South East Development Commission Bill, 10 Others Pass Senate First Reading

 

The bill seeking to establish the South East Development Commission (SEDC) sponsored by the Deputy Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, Senator Stella Oduah, and 10 other bills on Wednesday passed the first reading at the Senate plenary.

The other bills that scaled first reading were the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (Alteration) bill, 2019, sponsored  by Senator Istifanus Gyang; Criminal Code CAP C38 LFN 2004 (Amendment) bill, 2019, sponsored by Senator  Betty Apiafi; Federal College of Forestry Technology and Research, Akamkpa bill, 2019, sponsored  by Senator Gershom Bassey; Public Procurement Act 2007 (Amendment) bill, 2019, sponsored  by Senator Uche Ekwunife, and Public Procurement Act 2007 (Amendment) bill, 2019, sponsored by Senator Abdullahi Sankara.

Others were the National Land Drainage bill, 2019, sponsored by Mohammed Musa; Electronic Transactions bill, 2019, sponsored by Senator Ibikunle Amosun; Federal College of Education Marama, Borno State (Est.) bill, 2019, sponsored by Senator Ali Ndume; Federal University of Agriculture and Technology Oke-Ogun, Oyo State (Est.) bill, 2019,  sponsored by Senator Abdulfatai Buhari, and the Federal College of Crop Science and Food Technology Lere, Kaduna State (Est.) bill, 2019, sponsored by Senator Suleiman Kwari.

The SEDC  bill which is being reintroduced was passed by the eighth Senate but failed to receive the assent of President Muhammadu Buhari.

Clause 15 (2a) of the bill which identifies source of funding for the Commission, stipulates that the equivalent of 10 percent of the total monthly statutory allocation due to the member states of the Commission shall be from the federation account.

The bill sponsored also seeks the establishment of a governing board for the Commission which shall include one person for the other geopolitical zones in the country.

The Senate also on Wednesday considered two bills seeking to establish the Modibo Adama University in Yola, and a Federal Polytechnic in Aba respectively.

Sponsor of the bill to establish the Modibo Adama University, Senator Aishatu Dahiru, said the university was established in 1981 as a Federal University of Technology.

According to her, “The university’s inherent statutory limitation exposed it to a lot of disadvantages-making it impossible to meet the needs of its historic state.”

Dahiru lamented that the limitation adversely affected female students’ demography.

“According to the statistics from the universities, there has been a 40 percent drop rate in female enrolment in the university following the reversal to core technology programmes.

“This has greatly undermined the federal government's efforts in mainstreaming the girl-child education especially in the North-east region.”

She added that given the huge investment by the federal government in the university, citizens of the state would be at an advantage if the university is made a conventional and multi-disciplinary institution.

On his part, sponsor of the bill seeking to establish the Federal Polytechnic Aba, Senator Theordore Orji, said the Abia State Polytechnic was established in 1992 and presently has 12,000 students.

According to him, upgrading the institution to a federal polytechnic would bring about technological advancement and manpower to serve the country.

Senate President, Dr. Ahmad Lawan, thereafter, referred the two bills to the Senate Committee on Tertiary Institutions and TETFUND chaired by Senator Baba Kaita for further legislative work, and is to report back to plenary in four weeks.