Senate Committee on North Central Development Commission (NCDC) has directed the commission to prioritise agriculture, security, and rural infrastructure in the execution of its programmes.
The panel expressed concern over what it described as inadequate funding from the federal government.
Chairman of the committee, Senator Titus Zam, raised the concern on Tuesday in an interview with journalists after a closed-door meeting with the management of the commission.
Zam said lawmakers had agreed on a framework to ensure that the limited funds released to the agency were deployed promptly to projects capable of delivering measurable results before the end of the year.
He said the committee also resolved to commence immediate oversight of the commission’s activities, beginning with an inspection of its headquarters before embarking on visits to the North-central states to assess ongoing and proposed projects.
Zam revealed that the commission currently received N2.9 billion monthly from the federal government, an amount he described as grossly inadequate when compared with its approved N140 billion budget.
He stated, “Every month they are receiving N2.9 billion, and that is just a drop in the ocean. If an agency has a budget of N140 billion and receives N2.9 billion monthly, the total for one year is still far below its budgetary provision.”
Despite the funding gap, the senator commended President Bola Tinubu and the federal government for commencing releases to the newly established commission, expressing optimism that funding would improve as the agency becomes fully operational.
He said, “We appreciate the president and the executive for ensuring that funds have started coming.
“We believe this is only a temporary arrangement and that more resources will be released as the commission fully takes off.”
The committee chairman said lawmakers had impressed on the commission’s management the need to utilise every allocation efficiently and transparently in line with its mandate of accelerating development across the North-central zone.
He said both the committee and the commission had pledged to work closely to ensure the agency delivered on its statutory responsibilities and justified the confidence reposed in it by the federal government.
On priority areas, Zam identified agriculture as the region’s greatest comparative advantage.
He urged the commission to channel substantial resources into improving agricultural productivity and rural livelihoods.
He stated that the North-central zone possessed vast arable land, favourablerainfall patterns, and rich vegetation, making agriculture a natural driver of economic growth and employment.
Beyond agriculture, the senator urged the commission to support mining activities across the region, stating that several North-central states possess abundant mineral resources that can stimulate economic development if properly harnessed.
He also stressed the need for the commission to complement ongoing efforts by security agencies and state governments to address insecurity, which he described as one of the major obstacles to development in the region.
According to him, the commission should invest in initiatives that strengthen security and create an enabling environment for farming, mining, and other productive activities.
Zam called on NCDC to focus on rural development by expanding access to roads, bridges, and other critical infrastructure needed to improve the living conditions of rural communities.
He observed that, outside the state capitals and a few urban centres, the North-central zone remained predominantly rural, making rural infrastructure essential to achieving the commission’s development objectives.
The senator said the committee would closely monitor the commission’s performance through regular oversight visits to ensure that projects were executed according to plan and that public funds were properly utilised.
Zam added that the oversight exercise would provide lawmakers with first-hand information on project implementation and enable the National Assembly to assess the commission’s progress against its development targets.
NCDC is one of the regional development agencies established to address infrastructure deficits, stimulate economic growth, and improve living standards across the six states of the North-central geopolitical zone.
The senate committee said it expected the commission to translate its mandate into tangible projects despite current funding limitations.
Sunday Aborisade
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