A National Assembly joint committee has strongly criticized the Federal Government for failing to allocate funds to the newly established North West Development Commission (NWDC), leaving the agency practically handicapped and unable to address the region’s pressing crisis.
The committee co-chaired by Senator Babangida Husaini and Honourable Suleiman Abubakar Gumi made the disclosure on Wednesday during an interactive session.
Senator Hussaini bemoaned that the commission is yet to be funded.
Though the lawmaker applauded President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s good intention in establishing the commission, but highlighted the contradiction in its execution.
He said “President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s government set up these commissions to accelerate development and to provide another window of opportunity for development to reach the lower rank of the society, is quite noble, unprecedented and quite appreciated. But sadly, we are still yet to perform. The reason why you can just set up an agency of government and refuse to fund it, I think it is quite unusual”.
The senator explained that the committee is preparing a formal parliamentary report to present to the Senate in plenary, explicitly detailing the lack of funding.
Additionally, he said beyond funding, the committee raised alarms about internal governance problems, noting a lack of synergy between the chairman and the MD/CEO.
According to Hussaini “These are internal governance issues and I think they border around poor understanding of the governance structure and the legal instruments establishing the commission. I am quite aware, I was actually a participant at a seminar or workshop organised by the Ministry of Regional Development in Lagos to acquaint and to enlighten the management and then the board as well on their respective responsibilities. Our laws are very clear”
“We have to walk the talk. We should go beyond the rhetorics, we should go beyond plans by now,” Hussaini urged, painting a dire picture of the North West.
He listed banditry, kidnapping, ransom payments, out-of-school children particularly girls and devastating climate change effects as critical issues demanding immediate intervention.
“Almost the whole span of Kebbi, Sokoto, Katsina, Jigawa, down those axes… Practically a quarter of the land is devastated by desertification,” he remarked.
Meanwhile, the committee acknowledged the strategic plans presented by the Commission’s MD/CEO Prof. Shehu Abdullahi Ma’aji, but emphasized that plans are meaningless without resources.
