Bill on North East Development Commission passes 2nd reading

A bill seeking the establishment of North East Development Commission to tackle devastation caused by insurgency in the region has passed second reading on the floor of the Senate.

The bill seeks to provide a legal framework for the coordination of activities for rehabilitation of internally displaced persons and reconstruction of infrastructure destroyed in the North East.

Leading debate on the bill, Senate leader, Ali Ndume, said the region had been devastated by activities of insurgents since 2009, and decried that the incident had adversely affected the socio-economic activities of the people in the region.

“The massive destruction of roads, schools, bridges, places of worship and other infrastructures, over 10.5 million out of school students have been recorded while over 2 million people are internally displaced across the region and other neighbouring countries,’’ he said.

On his part, Kabiru Gaya said from records, over 15,000 lives were lost while over 5 million people were internally displaced due to the crisis in the North East.

He added that with the high rate of internally displaced persons, Nigeria had the largest population of people displaced through conflicts in Africa.

He said in view of the level of devastation in the region, it required an urgent well-planned rescue programme to rebuild the region.

In his remarks, Senate president, Bukola Saraki, who presided over plenary, said the bill, which would be referred to the Senate Committees on Establishment and Special Duties, would be expected in four weeks for third reading.

He noted that the progress made with regard to the bill was evidence that the eighth Senate was committed to rehabilitating the North East.

The Senate also considered the report of the Joint Committee on Banking, Insurance and other Financial Institutions as well as Information Communication Technology (ICT) and Cybercrime on Transactions Bill, 2015.

Also, report of the Committee on Aviation in respect of the motion on the need to publish accident Investigation report was laid on the floor of the senate.

The report of the Ad hoc Committee on Aviation in respect of the motion on the worrisome and unstable position of Nigerian aviation industry was equally laid.