By Ikenna Onuoha
“The commission will among other things receive and manage funds from the allocation of the federation account for the construction and rehabilitation of roads, houses and other infrastructural damages suffered by the region as a result of the civil war. The commission will also be empowered to tackle the ecological problems and any other related environmental or developmental challenges in the region.”-Premium Times
What makes a good son to his parents is the ability to sincerely coordinate what legally and morally belongs to the lineage. A good son works tirelessly for the development of his village, his zone, his state, his region and his country. He is always available to project and protect the needs of his people.
Worthy to note that so many Igbo sons and daughters had served as Senators and House of Representatives members, but non, without sounding immodest apart from recently, was able to remember the plight of the Igbo race. Few of them did tried, but many of them sabotaged the Igbo project. A story of “Sabo” is still fresh!
To guarantee dividends of democracy to their people, Senators and Members of the green chambers from South South and North East extractions doggedly worked for the realization of Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) and North East Development Commission (NEDC) respectively.
The primary objective of fighting for the achievement of these commissions is to bring dividends of democracy to their people. They fought for it considering the pains, frustrations, anguish and poverty their people witnessed and the degradation of their region.
Regrettably, no person considered the grievous experiences and social catastrophes Ndi-Igbo passed through before, during and after the civil war enough reason to fight for their cause.
But only one young man from the soil of Imo state, Owerri zone in Amaimo Ikeduru to be precise had the gut, the temerity, the boldness and the passion to make very sound and equitable case for Ndi-Igbo.
He coined, arranged, rearranged, initiated, innovated and presented one of the most considered valuable and resourceful Bill ever in the history of the Igbo race, Southeast Development Commission (SEDC) on the floor of the red chambers of the National Assembly in 2017, which is today the talk of the town in the entire region.
Information has it that at the embryonic stage of this Bill, some of his colleagues from the same geo-political zone thought, Senator Samuel Nnaemeka Anyanwu was joking or kidding.
Little did they know that the carelessly jettisoned and cajoled initiative of Senator Anyanwu would metamorphose into a broad social development and regional emancipation where those that kicked against it would live to benefit. Today, the dream has come through having been assented to by Mr President, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.
Special thanks also go to the current Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt Hon Benjamin Kanu and other members of the green chambers from the Southeast geo-political zone for lobbying, galvanizing and working for the passage of the bill at the lower chambers.
Though, some of our sons had occupied that sensitive number two position in the green chambers, painfully, they were only there to enrich their pockets and make their family members billionaires at the instance of the Southeast without remembering the bill.
What is so remarkable about this Bill is that, same was unanimously passed by the Senate but had minor setback at the House of Representatives due to personal interest and other mundane reasons. The bill originally sponsored by Senator Anyanwu succeeded and was passed under Senator Bokola Saraki as Senate President, but was rejected at the lower chambers under Rt Hon Yakubu Dogara as Speaker.
In all these challenges, Senator Anyanwu, though a one term Senator then in the 8th Senate did not relent nor relax, but assiduously continued undeterred through the spread of his political tentacles and resourceful contacts to ensuring a harmonious and unanimous passage of the bill.
Painfully, this same bill was denied support at the green chambers some years ago simply because the facilitator of the Bill at the lower House, Hon Chukwuka Onyema was absent from plenary, according to the then Speaker, Rt Hon Yakubu Dogara.
Having unanimously passed the bill by both chambers of the legislature, His Excellency, President Almed Bola Tinubu has finally appended his assent to it thereby making it law. Now, the Southeast Development Commission has become a reality.
The commission will among other things receive and manage funds from the allocation of the federation account for the construction and rehabilitation of roads, houses and other infrastructural damages suffered by the region as a result of the civil war.
The commission will also be empowered to tackle the ecological problems and any other related environmental or developmental challenges in the region.
Now that the commission has taken off, the development of Southeast geo-political zone will be certain, reduce restiveness, guarantee equity, justice and fairness. The establishment of the commission will create and guarantee employment opportunities so as to enable the zone to be at par with other regions in the country.
Indeed, this is what true leadership is all about; a show of sense of belonging, incorporating the people and creating better platform for them to thrive. Exactly what Senator Anyanwu demonstrated in the 8th Senate is a dream come through!
By so doing, we shall be expecting the Southeast of our collective dreams!
