By Obike Ukoh    

The Senate Committee on South-East Development Commission (SEDC) is yet to give its verdict on the ongoing investigative hearing of the activities of the Commission. But the issues raised so far have continued to attract public attention and discourse.

 But stakeholders, contemporary observers and analysts, have stressed the need to ascertain the true position about two issues: The N153million, the Commission claimed, was allegedly used to rent a one-room liaison office space in Abuja and N2.5 billion categorised as “implied expenditure.’’

After the last meeting of the SEDC management and the Senate Committee, the SEDC management was given a June 23 date to come up with details of its expenditures.

Members of the committee are: Senator Orji Uzor Kalu (Abia North), Chairman, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe (Abia South), Senator Victor Umeh (Anambra Central), and Senator Austin Akobundu (Abia Central).

During the last hearing, the Committee drilled SEDC’s Managing Director, Mark Okoye, over suspected mismanagement of N16.6 billion received by the commission as part of its 2025 budget allocations.

The Committee expressed surprise that N153 million was allegedly spent to rent a one-room liaison office in Abuja, and N2.5 billion categorised as “implied expenditure.’’

The Committee told the managing director and his team that they were not satisfied with the financial report it submitted during the investigative hearing and directed that a detailed account of the N16.6 billion allocation received should be provided.

According to the committee, information from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) revealed that N13 billion remained from the N16.6 billion the SEDC collected in December last year.

That implies that N3.6 billion had been spent and must be accounted for.

Though nobody has been indicted, and the Committee has not completed the investigation, there appears to be what could be described as shadow chasing. Some commentators, rather than concentrate on the main issue, have resorted to raising issues, very irrelevant to the issue at stake.

It could be rightly argued that they want to divert attention. One Ekene Arinze, who did not properly identify himself, questioned the membership of the Senate Committee.

The issues he raised are well known and documented, while his action could be interpreted as challenging the authority of the Senate.

However, a stakeholder, Chief Abia Onyike, a former Commissioner for Information in Ebonyi State, warned against diversionary tactics and urged the Senate Committee to be focused on its onerous assignment.

“The Senate Committee on SEDC, should not be blamed for the credibility challenges the Commission is currently facing.

“The management of SEDC must be accountable to the people of the South-East and the Federal Government.

“ The insinuation by some commentators regarding the leadership of the Senate Committee is rather diversionary, subjective and must be ignored. 

“We should learn to take up issues as they arise with some measure of objectivity.

“The management of SEDC should clear itself of any alleged mismanagement, so as to justify its set up as an institution, committed to the development of the South-East region,’’ Onyike who was also former Deputy National President of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), emphasized.

On its part, the Coalition of South East Youth Leaders (COSEYL), insisted that the Senate Committee, must get to the root of the matter.

The group urged the committee to ignore any distractive action, and demand full accountability of funds allocated to SEDC.

In a statement signed by COSEYL’s President General, Goodluck Ibem, the group, described the recent Senate oversight session as “courageous, principled, and uncompromising.” 

The group specifically backed concerns over the reported payment of N153 million rent for office accommodation, adding that it “demands immediate and comprehensive clarification.

“Every kobo appropriated for the development of the South-East must be accounted for and must directly impact the lives of our people, through visible infrastructure, economic empowerment, and sustainable development projects.”

 The group faulted explanation so far provided by SEDC leadership, as they “fall short of the standards of transparency, accountability, and fiscal responsibility, expected from an agency created to drive regional development.’’

 Even before some commentators questioned the composition of the Senate Committee, a group, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), described the committee’s action as courageous, diligent and constitution.

In a statement signed by its National Coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko, the group stressed that disturbing questions were raised, that demand immediate intervention by anti-corruption and law enforcement agencies.

As with other stakeholders, the rights group particularly expressed outrage over allegations presented before the Senate Committee that the Commission allegedly expended N153 million on the rent of a one-room liaison office in Abuja, and listed another N2.5 billion under what was reportedly categorized as “implied expenditure.”

According to HURIWA, no public official entrusted with development funds should be allowed to treat public resources as personal assets.

The association stated that the Senate Committee has already performed its constitutional responsibility by exposing apparent discrepancies and demanding accountability.

“Public office holders must understand that accountability is not negotiable and that impunity can no longer be tolerated in institutions created to uplift disadvantaged regions.”

The group expressed disappointment that within a relatively short period of its establishment, the commission is already facing allegations capable of undermining public confidence in its mandate.

