The North-East Youths Renaissance Assembly (NEYRA) has alleged imbalance in the activities of the North-East Development Commission (NEDC) and appealed to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to intervene to prevent regional conflict.
In a statement signed by its National Coordinator, Alhaji Dauda Gambo Musa, NEYRA said the NEDC, under the leadership of its Managing Director, has not lived up to the expectations in terms of the equally distribution of resources under its care.
Alhaji Musa, who stated that the NEDC was established by former President Muhammadu Buhari to promote equitable development across the North-East region, recovering from prolonged insurgencies, criticised the leadership of the commission for nepotism in key term appointments and contracts.
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“Borno State has received over 80 projects valued at over 200 billion naira, representing over 60% of the region’s project outlay, while Bauchi State has less than 40 projects valued at under 15 billion naira. Similar disparities exist in Adamawa, Gombe, Taraba, and Yobe states.
“Projects in Borno are awarded on a rapid-response basis with short-term completion cycles, whereas other states face extended completion periods of up to three or four years.”.
The group questioned the recent approval given to the commission’s projects in Bauchi State by the House of Representatives Committee on NEDC and alleged that the evaluation lacked transparency, as the committee chairman selected only six members from a 48-member body for a public relations inspection.
Additionally, NEYRA revealed that the recently commissioned projects in Bauchi, praised by the committee, were actually initiated between 2020 and 2021, prior to the current review period, adding that many of these projects, including mass housing, roads, bridges, mega schools, and community healthcare centres, remain incomplete.
NEYRA therefore called on President Tinubu to initiate a forensic probe into the commission’s activities under its current leadership, warning that the current calm might precede a storm of unrest.
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