The Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Benjamin Okezie Kalu, showered encomium on the Senate on Thursday for passing the bill seeking the establishment of the South East Development Commission (SEDC).
The proposed legislation sponsored by Kalu was passed by the Senate on Thursday after considering and adopting its clauses at the Committee of the Whole, chaired by the Senate President, Sen. Godswill Akpabio.
Recall that the House of Representatives, on December 21, 2023, at its Committee of the Whole, chaired by the Deputy Speaker, Kalu, unanimously passed the bill for 3rd reading and sent it to the Senate for concurrence.
Reacting to the development, the Deputy Speaker commended the Senate, saying that the bill, when passed into law and eventually assented by President Bola Ahmed Bola, will help to rebuild the South East region badly affected by the civil war.
He noted that the passage of the bill is coming at a time when members of the national assembly from the southeast region, led by him, are championing an initiative known as the Peace in the Southeast Project (PISE-P), a non-political movement using a non-kinetic approach to resolving the problems in the region.
Kalu stated that once the bill becomes law and the commission is established, its impact will be felt around the region in terms of jobs, businesses, and infrastructural development, among others.
He expressed optimism that President Tinubu will assent to the bill when it is transmitted to him, urging Nigerians to keep supporting the government.
Hon. Kalu said, “I’m grateful to my colleagues in the Senate led by the President, Senator Godswill Akpabio, for passing through the 3rd reading of the bill seeking the establishment of the South East Development Commission (SEDC), which I sponsored. I am equally grateful to my colleagues in the House who initially supported and passed the bill.
“The Commission is very important because, when established, it will help in the rebuilding of the post-war reconstruction that has not been attended to for over fifty years.
“The Commission shall conceive, plan, and implement, in accordance with the set rules and regulations, projects and programmes for the sustainable development of the South East States in the field of transportation, including roads, health, education, employment, agriculture, industrialization, housing and urban development, water supply, electricity, and telecommunications, and cause the South East States to be surveyed in order to ascertain measures that are necessary to promote its physical and socio-economic development.
“Implement all the measures approved for the development of the South East States by the Federal Government and the member states of the Commission; identify factors inhibiting the development of the South East States and assist the member states in the formulation and implementation of policies to ensure sound and efficient management of the resources of the South East States; assess and report on any project being funded or carried out in the South East States by mineral extracting and mining companies, oil and gas producing companies, and any other company, including non-governmental organisations; and ensure that funds released for such projects are properly utilised.
“It shall further tackle ecological and environmental problems that arise from the extraction and mining of solid minerals and exploration of oil minerals in the South East States and advise the Federal Government and the member states on the prevention and control of oil spillages, gas flaring, and environmental pollution; liaise with the various solid mineral extraction and mining companies and oil and gas prospecting and producing companies on all matters of pollution prevention and control; and execute such other works and perform such other functions which, in the opinion of the Commission, are required for the sustainable development of the South East States and its peoples.”
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