NEDC and six months limbo
The North East Development Commission – NEDC is the only federal government agency that is saddled with the sole responsibility of initiating and executing developmental and infrastructural projects such as reconstruction of roads, houses and institutions destroyed by Boko Haram insurgency in the devastated region which comprises six states; Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Taraba and […]
The North East Development Commission – NEDC is the only federal government agency that is saddled with the sole responsibility of initiating and executing developmental and infrastructural projects such as reconstruction of roads, houses and institutions destroyed by Boko Haram insurgency in the devastated region which comprises six states; Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Taraba and Yobe state.
Two federal government agencies; Presidential Committee on North-East Initiative, chaired by a former army general – Theophilus Danjuma and Presidential Initiative on the North-East, which was domiciled in the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, were responsible for such interventions before they were scraped and directed to collapse into the newly-established NEDC, to be chaired by a retired army general-Paul Tarfa from Adamawa state.
The decision by the federal government, even though belated, was embraced as a soothing elixir by major stakeholders and development partners when, on the inaugural day, President Muhammadu Buhari charged the new management and the 13-member board to “as a matter of urgency conduct a comprehensive survey of all states in the zone to determine the reconstruction and rehabilitation needs of all the socio-economic sectors of the zone and develop an intervention master-plan based on the outcome of the assessments”. He also directed them to develop policies and implementation guidelines for immediate intervention in the development of the region.
On the hills of the inauguration, the commission got a statutory budget allocation of 50 billion naira out of which the sum of 10 billion naira was released as take-off grant, and another tranche of 25 billion naira was finally released. In the kitty of the commission therefore was the total sum of 35 billion naira.
They were expected to hit the ground running with the vision of Mr. President by designing a clear-cut road-map that would form the basis for the much needed intervention in the devastated region. It’s been six months on, and the board has met only three times. Rather than engage in strategic thinking on modern concepts of intervention through regular meetings and brainstorming sessions, the commission is embroiled in needless squabble on the dais of ethnicity, religion, nepotism and regional dichotomy. This has raised concerns that the agency might have embarked on a downward-spiral journey on the ignominious path of the tottering Niger Delta Development Commission-NDDC.
Just recently, media reports reveal allegation of award of contracts by the Managing Director-Mohammed Goni Alkali, without approval by the board, which they also reiterated was contrary to the provisions of the law that sets up the commission.
A group of youths who call themselves the North East Youth Coalition for Good Governance also has recently in a press release accused the board’s management of deliberately frustrating the convening of the next board meeting because some board members might be poised for a brawl at the meeting on the suspicion of being kept in the dark on the award of major contracts.
This group led by its Chairman, Chief Cavin Goino, alleged that the contract for the rehabilitation of the commission’s headquarters in Maiduguri was given without approval by the board as one of the many reasons for the internal wrangling.
Goino who also stressed that employment should be done in such a way that all the six states that are under the watch of the Commission benefits equally, also alleged that secret employments are done at top-management position without the due process of advertisement.
If these allegations are true, then the chairman of the commission-Paul Tarfa, who is known to be an accomplished army general with unquestioned integrity over the years, should wak up to his responsibilities on whose table the buck stops.
While also arguing that apart from some passing mention of donation of bags of rice to IDPs, the Commission lacks the media visibility to create a robust awareness of its responsibilities and its obligation to its targeted population, the youth group requested for a transparent and open administration of the Commission.
Even though some publications also revealed that the board member who is representing the North-East region and Taraba state-Chief David Sabo Kente, said he is not aware of any financial impropriety and stressed that approvals for contract award must seek approval from the board, he ironically declined that the board have not been contacted for any approvals.
Chief Kente when he was asked to defend the allegation that after six months from their inauguration no single project has been executed by the commission apart from the relief materials being shared to the IDP camps in the affected areas, rhetorically stated that “I can assure you that we will not disappoint Nigerians especially our brothers and sisters in the North-East who are victims of the dreaded Boko Haram insurgency”.
Whatever the case might be, it is important for the board and it’s administration to note that the funds belong to all the states in the region, they would not allow the commission to be run like a cult whose activities starts and ends with the cornering of what belongs to all for the personal gain of a few.
Usman Mu’azu, 26, Salisu Gujbawo Street, Gombe