All the six geopolitical zones of the country now have a Development Commission. Hitherto complaints and agitations for this are as old as the birth of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) established in 2000 during the days of former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
The administrations of former President Muhammadu Buhari and the incumbent, President Bola Tinubu, combined, have created six new development plans, with the latter being credited with five.
It had taken 17 years from 2000 before the North East Development Commission (NEDC) was created by the Buhari administration in 2017. Between May 2023 and March 2025, President Tinubu alone has created the North West Development Commission (NWDC), North Central Development Commission (NCDC), South West Development Commission (SWDC); and South-South Development Commission (SSDC)and South East Development Commission (SEDC).
Since the NDDC, there have been perennial agitations for the establishment of similar commissions across the six geopolitical zones of the country. Despite the superior logic for the establishment of NDDC, the feeling, especially from the northern axis of the country, had been that the NDDC was too much a favour to the Niger Delta region. Some even called for the scrapping of the commission.
But the NDDC was a long overdue necessity. The Niger Delta region has been the breadwinner for the country since the discovery of oil in Oloibiri in 1956 in the Old Rivers State (now Bayelsa) and oil exploitation and exploration started in 1958, till date. As it stands, the region contributes over 90 per cent of revenue to the Federal Government, which is shared amongst all the federating states. Yet, there has been too little compensation to the people and environment. In other words, oil activities in the Niger Delta have been characterized by increasingly deteriorating and condonable negative impacts on the ecology and human life in the Niger Delta.
The NDDC Establishment Act 2000 was signed by the then Senate President, Chuba Okadigbo, with the mission “To offer a lasting solution to the socio-economic difficulties of the Niger Delta region and to facilitate the rapid and sustainable development of the Niger Delta into a region that is economically prosperous, socially stable, ecologically regenerative and politically peaceful”.
The North-East Development Commission
It was the only regional commission created in the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari in eight years, following the passage of the bill by the two legislative chambers on October 25, 2017. But it was not until two years later, on May 8, 2019, that President Buhari inaugurated the board of the NEDC. Sen. Ali Ndume (Borno South Senatorial District) and 17 other senators from the North East. It came as a replacement for previous initiatives, like the Presidential Initiative on Northeast (PINE); Victims Support Fund (VSF), etc. States in the zone include Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Taraba and Yobe. The board is presently headed by Major General Paul C. Tarfa (Rtd).
North West Development Commission:
It was created on 24th October 2024. The zone comprises Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto and Zamfara. It is headquartered in Kano. The bill was sponsored by Deputy Senate President, Sen. Barau I. Jubrin and 20 others from the zone. The commission has as its chairman, Alhaji Lawal Samai’ila Adillahi; while Prof. Shehu Abdullahi Ma’aji serves as MD/CEO.
North Central Development Commission (NCDC).
Created perhaps as the last of the six, its chairman is Cosmas Akyhir (Benue);
Tsenyil Yiltsen (Plateau) as MD/CEO. The bill was originally introduced in the 9th Senate but failed to secure presidential assent before the end of that term. It was sponsored by Sen. Abba Moro (Benue South) and the Senate minority leader.
Other members of the board are James Uloko (Benue), Atika Ajanah (Kogi), Bilgis Jumoke Sanni (Kwara), Aishatu Ibrahim (Nasarawa), and Muhammad Bashar (Niger). They also include Dauda Kigbu (Nasarawa), Zakari Jikantoro (Niger), Sulaiman Ali (Kogi), Bunmi Olusona (Kwara), Umar Mantu, (Plateau), Atotse Abraham (Benue), Solomon Adodo (FCT), Abdulkadir Usman (north-west), Habu Maman (north-east), Atinuke Owolabi (south-west), Rachael Nse (south-south), and Boniface Izziogu (south-east).
The zone comprises Benue, Kogi, Kwara, Nasarawa, Niger and Plateau.
