Senate moves to amend N/West, S/East devt commissions acts

The Senate, on Thursday, resolved to amend the North West and South East Development Commissions Acts.

The red chamber also passed for second reading the South South Development Commission bill.

The leader of the Senate, Opeyemi Bamidele (APC, Ekiti Central), during his lead debate on the two bills said amendment on the North West Development Commission Act, 2024, would provide for geo – political representation in the governing board of the Commission.

He said the amendment bill also seeks to reconcile the lacuna in the provisions relating to the appointments of the Chairman and the Managing Director of the Commission by ensuring that the two are not appointed from the same state of the zone.

“For effective representation, and in line with the principles of federal character, it is imperative that membership of the commission be extended to other geo – political zones of the country which would be in tandem with extant Acts, relating to the establishment of federal commissions,” Senator Bamidele said.

The Senate leader gave similar reasons in his lead debate for amendment of the South East Development Commission Act.

In his remarks after passing the amendment bills for second reading, the President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, said the proposed amendments to the Acts, were very necessary for smooth running of the commissions in the zones.