Group Calls For Northeast Development Commission’s Probe Over Lopsided Allocation Of Projects
By Chris Ikhazobor
Non-Governmental Organization, the Northeast Youths Advocate for Justice, has petitioned the National Assembly to urgently investigate cases of lopsidedness in the allocation of projects by the North East Development Commission – NEDC.
This was contained in a statement sent to Trojan News Media by the group as signed by the President, Mallam Abubakar Shehu and this is coming as the House of Representatives Committee on NEDC just concluded a three-day tour of Bauchi State to assess progress of work on projects being undertaken by the Commission in the State.
The Group noted that although the Commission’s mandate covers presupposed that all the six states of the Northeast, namely Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Taraba and Yobe are fairly and equitably treated, most of the major projects so far approved and being executed are sited in Borno State.
A statement by the spokesman of the Group, Abubakar Shehu alleges that over sixty percent (60%) of the NEDC’s projects are sited in Borno leaving the other five States to share the remaining forty percent which it describes as ridiculous and unfair.
The Group alleged that while Borno State is enjoying over eighty different projects worth over two hundred-billion-naira, Bauchi State is having less than forty projects whose value is less than fifteen billion naira (N15billion). According to the Group, the same scenario is happening in the other States of Gombe, Adamawa, Taraba and Yobe and called for the immediate intervention of the National Assembly to correct the anomaly.
It also alleges that while the projects in Borno State are awarded for short term basis, the projects in other States are awarded for longer period of three to four years completion which further exposes discrimination and unfair treatment of the other States.
Similarly, it observed that while contractors handling projects in Borno State are speedily settled and reimbursed in order to ensure uninterrupted in project execution, the same cannot be said of other contractors in other States resulting in delays and non-completion of projects on schedule.
It cited many of the projects in Bauchi State which were commenced as far back as 2020 but none has so far been completed including the Mega Housing projects, roads, bridges, Mega Schools and various Comprehensive Health Care Centers.
The Group warns that unless the injustice is addressed, the lofty idea of the establishment of the Commission to fast track the reconstruction and rehabilitation of the region on equal basis will be defeated.
It would be recalled that the Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on NEDC, Usman Zanna who is from Borno State, had told newsmen at the end of their inspection tour that as far as the Committee was concerned, there is fairness in the distribution of projects among the States.
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