Senators notably from the North-East and North-West geopolitical zones of the country disagreed sharply on Tuesday over the exclusionl of Kano and Plateau States as beneficiaries of the proposed North East Development Commission (NEDC).

Recall that the Senate had on October 20, 2016, at the third reading stage of the bill included Kano and Plateau states as beneficiaries but the states were removed at the conference committee comprising the Senate and House of Representatives.

The proposed NEDC is tasked with the responsibility of rebuilding the North-East region destroyed by Boko Haram Islamic terrorists over the years.

Sponsor of the Bill in the Senate, Kabiru Gaya (APC, Kano), particularly asked that the conference report be rejected. He said: “I sponsored this bill because I believe we are all from the north. I am from the North-West, but I sponsored a bill for the North-East. I am from Kano state and I have never seen anywhere in Nigeria where up to 500 people died in one attack. But it happened in Kano state and places were destroyed.

“I think it is unfair to remove Kano and Plateau states from states that will benefit from the commission. It is also questionable to note that only 5 out 14 members of the committee signed the report. I urge my colleagues to reject this report.”

Speaking in his support, Senator Kabiru Marafa (APC, Zamfara) argued that “there are other parts of the north that were affected by insurgency. We cannot adopt this report and pass it. This is wrong. There were terrorist attacks in Kano and Plateau and why should they remove these two states even when we have already resolved here?

“Another thing is that, out of 14 members of the committee, only 5 members signed the report and that means those who did not sign are not in support of what has been done by the committee. We are all from the north and we need to carry everybody along.”

However, the position of the two Senators was countered by Senate Leader, Ali Ndume (APC, Borno) who argued that the inclusion of Kano and Plateau States would instigate calls for other states outside the North-East to be included as beneficiaries.

Ndume said: “If we are insisting on including Kano and Plateau states, we must also include Niger, Benue, Imo, FCT, Nasarawa, Kaduna and Kogi States as part of those to benefit from the commission. We have a situation on ground. I beg my colleagues that we adopt this report. The bill can be later amended to accommodate other states. We have to either accept or reject the bill. We need to act fast now and save the humanitarian crisis in the North-East.”

The bill was eventually passed after the intervention of the Senate President, Bukola Saraki who counselled senators unhappy with the report to sponsor an amendment bill to include other states in the near future.

He said: “We have been on this case for over a year. We must look at this collectively. This does not just affect the North-East. It affects other places in the north. Let us pass the bill and then go back and make amendments to accommodate other states. The House of Representatives has passed it.”

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Senators Bicker over Exclusion of Kano, Plateau from NEDC