North Central Governors, NASS members meet over NCDC leadership, devt plan
Governors from the North Central geopolitical zone and members of the National Assembly from the region have met on Tuesday in Abuja to address crisis that cropped up over the leadership of the newly established North Central Development Commission (NCDC).
The meeting was convened by the Chairman of the North Central Governors’ Forum, and Governor of Nasarawa State, Abdullahi Sule.
In his opening remarks, Governor Sule said they must work as a team to advance the needs of the region and avoid anything that will stall the take-off of the commission.
According to him, the development commission will serve as vehicle for the transformation and development of the region, as such they must “do the right thing so that at the end of the day, the entire North Central is developed.”
He added that as leaders, they must avoid the bad experiences of similar commissions in other regions, so as not to truncate its take off.
“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’ll miss the road. The whole idea is that we are doing it collectively,” he said.
He therfore called for cooperation among all stakeholders, assuring that 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.
He also said a joint committee should be constituted to articulate a development strategy for the NCDC.
“We know our own peculiarities, 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,” Sule added.
The Chairman called on members of the National Assembly to ensure that the NCDC is captured in the 2025 budget.
He expressed gratitude to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for coming to the rescue of the region by signing into law the bill establishing the NCDC.
In a remark, Senator Dachung Gyang Pam (PDP, Jos North), said the stakeholders must work together because of the significance of the NCDC.
Also commenting, Hon. Ahmed Idris Wase (APC, Wase Federal Constituency), called for similar meetings going forward to enable the stakeholders agree on the fundamental needs of the zone.
Governors at the meeting were those of Nasarawa, Benue, Kogi and Kwara States, and the members of the National Assembly from the region.
