Southwest development bill passes third reading in Senate

The Senate on Thursday passed a bill seeking for the establishment of the South West Development Commission into law.

It was passed after the consideration of a report submitted by the Senate Committee on Special Duties chaired by Senator Kaka Shehu Lawan.

The Commission will be charged with the responsibility, among others, to receive and manage funds allocated by the Federation Account and donations and gifts for the reconstruction and rehabilitation of infrastructural damages suffered by the region and to tackle ecological, environmental and other developmental challenges and for related matters, 2024 (SB. 68).

The bill was presented by Senator Gbenga Daniel, a former two-term governor of Ogun State and the representative of Ogun East Senatorial District in August 2023 for consideration and subsequent passage.

The South West Development Commission (Establishment) Bill was reintroduced for the second time, after it was first brought to the Senate in the 8th National Assembly on December 20, 2018.

Already in existence are the Niger Delta Development Commission and North East Development Commission, whose establishment bill received presidential assent in October 2017.

The bill was initially sponsored by Senator Gbenga Ashafa (APC-Lagos East) in the 8th Senate, was read for the first time at plenary presided over by the then President of the Senate President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki.

Ashafa’s bill was entitled: “South West Development Commission (Establishment) Bill, 2018.”

The states covered by the bill are Ekiti, Ogun, Ondo, Lagos, Osun and Oyo.