The House of Representatives on Thursday rejected a bill seeking the establishment of South East Development Commission.
The House rejected the second reading of the bill after it was put to a voice vote by the Speaker of the House, Mr Yakubu Dogara.
Leading the debate during plenary, Rep. Chukwuka Onyema (Anambra-PDP) said that the bill sought to tackle the menace of poverty and ecological problems confronting the South East part of the country.
He said that the bill also sought to receive and manage fund from allocation of the federation account for the development, restructure and rehabilitation of roads, houses and other infrastructure in the region.
Contributing to the debate, the House Minority Leader, Rep. Leo Ogor (Delta-PDP), said the bill would address most of the issues affecting the region.
“This country cannot continue with the situation where we come to Abuja every month to share money.
“I think every zone deserves such commission because it will make everybody look inward.
“This nation needs to be restructured, we cannot continue the way we are going,” Ogor said.
Also speaking, Rep. Sani Abdul (Bauchi-APC) said that the agitation to create the commission was as a result of government’s inability to address the socio-economic challenges in the country.
“We should look at it holistically in order not to have problems.
“We are worried, however, because the timing of the bill with the agitation for Biafra is suspicious,” Abdul said.
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