Dogara Reps reject bill to establish South East Development Commission

The House of Representatives on Thursdayrejected a bill seeking the establishment ofSouth East Developme

nt Commission.The House rejected the second reading of thebill after it was put to a voice vote by theSpeaker of the House, Mr Yakubu Dogara.Leading the debate during plenary, Rep.Chukwuka Onyema (Anambra-PDP) said thatthe bill sought to tackle the menace ofpoverty and ecological problems confrontingthe South East part of the country.He said that the bill also sought to receiveand manage fund from allocation of thefederation account for the development,restructure and rehabilitation of roads,houses and other infrastructure in the region.Contributing to the debate, the HouseMinority Leader, Rep. Leo Ogor (Delta-PDP),said the bill would address most of theissues affecting the region.“This country cannot continue with thesituation where we come to Abuja everymonth to share money.“I think every zone deserves such commissionbecause it will make everybody look inward.“This nation needs to be restructured, wecannot continue the way we are going,” Ogorsaid.Also speaking, Rep. Sani Abdul (Bauchi-APC)said that the agitation to create thecommission was as a result of government’sinability to address the socio-economicchallenges in the country.“We should look at it holistically in order notto have problems.“We are worried, however, because the timingof the bill with the agitation for Biafra issuspicious,” Abdul said.However, some lawmakers while opposing thebill, said the timing of was not appropriate.Rep. Sunday Karimi (Kogi-PDP) said thatsome of the South-East states were alreadycaptured in the Niger Delta DevelopmentCommission (NDDC) and “the creation of aSouth East Commission will be too much”.Rep. Sani Zorro (Jigawa-APC) said not muchconsultation was done to ensure the successof the bill.