Regional ‘Development’ Commissions: A Perversion Of Regionalism In Nigeria

 By Olu Fasan

Every senator and every member of the House of Representatives who voted to create a regional ‘development’ commission in Nigeria claim it is a game-changer that will radically transform the geopolitical zone concerned. But that’s not true; rather, it is another unaccountable federal agency that will induce the squandering of public funds and do little to support regional development.

Tinubu

Similarly, every president who signs into law a bill to establish a regional ‘development’ commission has fostered another opportunity for patronage politics and all types of corruption and abuse of entrusted power.

Yet, none of this has stopped the proliferation of regional ‘development’ commissions in Nigeria. As of today, the ‘development’ commissions for four of Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones have been created by law, while the bills for the remaining two are either in their final stages in the National Assembly or awaiting the president’s signature.

All over the world, the tried-and-tested way of promoting regional development is to devolve powers to the regions through democratic, transparent and accountable regional governments. The idea that a federal agency can replace a regional government is a perversion of true regionalism, which is about regional autonomy. However, those enthusiastically establishing regional ‘development’ commissions in Nigeria assert that they are the answer to the regional developmental challenges in this country. Yet, evidence from the long-existing regional ‘development’ commissions shows that they are mere extractive institutions created to serve the interests of a small elite. Put simply, the commissions do not exist to advance regional development, whatever their ‘mandate’ says. 

I have read the acts establishing the four existing regional ‘development’ commissions, namely: Niger-Delta Development Commission, North-East Development Commission, North-West Development Commission and South-East Development Commission. I have also read the bills for the remaining two: South-West and North-Central development commissions. Broadly speaking, they all have the same functions. For instance, each is mandated to “conceive, conceptualise, plan and implement projects and programmes for the sustainable development” of its region. Each is also required to “identify factors inhibiting the development” of its region “and assist the member-states in the formulation and implementation of policies to ensure a sound and efficient management of the resources” of that region. 

To be sure, the establishment of the regional ‘development’ commissions is a tacit recognition of the imperative of regionalism in Nigeria; it is a tacit acceptance of the principle of what economists call agglomeration, namely that contiguous states are far more viable if they pool their resources together to achieve economies of scale than if each is on its own. That agglomeration, that bringing together of states within each geopolitical zone to accelerate regional development, is, at face value, the functions of the regional ‘development’ commissions.

However, in reality, the commissions undermine the principles of regionalism and agglomeration because top-down federal agencies tasked with receiving and managing funds from the federal budget and foreign donors are not credible, efficient and effective ways of promoting regional development. If anything, given Nigeria’s prebendal politics, the so-called ‘development’ commissions merely create opportunities for presidents and governors to give jobs to, and enrich, their relatives, friends and associates. 

Think about it. The acts establishing the regional ‘development’ commissions say they should spend their funds on “the cost of administration; the payments of salaries, fees, remuneration, allowances, pensions and gratuities payable to the members of the Board; the payment for all contracts; the payment for all purchases”. If you are wondering why the regional ‘development’ commissions are drainpipes on public funds, it’s because they embed the three components of the fraud triangle: opportunity, rationalisation and pressure.

First, with the enormous amount of public money available to the commissions, the opportunity for corruption, including through contract and procurement frauds, is highly significant. Second, with the total absence of transparency and accountability in the commissions’ operations, there is always the justification that one could embezzle public funds without being caught. And third, those appointed to the commissions’ boards and staff are under pressure to return the favour and do the bidding of their benefactors.

This is not theoretical. Everyone knows about the scandal-ridden Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, which was established in 2000 and is believed to have received nearly N7trillion to date. The NDDC says its mission is “to facilitate the rapid and sustainable development of the Niger Delta into a region that is economically prosperous, socially stable, ecologically regenerative and politically peaceful.” Can anyone truly say NDDC is anywhere near achieving any of those goals today, 24 years after its creation? Of course not. 

In 2019, President Buhari set up a probe of the NDDC “to get to the root of the problem undermining the development of the Niger Delta region.” In 2022, the then EFCC chairman, Abdulrasheed Bawa, said that “the statistics of NDDC abandoned projects is very alarming”, adding that many NDDC staff embezzled and mismanaged public funds. Yet, Godswill Akpabio, current Senate President, who was the Niger Delta minister at the time, is now supporting a bill to establish a separate South-South Development Commission on the basis that NDDC is a “resource-based commission”, not a ‘development’ commission. So, South-South needs its own ‘development’ commission! Another opportunity to pillage public funds!

What about the North-East Development Commission, NEDC, which has existed since 2017? A recent World Bank study revealed “a major gap in terms of the availability of necessary quality systems and processes that would enable the NEDC achieve its statutory mandate.” The review said NEDC was not “a strong and functioning body” and faced many “areas of capacity shortfall” that “are currently bearing on it”, as well as “weak bottom-up accountability and transparency.” Put simply, NEDC is not institutionally, strategically and functionally capable of advancing genuine development of the North-East region. 

Yet, despite the demonstrably acute failure of regional ‘development’ commissions in Nigeria, President Bola Tinubu signed the North-West and South-East ‘development’ commission bills into law in July. And, of course, he will sign the bills for the North-Central and the South-West into law once he receives them. Thus, Nigeria will have ‘development’ commissions for all its six geopolitical zones, but to what effect? Well, expect no meaningful regional development through such non-transparent and unaccountable federal agencies.

As I said earlier, the universal route to regional development is to devolve powers and resources to regional governments. Sir Keir Starmer, the UK prime minister, said: “My Government believes that greater devolution of powers is at the heart of a modern dynamic economy and a key driver of economic growth.” As a result, the government introduced a Devolution Bill to give new powers to UK’s nations and regions. If Nigeria is serious about regional development, it needs democratic, accountable and viable regional governments, not so-called regional ‘development’ commissions. They are antithetical to true regionalism! 

*Dr. Fasan an accomplished scholar and public intellectual