A bill seeking to establish the South-South Development Commission (SSDC) failed to make progress at the Senate on Thursday after it was quickly stood down following stiff opposition from northern senators.
Senate President, Sen. Godswill Akpabio, stepped down the bill when he sensed that the mood in the Senate did not support it.
The bill, which was sponsored by Sen. Asuquo Ekpenyong (APC, Cross River -South), had the title, “A Bill for an Act to Establish the South-South Development Commission charged with the responsibility to receive and manage funds from the Federation Account Allocation and other sources, donations, grants, and for the integration, development, resolution of infrastructural deficit, militancy, communal crises as well as tackle ecological, environmental problems; and for related matters.”
However, as soon as he concluded his lead debate, the bill was immediately opposed by the two senators who spoke after him.
Both of them from the North, senators Adamu Aliero (PDP, Kebbi- Central) and Abdul Ningi (PDP, Bauchi-Central), said the proposed commission was a duplication of the existing Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), advising the Senate to drop it.
Aliero, a former governor of Kebbi State, said the sponsor appeared to want to play on the intelligence of senators by bringing such a bill to the floor.