Even before the return date, with a hindsight, stakeholders opined that SEDC must be protected and insulated from political extortion.

There are seven regional development commissions, one each for the six geopolitical zones, and the NDDC.

The mandate of the Commission under the SEDC Act of 2024, is to “Receive and manage funds from allocations of the Federation Account for the reconstruction and rehabilitation of roads, and other infrastructure damages suffered by the region as a result of the civil war.

With the revelations so far, from the newest development commission, the question is now being asked, whether Nigeria’s intervention agencies are sufficiently insulated from the governance failures that have undermined similar institutions in the past.

Analysts also say, that the Senate’s intervention represents not just routine oversight, but a test of whether a commission created to drive regional development can earn public trust by demonstrating that every naira allocated for the South-East reaches the purpose for which it was intended.

 SEDC was established after long agitation, the vestiges of the 30-month war, still dot many parts of the South-East. It is a belated Marshall Plan. Funds allocated to the Commission, should be properly used for public good.

Obike Ukoh, is former Deputy Editor-In-Chief, News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) 

By Chidi Anselm Odinkalu

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, during the presentation of his budget proposals for 2024 to Nigeria’s National Assembly, the first full year of appropriations under his presidency,  identified human asset development, poverty reduction and fighting insecurity as his priorities. In the first week of February this year, his official spokesperson, Bayo Onanuga, appeared to have forgotten his boss’ commitment when he acknowledged that 133 million Nigerians were multi-dimensionally poor, but claimed that this had nothing to do with the Federal Government. According to Onanuga, the states and local governments were responsible for that.

On the same day, some 450 kilometres away, Vice-President Kashim Shettima provided a full rebuttal of Onanuga’s escape into sovereign abdication. The occasion was the launch of the stakeholder consultation by the South-East Development Commission (SEDC) to unveil its regional development plan called the South-East Vision 2050 (SEV2050). At the event, Shettima went beyond merely reaffirming the Federal Government’s leadership and responsibility to eliminate poverty. He also underscored that this had to be “inclusive, sustainable, and anchored on peace and productivity.”

The event in Enugu was the coming-out promenade of the SEDC. The Commission is one of the seven regional development commissions now in existence under President Tinubu’s Ministry of Regional Development. There is one for each of the country’s six geopolitical zones in addition to the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), the oldest and richest of the development commissions.

SEV2050 was clearly a pitch for political support and constituency building by the SEDC, which achieved the significant feat of lining up the public support of the governors of all five states in the southeast. By contrast, when its counterpart in the north-west organized a similar event at the beginning of the year, none of the seven governors of the zone attended, and invitees were guests of the Senate North-West Caucus.

As its primary mission, the SEDC Act of 2024 charges the Commission with responsibility to “receive and manage funds from allocations of the Federation Account for the reconstruction and rehabilitation of roads, houses and other infrastructural damages suffered by the region as a result of the Civil War….” The SEDC is the only regional development commission with an explicit mission of post-war reconstruction, and one question the consultation put before the Commission was reconstruction from which war?

Anambra State Governor, Chukwuma Soludo, addressed this question in his remarks, arguing that the region was in recovery from not one war but “two major wars”. One was the Nigeria-Biafra war, which was supposed to have officially ended on 15 January 1970. The second was what he called “an internal war of self-destruction that has been on since 2021.” Some people may argue that his dating of this second conflict from 2021 is either artificial or unrealistically recent. It was notable that Governor Soludo failed to say who the parties were in this second war. Pointedly, however, he noted that “after the (first) civil war, there was a promise of rehabilitation and reconstruction; and…. this is yet to happen.” What he left unsaid was that the failure to fulfill that promise made what he described as the second war all but inevitable. Whether that was deliberate or inadvertent is immaterial.

Even as it sought to project an ambition over the next quarter-century, the SEV2050 consultation could not escape the enduring backdrop of reconstruction that frames its search for a mission. The mistake will be to focus on brick and mortar and forget to prioritise a reconstruction of minds, memories, and mentalities.

Vice-President Shettima acknowledged as much with some deftness in his opening remarks when he paid tribute to “a region defined not only by memory, but by motion.” Like Governor Soludo, what he left unsaid was even more eloquent. It was impossible to miss the fact that he felt unable to affirm that this motion led to movement or progress.

How to transform motion into movement, and ultimately to regional progress, more than half a century after the end of the conflict whose memory continues to define independent Nigeria is what the SEDC seeks.

