Senate moves to establish South West Development Commission

In an apparently step towards regional development of the country, the Senate on Wednesday moved to establish the South West Development Commission. The Bill entitled, “South West Development Commission (Establishment, etc) Bill, 2018 (SB. 718),” was read for the first time at plenary presided over by the President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki. The bill was sponsored at by Senator Gbenga Ashafa (APC Lagos East) was read for the first time yesterday at plenary. The new Bill if passed would address developmental issues in the States which make up the South West geo- political zone of the country. The States are Ekiti, Ogun, Ondo, Lagos, Osun and Oyo. This is coming almost a week after the North West Development Commission was formally introduced in the Senate. Recall that the “North West Development Commission (Establishment, etc) Bill, 2018 (SB. 712)” sponsored by Sen. Jibril Barau came on December 11, barely 24 hours after the Senate passed the South East Development Commission Bill 2018. The Bill if passed by the Senate and signed into law along with the South West Development Commission Bill, this would bring to four the number of regional interventionist agencies in the country. Others in existence are; Niger Delta Development Commission established to care for socio- economic of the oil rich Niger Delta area of South South Nigeria, North East Development Commission which was a sharp response to rebuilding the North Eastern part of the country devastated by insurgency which was established in October 2017. Also yesterday, the Primary Health Care Development Agency Act (Amendment) Bill 2018(SB. 715) and Industrial Property Commission(Est, etc) Bill, 2018(SB. 716) both sponsored by Senator Aliyu Wamakko, APC, Sokoto North were read for the first time. Tunde Opalana, Abuja