SOUTH WEST DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION (SWDC)
The Senate in September 2024 passed the bill. It was sponsored by Ogun East Senator Gbenga Daniel. Olubunmi Adetunmbi as chairman; and Charles Akinola as MD/CEO. Other nominees include Bolaji Ariyo, Joseph Olugbenga, Scholastica Omoworare, Olumuyiwa Olabimtan, Adewinle Martins, Ibrahim Olaifa, Kabiru Lakwaya, Abdul Adamu, Arinola Fagbemi, Ukoha Onyekwere, Howell Ihenacho, Olugbenga Olufehinti, Tele Ogunjobi, Funmilayo Tejuosho, Fatai Ibikunle, and Lateef Ajijola. The established regional commissions are tasked with enhancing infrastructure, economic growth, and social welfare within their respective regions.
SOUTH-SOUTH DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION (SSDC)
Similarly, the SSDC Bill was passed in October 2024 and forwarded to the House of Representatives.
The bill was sponsored by Cross River South Senator, Asuquo Ekpenyong. The Commission has Chibudom Nwuche (Rivers); Usoro Akpabio (Akwa Ibom), MD/CEO.
States in the commission comprise Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Edo and Delta (the BRACED states).
Also appointed to the board are Marcus Eji (Rivers), Aganaba Steven (Bayelsa), Timi Ayibatonye (Delta), Joseph Ugheoke (Edo), and Sony Abang (Cross River). Other members include Larry Odey (Cross River), Charles Zuofa (Bayelsa), Nkereuwem Ebong (Akwa Ibom), Chika Chinedu (Rivers), Femi Oise (Edo), Charles Enukhowhate (Delta), Tijani Kaura (north-west), Tabitha Sallah (north-east), Yusuf Amao (north-central), Joseph Mmamal (south-east), and Bukonola Braimoh (south-west).
South East Development Commission (SEDC).
South-East are Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo. The pioneer chairman of the South East Development Commission (SEDC) is Dr. Emeka Nworgu. The commission’s managing director/chief executive officer is Mark Okoye. The commission was officially established on July 24, 2024, when President Tinubu signed the bill into law, marking a historic milestone for the region. Its Board was inaugurated on February 12, 2025.
Matters Arising
The prototype for all new commissions is the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).
The common mandate is to use available funds to spark the multidimensional development of their respective blocs and fast-track and consolidate the gains. But the issue was the source(s) of funding. The lawmakers had, during the clause-by-clause consideration of the report on the bills, engaged in heated debates over the source of funding for the various zonal development commissions. Their different angles culminated in the deletion of some provisions of Section 23 of the various bills.
For instance, the section had conferred operational immunity on the board and chief executives of the commissions. The Committee on Special Duties had, in its report, also recommended that 15 per cent of statutory allocations of member-states of a commission be used to fund the commission by the Federal Government. Some had argued such a deduction might attract litigations by some states. But the Senate finally resolved to stick to the 15 per cent.
Senate also has had to amend the South West, South-South, and North Central Development Commissions Acts to accommodate more executive directors.
Senate Leader Opeyemi Bamidele sponsored the Bill: “The Bills,” according to Bamidele, “seek to amend the respective provisions to reconcile the lacuna that exists in the Act relating to the appointments of the Executive Directors of the respective commissions to ensure uniformity with other development commissions, that is, North West and South East Development Commission.”
It’s been explicated by the Federal Government that the existence of the NDDC as a special project vehicle alongside the newly created South-South commission is no duplication in the Niger Delta.
Statutorily, as a sources of funding, the NDDC attracts the equivalent of 15 per cent of the monthly statutory deductions from federation accounts of all member states of the NDDC and three per cent of the total annual budget of the IOCs operating onshore and offshore services.
But the stories of graft in the NDDC can never be over-emphasized. A forensic audit in 2021 covering 2001 to 2019 opened a can of worms. Nor has the NEDC been spared heavy accusations of graft.
Will the new commissions toe a different line? The success of the commission shall depend largely on leadership and integrity.
Will endemic corruption, politics, tribalism and nepotism rubbish the objectives of the commissions?
