A civil rights group, the Civil Liberties Parliamentary Advocacy Centre, (CLPAC), has clarified that the recently signed South East Development Commission (SEDC) Bill, was initiated by Senator Stella Oduah and not the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Benjamin Kalu.
Giving a historical genesis of the SEDC, the organisation in a press statement issued by its Publicity Secretary, Arc. Vincent Udemba in Abuja said that the SEDC was conceived in the 8th Senate by Senator Oduah (Anambra North) and merged with a similar bill sponsored by Senator Samuel Anyanwu (Imo East) when it was introduced on the floor of the Red Chamber on June 22, 2016.
He clarified that as at 2016 of the 8th Assembly when the bill was initiated, Hon. Kalu was not holding any political office not until June 2019 when he resumed as an elected member of the House of Representatives.
Making references to the archives of Order Paper Nigeria, the Senate’s Order Paper 2016 (SB. 303) and newspapers publications of June 17, 2017 Vincent pointed out that the bill was first read on the floor of the 8th Senate led by former Senate President Bukola Saraki on Wednesday, June 22, 2016, and scaled the second reading on June 7, 2017.
“On December 12, 2018, the Senate passed the bill and one week to the expiration of the 8th Assembly the House of Representatives on May 28, 2019, passed the bill.
“At the level of the 8th House of Representatives the same bill was sponsored by former Deputy Minority Leader, Hon. Chukwuma Onyema (Anambra, Ogbaru),” he stated.
The statement noted that after much debate by members, the Deputy Speaker, Yussuff Lasun (APC-Osun) who presided over the day’s plenary, put the matter to vote and the majority voted in favour of the bill.
The organisation noted that it was pertinent to set the records straight by giving credit to Stella Oduah who conceived the bill in the 8th Assembly and solely reintroduced, championed its passage in the 9th Assembly with the support of other Senators, but was not assented into law by former President Muhammadu Buhari.
Vincent emphasized that the input of the Deputy Speaker was as a result of his status being the most ranked Reps member from the South East and was thus named as the bill’s sponsor when it was reintroduced in the 10th Assembly as a matter of privilege and respect.
The Publicity Secretary said though CLPAC acknowledged Hon Benjamin Kalu’s contributions, it will, however, be a grave error to solely ascribe the bill’s establishment to the Deputy Speaker.
He urged Deputy Speaker’s loyalists not to thwart the course of history, but give respective accolades not only to Ben Kalu but to President Tinubu, its pioneer, Stella Oduah, Samuel Anyanwu and other lawmakers who played significant roles.
According to him, it is a common practice for lawmakers to reintroduce bills which were passed by previous Assemblies but failed to receive presidential assent.
“It would be wrong to give entire credit to a lawmaker who reintroduced a bill rather than the original sponsor, an example is the already passed Nigerian Peace Corps Bill pending before the President.
“The creation of the SEDC was a promise made by President Tinubu during his Presidential campaign in 2023, when he paid a courtesy visit to the then Enugu State governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi and a brief meeting was held at the Government House.
“The governor raised the issue of marginalization of the Southeast and President Tinubu pledged to set up a Development Commission if he is eventually elected into office,” he added.
He maintained that the success of the bill was a fulfillment of President Tinubu’s campaign promise to establish a commission to develop the South-East, as well as the collective efforts of not only lawmakers from the South East, but other Parliamentarians from other geo-political zones starting from the 8th, 9th and 10th Assemblies.
“The now signed SEDC Bill had already received all necessary legislative inputs by the members of upper and lower chambers of the 9th Assembly and was assiduously passed by the Senate presided by the then Senate President Ahmad Lawan,” he affirmed.
South East Devt Commission Bill initiated by Oduah, not Kalu – Civil rights group clarifies