Following the signing into law by President Bola Tinubu of two bills creating two new regional development commissions, members of the House of Representatives have denounced claim by the Deputy Speaker , Hon Benjamin Kalu of being the sponsor of the bill
The two bills namely North West Development Commission (NWDC), and the South East Development Commission (SEDC) were signed into law on Tuesday
Reacting to the report from the Deputy Speaker , two members of the House of Representatives accused the Deputy Speaker of falsely claiming bills sponsored by honourable colleagues and intentionally undermining the efforts of house members
One of the House members who chose to maintain anonymity revealed that the originators of the bill were Hon Chukwuma Onyema of 8th National Assembly and Hon Henry Nwawuba of the 9th Assembly.
“When the bill failed to scale through as expected during the 9th National Assembly, it was freshly re-introduced in the 10th Assembly by the Deputy Chairman of Appropriation and member representing Afikpo North/Afikpo south federal constituency, Hon. Gary Igariwey
“ Igariwey mobilized our colleagues and got signatures of about 43 House members including the Deputy Speaker. It is therefore embarrassing to House members and all those that supported the bill to see claims of being sole sponsor by the Deputy Speaker.
“ Being the most ranking among us, the least we expected was to acknowledge the efforts of the South East Representative members and others that gave us the needed support. “ the House member said
Other members of the house who spoke to our correspondent also expressed dissatisfactions with the deputy speaker and extended appreciations to President Bola Tinubu for signing the bill into law.
The SEDC is responsible for the five South-east states of Ebonyi, Imo, Abia, Enugu, and Anambra while the NWDC is mandated to develop the seven North-west states of Kano, Sokoto, Zamfara, Kebbi, Katsina, and Kaduna