Senate passes North-East Development Commission Bill

Reports show that the Senate has passed the North-East Development Commission Bill which empowers the Federal Government to set up a commission to rebuild the North-East region, following its devastation by Boko Haram insurgents.

Vanguard reports that with the passage of the Bill, states in the North-East where members of Boko Haram insurgents have engaged in wanton destruction of property and massive killing of people, would enjoy three percent of the federation’s value added tax, VAT, as funding for a period of ten years.

According to the Senate, all monies collected by the Federal Government for the development of the North- East should be domiciled in the commission, Vanguard reports.

The Commission will also get 15 percent cost of Mining Lease, licence granted by the Federal Government for mining within the member states, just as budgetary allocation from the Federal Government made to the commission as well as royalties on mining areas in member states, Vanguard reports.

According to Vanguard, the decision of the upper chambers was arrived at after a clause by clause consideration of the report submitted by the Senate joint Committees on Special Duties and Establishment and Public Services on the North-East Development Commission Bill, 2015(SB.163).

Vanguard reports that a new development to the approved Bill was the inclusion of Kano State in the North West geo- political zone and Plateau in North Central on the list of states to benefit from the rebuilding plans, despite their locations in North-West and North-Central respectively. The decision to include Kano and Plateau in the rebuilding plan followed a protest by Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso (Kano Central) that the two states were severally attacked by the insurgents.

Read more here: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/10/senate-passes-north-east-devt-commission-bill/

Source: Vanguard