Geographically, every country is NEWS. That is, if you use compass as a tool of navigation, each country can be divided into North, East, West. and South. Before 1963 when Mid-West was created, Nigeria, when it was being administered as regions was a tripod of North, East and West. Northern region comprised of the entire present 19 states up of Niger River. It starts from the present Kwara, Kogi, Benue up to Borno, Taraba, Sokoto and Kebbi. Eastern Nigeria covered the current Igbo speaking states down to Ijaw, Efik, and Ibibio areas of the present day Akwa Ibom and Cross River States. Western Region covered all the Yoruba speaking, Edo and Itsekiri areas.
As the military decided to create states out of the regions, regionalism gradually faded as states became centres of political administration. Wikipedia reported that the military junta of Gen. Sani Abacha oversaw the reorganisation of Nigeria into six geopolitical zones in order to reflect cultural, economic, and political realities of the regions: North Central include Benue, Kogi, Kwara, Nasarawa, Niger, Plateau States and Federal Capital Territory. North East zone include Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Taraba and Yobe States. North West consist of Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto and Zamfara States. South East consist of Abia Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo States. South-South zone include Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Edo and Rivers States. South West zone consist of Ekiti, Lagos, Ogun, Ondo, Osun and Oyo States. Recall that Abacha held a constitutional conference between 1993 and 1995.
This reorganisation of Nigeria into six geopolitical zones has not gone down well with the South East people who felt marginalised as it is the only zone with five states while others have minimum of six with North West and North Central having seven each if FCT is counted as a state. It is noteworthy that hitherto these geopolitical zones have been adopted by political parties in their constitution as part of their party structures. Furthermore, political appointments and citing of federal government projects are carried out on the basis of these geopolitical zones. For instance, the 12 national commissioners in the Independent National Electoral Commission are appointed based on two per each of the six geopolitical zones.
Interestingly, in 2000 Niger Delta Development Commission was established by the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo. The sole aim was to develop the oil rich region which consist of nine states which are the present six South-South states of Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Edo, Delta, Bayelsa and Rivers as well as Abia, Imo and Ondo States. It was the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari that effectively started geopolitical regional commissions. On October 25, 2017 Buhari assented to the North East Development Commission (Establishment) Bill. As the saying goes, government is a continuum. The incumbent President Bola Tinubu saw the template of having geopolitical development commissions as ideal and have signed five new ones into law in his two years at the helms of affairs of the country. It is noteworthy that none of the bills creating these development commissions was an executive bill. They were all Private Member Bills.
This newspaper in its March 26, 2025 edition reported that President Bola Tinubu has signed the South-West and South-South Development Commission bills into law. It quoted the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu, as the source of the news. Kalu was reported to have said “No mechanism is too much to trickle down development and dividends of democracy to the grassroots. I am sure that with these development commissions, the impact of this administration will be felt by the grassroots. We thank Mr. President for completing it in the entire geopolitical zones”. Senate President Godswill Akpabio was said to have confirmed that the President has signed the South-West Development Commission Bill and South-South Development Commission Bill into law.
The established regional commissions are tasked with enhancing infrastructure, economic growth, and social welfare within their respective regions. The bill for the establishment of the North Central Development Commission was passed by both chambers of the National Assembly in July 2024 and was assented to by President Bola Tinubu in February 2025. The SWDC Bill was passed by the Senate in September 2024 with majority support before being transmitted to the House of Representatives for concurrence. It was sponsored by Ogun East Senator Gbenga Daniel. Similarly, the SSDC Bill was passed in October 2024 and forwarded to the House of Representatives. The bill was sponsored by Cross-River South Senator Asuquo Ekpenyong.
In anticipation of these regional development commissions, President Bola Tinubu in October 2024 decided to rename Ministry of Niger Delta to Ministry of Regional Development in order to provide proper oversight for the development commissions. It is my sincere hope that these regional development commissions will indeed assist to bring development to the grassroots of their respective regions. I task the president to appoint credible Nigerians to the board and management of these bodies. These leaders should be selfless and work for the betterment of their people. The aim of the establishment of these institutions will be defeated if its leaders are more concerned with personal aggrandizement.
The president must also ensure that these six development commissions are well resourced in terms of funding, personnel, equipment, and office space. In addition, the federal government should develop a Monitoring and Evaluation framework for each of these development commissions in order to track their progress. These commissions are not established as contract centres but institutions where development plans are hatched and implemented for the benefit of the people of the regions and the country at large. These six development commissions should not work in silos but have a peer review mechanism in place to share ideas and work collaboratively. Apart from the Ministry of Regional Development, the relevant committees of House of Representatives and Senate must provide effective oversight on these development commissions. It also behooves the media and Civil Society Organisations to monitor the activities of these commissions and hold the leadership of the institutions to account. In a way, President Bola Tinubu’s economic restructuring agenda is being gradually emplaced and may be completed with the passage of the tax reform bills.
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