The National Assembly has excluded Kano and Plateau States from States to benefit from the establishment of the North East Development Commission after the consideration of its Conference Committee report on the North East Development Commission Bill, 2016.
However, at the Senate plenary on Tuesday, 13th December, 2016, Sen. Kabiru Marafa (APC:Kano) decried the exclusion of Kano and Plateau States, stating that both States had suffered devastation from the insurgency more than other States. Sen. Marafa urged the Senate to disregard the conference committee’s recommendation and include Plateau and Kano States as the Senate had originally recommended. He also warned that adopting the Conference Committee’s recommendation could inadvertently lead to the agitation for Development Commissions in other geo political zones. Plateau and Kano states were excluded on the basis that both States are in the North Central and North West respectively.
It would be recalled that the Senate had passed the North East Development Commission Bill in October 2016 with the aim of establishing a North East Development Commission located in Maiduguri and funded by 3 per cent of the federal value added tax (VAT) for a period of 10 years to cater for States in the North East (Yobe, Borno, Adamawa, Bauchi, Gombe and Taraba States) following their devastation by the Boko Haram insurgency. Prior to the harmonization of the Senate and House Bills on the North East Development Commission Bill, the Senate had included Kano and Plateau states on the consideration that both states had been affected by the activities of insurgency and terrorism.
Speaking on the report, Sen. Ali Ndume (APC:Borno) urged the Senate to approve the recommendations of the Conference Committee in order to institutionalize a North
East Development Commission that would effectively administer funds for the development of the North East.
The Senate thereafter adopted the Report of the Committee.
