Development top agenda as governors, lawmakers from North Central meet

Governors from the North Central geopolitical zone have held a joint meeting with National Assembly caucus from the region to strategies on the way forward regarding the newly established North Central Development Commission (NCDC).

The meeting, convened by the Chairman of the North Central Governors’ Forum, Governor Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa State, held at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja on Tuesday.

Been the first of its kind, the meeting brought together governors from the North Central, as well as members of the National Assembly from the region, to deliberate on the way forward, particularly as it relates to the North Central Development Commission.

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The meeting, also provides an avenue to address issues that may crop up, particularly the agitation for the control of the NCDC, which if left unchecked may spell doom for the take-off of the commission.

Governor Abdullahi Sule, in his address said the meeting was specifically to deliberate on the newly established NCDC, with a view to avoiding the hiccups witnessed across other regions.

According to the Governor, contrary to the general perception that development commissions are established mainly to address issues of insecurity, the North Central is viewing the NCDC as a vehicle to transform and bring genuine development to the region.

“There is a general perception that this kind of development commission are done purely either for insecurity reasons, because it started from the NDDC, when there were pipeline vandalization and the rest of that in the Niger Delta and at the end of the day, NDDC was established.

“It extended to the North East due to the activities of Boko Haram in the North East and the rest of that.

“Our own, as the name implies, is a development commission. It is for the development of the North Central. When we said it is for the development of the North Central, we mean every state of the North Central.

“We have to go and ensure that we do the right thing so that at the end of the day, the entire North Central is developed, not some parts of North Central, not any state in the North Central, not some regions of the North Central but the entire North Central,” Sule stated.

The governor who noted what transpired in similar development commissions established across the country, said the meeting became necessary in order to avoid the mistakes recorded in other zones.

“The good thing about us being the last, the advantage that we are seeing, the mistakes that had occurred in other places, we should do everything to avoid those mistakes.

“One of those mistakes is for us to start agitating between the governors and members of the National Assembly or ministers over the control of the NCDC. If we do that, we miss the road. The whole idea is that we are doing it collectively,” he said.

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He therefore called for synergy and cooperation between the governors and the lawmakers so that, at the end of the day, every state would have a sense of belonging at the NCDC.

“The Governors and National Assembly members are one and must work as one. We should sit and agree between us whose names are being submitted as a joint list. Not that Governor’s are submitting one list and the National Assembly members are submitting another.

“That is one of the reasons for having this meeting to ensure that we have a unified list. We want to go to Mr. President also as a unified body to thank him,” he said.

On the leadership of the NCDC, Governor Sule said such a list must represent every state of the North Central and that every state must form part of the leadership structure of the commission.

“We know our own peculiarity. We know what development means in our own region. Therefore, we want to work with you to form a committee that would now engage experts or a consultant on development.

“This joint committee would engage consultants that would come up with a specific document on the development strategy for the NCDC,” he added.

He expressed gratitude to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for rescuing the region by signing into law the bill establishing the North Central Development Commission.

“At this moment, let me, on behalf of my colleagues, and I believe every one of you, to send special appreciation to Mr. President for now accommodating us and making it a complete circle. Now we have the NCDC. We will continue to appreciate Mr. President for this gesture,” he said.

Dachung Gyang Pam, the Senator representing Jos North, said stakeholders from the region must work together because of the magnitude and significance of the NCDC.

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Also Ahmed Idris Wase of Wase Federal Constituency in Plateau State, called for similar meetings going forward, and stressed that, such meetings would guide stakeholders to better understand what needs to be done as a region.

Those who attended the meeting include Governors from Nasarawa, Benue, Kogi and Kwara States, as well as National Assembly members from across the region.