On show were early signs of constructive competition among the states of the Southeast. It begs to be harnessed. But even as the states competed to advertise their states in Enugu, the event equally advertised the daunting challenges that confront the Commission.

Three were evident. One is a crisis of mismatched expectations. In Enugu, Governor Soludo illustrated this burden. Having advised the Commission to be realistic in its ambitions, he nevertheless asked it to lead the delivery of a “Marshall Plan” for the south-east, a reference to the US-led plan for Europe’s reconstruction after World War II. According to the governor, this Marshall Plan should include a regional security framework and “super inter-state infrastructure” such as regional railways and regional highways.

The problem, however, is that an SEDC that purports to lead on the former is likely to antagonize the state governors, and a Commission that claims to lead on the latter will also be on a fool’s errand. At a controversial encounter with the Senate Committee on the SEDC this past week, it emerged that the Commission received only 16 billion Naira over its first 16 months of existence, and in fact, none in its first nine months. It has so far received no capital funds.

Two, is the problem of evolving a viable business model for the SEDC. In establishing the regional development commissions, President Tinubu did not clearly articulate a mission or strategy for them. They were instead expected to find their path through the foliage of Nigeria’s bureaucratic and political Byzantiums. In the absence of this clarity of mission, the commissions labour under a mismatch between expectation and reality.

Within the various regions, ordinary citizens crave instant attention from the commissions. Ranged against them, political elites from the regions see a new patronage vehicle to be milked in the model of the NDDC.

For long, the NDDC has defined the business model of the regional development commissions. Under this model, these commissions operate largely as front offices for extortion, which holds the fate of citizens of the concerned region(s) hostage in carve-ups by political insiders who share development funds as private loot.

By 2022, according to one report on the NDDC, “12,000 out of 13,377 projects were abandoned after paying trillions of Naira for them.”  They have been largely ineffectual as development agents. Replicating this will be the kiss of death for the SEDC. To fail to do so will attract blackmail from politicians under the ruse of oversight.

Three, therefore, SEDC will face a push-back from the usual species of greedy political grubbiness. The event in Enugu had in attendance the Vice-President, the Governors of all the south-east States, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, who was represented by the Majority Leader, Professor Julius Ihonvbere.

But it was impossible not to notice the absence of the Chairman of the SEDC Committee in the Senate and former Governor of Abia State, Orji Uzor Kalu; his counterpart in the House of Representatives, Chris Nkwonta; and the man who refers to himself as “Number Six Citizen”, Deputy Speaker, Benjamin Kalu. Senator Orji Kalu reportedly sent one of his daughters to represent him. She holds no relevant public office. Anyone who thinks the near-collective absence of the National Assembly caucus of the region was a coincidence misunderstands how the place works.

The SEV2050 event in Enugu was arguably as successful as its planners could have hoped, and it appears the SEDC will not be short of goodwill or ideas as it sets out on its mission. Quite clearly, it will also not lack adversaries. Post-war reconstruction is an existential undertaking. The SEDC has neither the resources nor the latitude for the errors that have defined the NDDC. If the Commission can be confined to its mission and secure protection against baleful political extortion from predictable sources, it may lay durable foundations under its current leadership for a business model suited to its unique and historic mission.

A lawyer and a teacher, Odinkalu can be reached at chidi.odinkalu@tufts.edu.This is a slightly revised version of an article first published February 8-10 2025

By Chidi Anselm Odinkalu

When President Bola Ahmed Tinubu presented his budget proposals for 2024 to Nigeria’s National Assembly, appropriations during his first year were on human asset development, poverty reduction and fighting insecurity. Last week, his official spokesperson, Bayo Onanuga, appeared to forget or renounce that policy direction when he acknowledged that 133 million Nigerians were multi-dimensionally poor but claimed that had nothing to do with the Federal Government. According to Mr Onanuga, the states and local governments were responsible for that.

On the same day, 450 kilometres away, Vice-President Kashim Shettima provided a full rebuttal of Mr Onanuga’s escape into sovereign abdication. The occasion was the launch of the Stakeholder consultation of the South East Development Commission (SEDC) for its regional development plan called Southeast Vision 2050 (SEV2050). At the event, the Vice-President went beyond merely reaffirming the leadership and responsibility of the Federal Government in eliminating poverty. He also underscored that this had to be “inclusive, sustainable, and anchored on peace and productivity.”

