East.
He said: “We must all rise up and say never again. We have seen families wiped out, children orphaned, incomes plunged below a tenth of what they were a decade ago. Families that have survived this onslaught have largely survived with little to live by and now rely directly on handouts for food rations.”
He said the importance of the bill becomes more germane since the war against insurgency cannot be won by might alone.
Director General, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Alhaji Mohammed Sani Sidi, in his presentation disclosed that over 800 repentant Boko Haram insurgents are currently undergoing skill acquisition training as part of efforts to rehabilitate and reintegrate them into society.
Sidi said the skill acquisition exercise is being handled by the military and monitored by the Office of the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS).
While responding to the comment by a former member of the House of Representatives, Hon. Kaka Kyari Gujbawu, who called for general amnesty for repentant Boko Haram insurgents, Sidi said: “It is not true that the Federal Government has no amnesty package. There is what is called safe corridor. I do know that 800 plus (Boko Haram) have been registered. I don’t want to be specific. They have exited Boko Haram through the window. They are currently receiving various skill acquisition training. The military is handling it. It is being monitored by the Office of the CDS.”
