Do we need South-South Development Commission?

A bill seeking to establish another intervention agency for the Niger Delta region, to be known as the South-South Development Commission (SSDC), has just passed second reading in the senate and has been sent to the special duties committee for further consideration. It is sponsored by Senator Ekpenyong Asuquo of Calabar South and co-sponsored by all the other 17 senators of the region.

Senate President Godswill Akpabio is the brain behind the legislation, and I understand that he has staked his political capital on it and wants it passed by all means. The bill was first presented on the floor of the senate three months ago, but was roundly rejected by the senators who argued that the proposed commission is a duplication to the NDDC which has been in existence since 2000. “The rejection was a personal embarrassment to the senate president, but he withdrew to fight another day,” a senator told me.

There were still some pockets of resistance when the bill was re-presented last week, but, this time, senators from the south-south region were more pushful to get it passed. Senator Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa argued that while NDDC is a resource-based commission, specifically meant for the oil-producing states, including Imo and Abia, SSDC will only cater for the six states of the Niger Delta region.

Senators are even contemplating a name change for the NDDC to reflect its focus on oil-producing states and distinguish it from the new agency. Senator Ekong Sampson (Akwa Ibom South) told me last week: “I represent the major oil belt of the region. We feel the pain and bear the brunt of oil production. NDDC is for all the oil-producing states of the nation; the SSDC is specifically for the south-south region which has over the centuries been devastated by oil production. I am therefore very confident that the SSDC bill would be passed.”

In 2017, the senate created the North-East Development Commission, the first of such regional bodies established after NDDC. NEDC was necessitated by the need to rebuild the north-east after years of decimation by terrorist attacks. I supported its creation and argued that because of our interconnectedness, any part of the country left behind would be a drag on the rest of us. Since then, similar regional development agencies have been created for the other four regions – north-west, south-west, south-east and north-central. Now that the south-south senators have tabled their demands, we have come full circle.

By their enabling laws, these regional bodies have similar organizational and management structures and sources of funding. They receive funds from the federation account, in addition to donations, aid and grants. Their mandate is to tackle developmental and environmental challenges peculiar to each region. For the SSDC, priority would be given to ecological and environmental hazards; infrastructural inadequacies as well as militancy and communal crises which have plagued the region for years.

I support the creation of the SSDC for the south-south region and commend Senator Akpabio for spearheading it. I’m also thankful to the senators from other states, notably Suleman Kawu (Kano South) and Enyinnaya Abaribe (Abia South) for endorsing the bill. The argument that it is a duplication of the NDDC is flawed. For one, the North Central Development Commission was created earlier this year despite the existence of the Hydro Electric Power Producing Areas Commission (HYPPADEC) created in 2010. Yet, nobody raised the issue of duplication.

Second, SSDC and NDDC have different mandate areas. NDDC’s mandate extends well beyond the six south-south states, to cover Abia, Ondo and Imo; and may extend further to include new oil producers like Lagos, Nassarawa, Bauchi and others in the Benue trough. Third, since NDDC’s programmes and projects are shared among the nine mandate states based on their respective volume of crude oil production, states like Cross River that produce marginally have benefitted least from the NDDC programmes. The SSDC is therefore needed to make up for this inadequacy by providing fairly and equitably to the six states.

I have, however, noticed that the SSDC bill does not specify where to locate the commission’s headquarters, unlike the NDDC law which specifies Port Harcourt as the commission’s headquarters and the Nigerian Content Development Board (NCDB) law which stipulates Yenogoa as its headquarter. This omission could create unwarranted squabbles among the states and I urge Senator Akpabio to ensure that the oversight is addressed.

The SSDC Bill should stipulate Uyo as the location for its corporate headquarters for many reasons. Akwa Ibom is not only the largest oil producing state, it is also the most peaceful, hospitable and suitable for siting an important federal agency. The Senate President must bring this one home.

For Senator Akpabio, SSDC might just be a given, but he has a lot more to do. The lukewarm attitude of the federal government to the establishment of Ibom Deep Sea Port has put the senate president in a difficult position. He is a leading member of the Tinubu inner circle. He flies into Uyo in a presidential jet and tools around in a big motorcade.

Governor Umo Eno fawns over him while the people sing his praises – all in an attempt to get him to facilitate federal support for the port project, which is clearly the people’s most sought-after infrastructural investment. But, so far, there is no indication that President Tinubu is interested in the project. This leaves Akpabio with nothing to brag about when he visits home, and the people sorely disappointed.