This was not an unveiling of the SEV2050. Rather, it kicked off the process to evolve one. It was also the promenade of the SEDC.

The Commission is one of the four regional development commissions established by President Tinubu under the Ministry of Regional Development. The others are in the north-central, north-west, and south-west. Preceding these, the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) has been in existence since 2000, and the North-East Development Commission (NEDC) since 2017.

The Stakeholder consultation in Enugu was a credit to the SEDC Board, chaired by Emega Wogu, and the management led by the Managing Director, Mark Okoye. It was clearly a pitch for political support and constituency building for the Commission. The SEDC achieved a significant feat by lining up the public support of the governors of all five south-eastern states. By contrast, when its north-west counterpart organised a similar event last month, none of the seven governors of the zone attended.

Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodinma, coincidentally the Chair of the South-East Governors Forum, was the only one of the five governors who did not attend in person. He sent the Speaker of the Imo State House of Assembly instead. It appears the SEDC will not be short of goodwill as it sets out on its mission. Quite clearly, it will not be short of human obstacles in its path.

As its primary mission, the SEDC Act of 2024 charges the Commission with responsibility to “receive and manage funds from allocations of the Federation Account for the reconstruction and rehabilitation of roads, houses and other infrastructural damages suffered by the region as a result of the effect of the Civil War….” The SEDC is the only regional development commission with an explicit mission of post-war reconstruction. One question that the consultation put before the Commission was: reconstruction from which war?

Anambra State Governor, Chukwuma Soludo, addressed this question in his remarks, arguing that the region was in recovery from not one war but “two major wars”. One was the Nigeria-Biafra war, which was supposed to have officially ended on 15th January 1970. The second was what he called “an internal war of self-destruction that has been on since 2021.” Some people may argue that his dating of this second conflict to 2021 is either artificial or unrealistically recent.

It was notable that Governor Soludo failed to mention the parties to this second war. Pointedly, however, he noted that “after the (first) civil war, there was a promise of rehabilitation and reconstruction; and…. this is yet to happen.” What he left unsaid was that the failure to fulfill that promise made what he described as the second war all but inevitable. Whether that was deliberate or inadvertent is immaterial.

Even as it sought to project an ambition over the next quarter-century, the SEV2050 consultation could not escape the enduring backdrop of reconstruction that frames its search for a mission. The mistake will be to focus on brick and mortar and forget to prioritise a reconstruction of minds, memories, and mentalities.

Vice-President Shettima acknowledged as much with some deftness in his opening remarks when he paid tribute to “a region defined not only by memory, but by motion.” Like Governor Soludo, what he left unsaid was even more eloquent. It was impossible to miss that he felt unable to say that this motion led to movement or progress.

How to transform motion into movement and ultimately to regional progress, more than half a century after the end of the conflict that continues to define independent Nigeria, is what the SEDC seeks
.
On show were early signs of constructive competition among the states of the Southeast. It begs to be harnessed.

Abia State offers a vision for energy transition to inspire value-added processing and industry.

Anambra State is willing to lead in enterprise and innovation.

Ebonyi State’s value offer is in the food security and agriculture value chain.

Enugu State offers a secure home for a shared mission of coordination for regional prosperity.

These are reassuring. But the Enugu event equally advertised the daunting challenges that confront the Commission along its path. Three were evident.

One is a crisis of mismatched expectations. This was best illustrated by Governor Soludo. Having advised the Commission to be realistic in its ambitions, he nevertheless urged the Commission to lead the delivery of a “Marshall Plan” for the South-east, a reference to the US-led plan for Europe’s reconstruction after World War II.  According to Governor Soludo, this regional Marshall Plan should include a regional security framework, and “super inter-state infrastructure” such as regional railways and regional highways. The problem, however, is that an SEDC that purports to lead on the former is likely to antagonise the state governors, and a Commission that claims to lead on the latter will be on a fool’s errand.

Two is the problem of evolving a viable business model for the SEDC. For long, the NDDC has defined the business model of the regional development commissions. Under this model, the commissions operate largely as front offices for extortion, which holds the fate of citizens of the affected region/s hostage in carve-ups by political insiders sharing development funds as private loot. By 2022, according to one report on the NDDC, “12,000 out of 13,377 projects were abandoned after paying trillions of Naira for them.” As development agents, they have been largely ineffectual. The SEDC can’t afford this.

