2 years after, internal crisis, controversies dog N/West commission

Two years after its creation, the North-West Development Commission (NWDC) has yet to fully take off. However, it has been mired in controversies. The latest storm erupted when the Senate Committee on Regional Development queried how the commission spent N943 million, nearly 80 per cent of its budget on board allowances while failing to appoint […]

Two years after its creation, the North-West Development Commission (NWDC) has yet to fully take off. However, it has been mired in controversies. The latest storm erupted when the Senate Committee on Regional Development queried how the commission spent N943 million, nearly 80 per cent of its budget on board allowances while failing to appoint executive directors or roll out any project across the seven states of the North-West.

Lawmakers lamented that the NWDC remained the only regional development commission in Nigeria without executive directors, a situation they said crippled its operations.

They also noted that despite being inaugurated in February 2025, the commission was yet to deliver any visible intervention in the region.

Weekend Trust reports that this is not the first time the NWDC has been rocked by scandal. In May 2025, the commission announced applications for foreign scholarships to universities in India, Malaysia, Canada, China and Indonesia. The controversy ended with the programme being cancelled in line with federal government’s policy to prioritise local education.

Meanwhile, residents of North-West have continued to express frustration, saying they are yet to see any tangible project since the commission’s inception.

But the commission previously defended itself, arguing that delays were due to federal government’s failure to release its takeoff grant.

Adding to the woes, the commission was embroiled in a dispute over its headquarters. Initially operating from offices donated by private organisations, disagreements between board and management stalled operations until the Kano State Government intervened, providing a fully furnished office complex, vehicles and land to settle the matter.

In addition, Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf, last year went further by allocating two hectares of land in a strategic location for the construction of a permanent headquarters valued at N3 billion.

The commission said the gesture was meant to give it a stable base in Kano and end months of uncertainty over where it should operate from.

 

Mandate versus challenges

When the NWDC was established in July 2024, it was conceived as a federal government’s strategic intervention agency for the seven states of the zone: Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto and Zamfara.

Its mandate was to rebuild infrastructure, tackle poverty, rehabilitate displaced persons and unlock the economic potentials of the region.

Officials explained that the commission was designed to mirror the roles of other regional bodies like the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) and the North-East Development Commission (NEDC) but with focus on the peculiar realities of the North-West.

The scope of the commission is wide. It covers education, agriculture, health care, energy, environmental restoration and socioeconomic development.

In essence, the NWDC was expected to serve as a vehicle for rebuilding communities shattered by violence, creating jobs, restoring farmlands and providing modern infrastructure.

Our correspondent reports that the challenges of the North-West are daunting. The zone, which is home to nearly 80 million people, has in recent years become synonymous with insecurity.

Bandits, kidnappers and violent gangs have devastated rural communities, disrupting trade routes and forcing thousands off their farms. Entire villages have been uprooted, creating humanitarian crises across the region.

Despite being a hub of agriculture and commerce, the zone suffers high poverty rate and widespread youth unemployment. Roads, schools, hospitals and energy facilities remain inadequate, limiting economic diversification, while desertification and climate change continue to erode livelihoods, especially for farmers and pastoralists.

Across the seven states of the North-West, frustration continues to mount as residents said they were yet to see any tangible project from the commission since its establishment in July 2024.

Also, farmers displaced by banditry, traders struggling with collapsed markets and communities cut off by dilapidated roads, all insist that the NWDC has not made its presence felt.

In states worst hit by insecurity in the region, villagers complain that despite repeated promises, no intervention has come to restore their farmlands or provide relief for those uprooted by violence.

 

 Why Senate queried the commission

The Senate Committee on Regional Development recently raised the alarm over the finances and operations of the commission. The lawmakers revealed that out of N1.19 billion spent by the commission,N943 million, nearly 80 per cent, went into board allowances, leaving little for actual development work.

The committee further lamented that the NWDC remained the only regional development commission in Nigeria without executive directors despite being established by law in July 2024.

They argued that the absence of a full management structure had crippled the commission’s ability to deliver projects, making it the only regional body yet to commence tangible interventions.

Senators also queried duty tour allowances allegedly paid to the managing director for visits within Kano, where the headquarters is located, describing such spending as unjustifiable.

They expressed frustration that while other commissions in the South‑South, North‑East and South‑East had rolled out projects, the North-West is still waiting.

But responding to the committee, the managing director of the commission, Professor Abdullahi Shehu Ma’aji defended their actions, arguing that the board’s activities were fully backed by the North-West Development Commission Act, 2024.

He said the board had held seven meetings, five regular and two emergency sessions, during which it passed 63 resolutions aimed at setting up institutional and policy frameworks for the commission.

However, despite this explanation, the lawmakers maintained their concerns over delays in staff recruitment and the slow implementation of the commission’s capital budget despite approvals reportedly granted since February.

 

Previous crisis

The commission was thrown into crisis in May last year when its management announced applications for foreign scholarships to universities in Asia, Europe, and North America. But the governing board swiftly disowned the programme, describing it as “unauthorised” and insisted that it was never discussed at any board meeting.

The managing director defended the initiative, saying he had duly informed the chairman through a memo, and that no law was broken.

But the controversy deepened, with petitions reaching the Senate and the Ministry of Regional Development. The programme was eventually cancelled in line with federal government’s policy to prioritise local education.

Insiders said the scholarship saga was only a symptom of a deeper rift between the commission’s management and its governing board.

The tension, they argued, may be linked to a battle of supremacy between two powerful politicians from the region: Deputy Senate President Barau Jibrin, who is believed to have influenced the appointment of the managing director, and Speaker of the House of Representatives Tajudeen Abbas, who backed the choice of the board chairman, Lawal Sama’ila Abdullahi.

This political undercurrent has left the commission paralysed, with board members accusing the managing director of unilateral decisions, while management complains of obstruction and politicisation of routine operations.

According to critics, in addition to the issue of office accommodation, the commission is battling internal and administrative wars.

Professor Ma’aji also dismissed claims that he collected duty tour allowances for meetings with the Kano State governor, describing the allegation as a misrepresentation of facts. He explained that he had been working from Abuja since the commission had no functional office until last week when the Kano State Government donated and handed over a temporary headquarters.

“I wasn’t in Kano all through as we didn’t even have an office yet. I was working from Abuja because of office issue. It is now that the office is becoming functional,” he explained, noting that the ongoing session at the National Assembly was convened to address petitions against the commission.

He also said that while he had documents to prove that some of the allegations were false, he would not go into details on other issues, such as the appointment of executive directors or projects so far undertaken.

“We are before the committee formed to investigate the issue and they have asked us to stop talking so as not to preempt them until they are done with their investigation,” he explained.

Ma’aji further clarified that accusations of embezzlement against board members were unfounded, insisting that they only received statutory allowances.