Senate faults N2.9bn monthly allocation to North Central Development Commission

The Senate has faulted the Federal Government’s monthly release of N2.9 billion to the North Central Development Commission (NCDC), describing the funding as grossly inadequate in view of the commission’s N140 billion budgetary allocation for the 2026 fiscal year.

Titus Zam, the chairman of the Senate Committee on the North Central Development Commission, made the observation on Tuesday while addressing journalists after an interactive session between the committee and the management of the commission.

According to Zam, the current monthly allocation, if sustained throughout the year, would amount to far less than half of the commission’s approved annual budget, making it insufficient to drive meaningful development across the region.

“If you give someone that has a budget of 140 billion, N2.9 billion per month, in 12 months, it won’t be up to half of the entire budgetary sum.

“I suppose that is just a temporary package. When the commission finally comes to fruition, much more funds will be released. So we thank Mr. President, we thank the executive for dropping something now but look forward for more,” he said.

Despite expressing concerns over the funding level, the lawmaker acknowledged the commencement of releases to the commission, describing it as a positive step while expressing optimism that additional funds would be made available in due course.

Zam also assured that the Senate committee would ensure prudent utilisation of the available resources by providing oversight and guiding the commission on priority areas requiring immediate attention.

He urged the commission to channel significant investments into agriculture, security and rural development, noting that these sectors remain critical to the socio-economic growth of the North Central region.

“North Central is mostly agricultural land. We have arable land, we have good rainfall, we have vegetation, and there’s a policy for agriculture. We need the Department of NCDC to take agriculture very seriously.

“We also have a challenge of insecurity. The commission is advised to support the security forces and state government to complement their efforts towards mitigating the tides of insecurity within the region.

“We also ask them to take rural development very seriously because we are also rural in nature,” he said.