Senate: Amendment to North West, South East development commissions Acts passed second reading
By Tunde Opalana
Attempt to amend the Act establishing both the North West Development Commission and the South East Development Commission passed through second reading at Thursday’s plenary of the Senate.
Consideration of two bills meant to amend the previous Acts were simultaneously taken due to similarity in their presentation by the Senate Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele.
The bills were introduced to “provide for geopolitical representation in the governing board of the commissions .
In the lead debate , Senator Bamidele, (Ekiti Central) said the North West Development Commission Act, 2024 (Amendment) Bill, 2024 (SB. 567), also seeks to reconcile the lacuna that exists in the provisions, relating to the appointments of the Chairman and the Managing Director of the Commission by ensuring that the two are not appointed from the same State of the Zone as well as subject the appointments to the confirmation of the Senate in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, as amended.
According to him, the Bill was passed by the National Assembly earlier this year, and was transmitted and Assented to, by the President and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces.
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However, he said, “in the course of implementation of the Legislation, it was observed that for effective representation, and in line with the principles of Federal Character, it is imperative that membership of the Commission be extended to the other Geo-Political zones of the country. This is in tandem with extant Acts, relating to the establishment of Federal Commissions.”
Same reasons were advanced for the bill seeking to amend the South East Development Commission.
Senators that commented on the two bills wholeheartedly supported the passage of the bills.
Deputy Senate President, Jibrin Barau (Kano North) said the lacuna in the bills were discovered at the office of the Chief of Staff to the President .
He appreciated the wisdom of the Senate in recalling the two pieces of legislation for amendment.
But Senator Tahir Monguno said the take home from the latest development is that the Senate should be loudly guide it’s constitutional and parliamentary responsibility of power of confirmation of political appointees.
“We should never surrender our power of confirmation of appointments to the Executive arm of government,” he said.
Concluding, the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio commended the eagle eyes that detected the defect in the Act previously sent to the Presidency.
