By Fidel Ozugha
In an efforts to heal the Southeast of the wounds inflicked on it during the civil war, the South-East Development Commission Bill, has passed the third reading at the House of Representatives.
The bill which is sponsored by the Deputy Speaker, Benjamin Kalu and other lawmakers from the Southeast, stated that the commission will be charged with the responsibility to receive and manage funds from the allocation 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.
9th Mile Enugu-Nsukka-Oturkpo Expressway
According to a statement issued by the Chief Press Secretary to the Deputy Speaker, Mr Levinus Nwabughiogu, Kalu noted that when established, “The commission will as well tackle the ecological problems and any other related environmental or developmental challenges in the Southeast States which include Abia, Imo, Enugu, Anambra and Ebonyi.”
The statement read in part, “The passage of the bill,” according to Citypost reports, ”is coming at a time members of the National Assembly from the region led by the Deputy Speaker are championing a new initiative known as Peace in South East Project which is craving for a non-kinetic approach to resolving the socio-economic and sociological challenges and also boost the infrastructural development of the area.
“The third reading of the bill implies that it will now be taken to the Senate for concurrence before it will be transmitted to President Bola Tinubu for his assent to make it a law.”
Erosion menace in southeast
Similarly, the House also passed through third reading a bill seeking to repeal the Weights and Measures Act, Cap. W3, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 to establish the Nigerian Weights and Measures Regulatory Agency, for the development and enforcement of varying scopes of legal metrology standards for the promotion of fair trade, protection of public health, safety and the environment.
