Despite NDDC, we need South South Development Commission – Senator Dafinone

The need for a South South Development Commission (SSDC) has been reechoed by the Senator representing Delta Central senatorial district, Ede Dafinone.

Speaking with Sunday Times in an interview after the Senate plenary that considered the bill on Thursday, Dafinone strongly supports the argument put forward by Senators Asuquo Ekpenyong, the mover of the motion for South South Development Commission (SSDC) and Seriake Dickson, former governor of Bayelsa state on the need to have a development commission for the people of the South South to put them in the same position as other states within the country. Here are excerpts by HARUNA SALAMI.

Some of your colleagues in the Senate at the plenary on Thursday during the second reading of the bill on South South Development Commission (SSDC) were of the view that the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) was sufficient for the South South geo-political zone. Why did you and all the other 17 senators from the South South states think otherwise?

There are other development commissions that have been recently approved that allowed development to be focused on those regions. The important issue raised today is to distinguish between the SSDC and the NDDC. Very importantly, the NDDC focuses, as with OMPADEC on oil producing areas within the Niger Delta.

There are, of course, areas within the states that make up the Niger Delta that do not produce oil and this administrative set up where the states support the NDDC means that where resources have been shared to the states based on oil production output of each of those states, when projects have been done in those states the NDDC focuses on areas where oil is produced, which is what it was set up to do, which means there are areas within my state and many other Niger Delta states that do not produce oil and therefore do not benefit from the NDDC.

This SSDC is therefore being set up to cover those areas that are not covered by NDDC. You can see from that explanation distinction the need for SSDC.

How do you juxtapose the establishment of more agencies against the Oronsaye report that seeks to merge or reduce the number of agencies to save costs?

I want to assure you that our government doesn’t have unlimited funding and that basis of merging institutions as proposed in Oronsaye report is to save costs and streamline government. So, when new institutions are being set up, funding is a consideration. There must be sufficient funding for those institutions to take off, if not they will remain approved but not active. Government does not have unlimited funds and there is need to prioritise.

The demand for institutions will continue, but they will be set up and activated according to the amount of funds available.

The NDDC was the first commission established, but in its over 20 years existence there are issues of corruption, probes, forensic audit and a lot of drama even in the National Assembly here. What advice do you have for the new development commissions being set up?

There are lessons learnt from OMPADEC, NDDC and these lessons should be brought to bear on these new commissions to ensure that development is being evenly spread; that there is transparent and open operations so that the funds being raised go to the areas that need them most.

There is a serious attempt by this government to reduce the amount of corruption within the system a I hope that as government is more aggressively pursuing that those attempts will reduce the amount of corruption that will exacerbate our system.

You know the challenges being faced in this country: devaluation of the naira leading to low possessing power, coupled with new tax laws before the National Assembly with possibility of raising taxes including VAT, will this improve the lives of ordinary Nigerians? The shout is getting louder.

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The different moves by government to raise revenue is really to ensure that government can spend resources to offer development, education, health, etc. I want to assure you that generally those resources are raised from the organised sector than those that are street traders, hawkers, etc; they are not really paying those taxes.

The key really is for government to use those resources judiciously and where people see government spending their resources to create better education, health, infrastructure, etc, people are less reluctant to pay taxes. However, you made the point that in the year 2024 Nigerians are crying, they are crying in every corner. The prices of food stuff have more than doubled in the last 12 months; petrol prices more than doubled. So, Nigerians have been pushed to a tight corner. The government is mindful of that.

They see and feel the pains of the people. There was significant protest in August and that protest sent a clear message to the government and to all Nigerians that things are getting really hard. I want to believe that our president and his team, my colleagues in the National Assembly are all aware of the hardship Nigerians are facing and we are doing our best to solve the problem, but there is no magic.

The country is suffering from ailments that have been brought upon us for many years. To solve the problem, it will not be overnight. The president is making an attempt to solve the problem and hopefully we will rebound into prosperity within the next one year, but I can’t put a time frame on it.

Since the NDDC and the proposed SSDC will be in the same place, don’t you foresee duplication or overlapping functions?

If you look at overlapping functions, you have state governments in the same region, you don’t have overlapping functions, you have federal government in the region, no overlapping functions. You also have in the Northern states a similar commission set up for hydropower and still you have North West Development Commission, etc. The overlapping functions you are hinting at will not occur.

QUOTE:

There are other development commissions that have been recently approved that allowed development to be focused on those regions. The important issue raised today is to distinguish between the SSDC and the NDDC.