Three, therefore, SEDC will face push-back from the usual species of greedy political grubbiness. The event in Enugu had in attendance the Vice-President, the Governors of all the South-east States, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, who was represented by the Majority Leader, Prof. Julius Ihonvbere. But it was impossible not to notice the absence of the Chairman of the SEDC Committee in the Senate and former Governor of Abia State, Orji Uzor Kalu; his counterpart in the House of Representatives, Chris Nkwonta; and the man who refers to himself as “Number Six Citizen”, Deputy Speaker, Benjamin Kalu. Senator Orji Kalu reportedly sent one of his daughters to represent him. She holds no relevant public office. Anyone who thinks the near collective absence of the National Assembly caucus of the region was a coincidence misunderstands how the place works.

The SEV2050 event in Enugu was arguably as successful as its planners could have hoped for. In terms of its symbolism and optics, it may have exceeded expectations. The SEDC  will not be short of ideas as it goes forward; nor will it be short of determined antagonists.

Post-war reconstruction is an existential undertaking. The SEDC has neither the budget nor the latitude for the errors that have become the NDDC habits. If the Commission can confine its mission and secure protection against baleful political extortion from predictable sources, it may lay durable foundations under its current leadership for a business model suited to its unique and historic mission.

A lawyer and a teacher, Odinkalu can be reached at chidi.odinkalu@tufts.edu

Mr Mark Okoye, Managing Director, Chief Executive Officer of Southeast Development Commission (SEDC) has called on youths in the region to have confidence in government and hold their elected representatives responsible.

Okoye made the call during a reception organised for him by youths organisations in Anambra on Friday.

Some of the youth groups were, Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Wing, National Youth Council of Nigeria, Not Too Young to Run, National Union of Anambra State Students and Political Support Groups.

Okoye said it had been observed that years of neglect and unmet expectations had created the attitude of indifference among them but regretted that ignorance was also a worrisome factor for their non participation in governance.

The MD said the Southeast youth must see themselves as bonafide components of Nigerian construct and go for their rights with boldness and full rights of citizenship.

He described the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration as youth friendly with a good number of under 40 years persons heading Federal Ministries, Departments and Agencies.

He urged them to embrace Federal Government policies and programmes by filling their quota in in opportunities such as NELFUND loan for undergraduates, business support fund, recruitment in Army, Police and other opportunities.

According to him, “We are part of the Nigerian construct and we must participate in governance, we must identify what’s ours and go for it and we have to find out if those leaders representing us are doing enough, we should hold them accountable.

“Southeast has the lowest application for NELFUND, we are lowest in application for Nigeria, Police and Army, there are various Federal Government initiatives to support businesses but we are not accessing it.

“Youths have a great future in President Tinubu’s administration, who would have believed that this job would have gone to a youth, let us appreciate and support this government it,” he said

Okoye said the Southeast owed President Bola Ahmed Tinubu a debt of gratitude for creating the SEDC within one year in office whereas six military administrations and five presidents failed to do it in 54 years.

He said SEDC was a platform for investing in infrastructure in the region adding that the Commission would work with the five Governors to make Southeast the most preferred investment destination in Nigeria

He said the vision was to develop Southeast not just for the people of the region but for the entire country. He added that collaboration and development of states would be in their areas of comparative advantages.

He said the SEDC had robust programmes for young people and would work with youths across Southeast states and give them platform for greater opportunities.

“The SEDC is focused and ready to work with governors and groups, our development roadmap was approved two days after inauguration, we are working towards a prosperous Southeast not just for Igbos but for the entire country.

“We shall Invest in mechanised farming, infrastructure that would open up industrial parks, create technology hubs in universities and support our youths to take part in the sports sector which is about a $700bn economy.

In his address of welcome, Mr Tochukwu Obiadi, a youth leader thanked President Tinubu for finding Okoye worthy of appointment as MD/CEO of SEDC while pledging commitment of Anambra youth to work with the Commission to achieve its development objectives.

Mr Ken Okoli said the appointment of Okoye was an indication that youths had taken centre stage in governance at the national level.

Okoli said they were happy that youths were the key drivers of the Renewed Hope economic transformation agenda and that the SEDC commission under Okoye would make the region be part of the centre.

He said youth organisations were united and were willing to work with the Commission.

Mr Chineme Oguegbe, Chairman of Nigerian Association of Small and Medium Enterprises in Anambra said Okoye was not just the Chairman of SEDC but a role model whom youths looked forward to.

Oguegbe urged the Commission to come up with a policy for youth development and empowerment in the region.