By Ike Bekee
The last may not have been heard concerning the South East Development Commission Bill, (SEDC). While most people condemned the composition and presentation of the bill in the first place, other Nigerians who are sympathetic to the deplorable state of the South-East region since after the war saw nothing wrong with the bill.
We must not dismiss the fact that the Igbo have since January 1970 been rendered prostrate politically, occasioned by collective mistrust by its Nigerian compatriots. But as laudable as the bill may seem, it was killed at its early stage.
However, before we throw more light on the unreported reasons for its death; we must salute the courage of the lawmaker that sponsored the bill.
Hon. Henry Nwawuba’s legislative ingenuity and passion for his people propelled him into the coming up with the bill. The concept and idea was designed to proffer answers and solutions to the Igbo question. Questions like: What is our fate? Have we truly been re-integrated? How shall we be placated? Are we indeed marginalized? The bill was a conception and product of not only responsive legislative activities but a thought out solution to national questions. It is a compendium of Igbo fears and solutions.
Let me examine reasons for the death of the bill. In examining it, we must blame the failure of the bill on usurpation of responsibility. By this, we mean the hastiness of some members of the South -East caucus to abandon the key player and in fact the brain behind the bill; Hon. Henry Nwawuba in further consultations and leadership of the debate.
Timing as one of the excuses for the stepping down of the bill could be viewed from various segments. First, some have argued that it was wrong for such a sensitive bill to be laced with secessionist coloration having presented it two days after the Biafra agitators’ stay at home order. As objective as the bill may be, to have been presented on June 1, 2017, just two days after May 30 2017, was a not too good a strategy. They further posited that the bill failed to resonate with other lawmakers because of the failure of the South-East lawmakers to take into consideration the present economic recession. They would have sought funding outside the federation account. It would have been appropriate to consider self-styled funding in view of the present socio-economic reality.
Donor funding would have been the best way out, and since Igbo in the Diaspora are keen to see a complete reversal of the ecological damage done to the region by civil war, prosperous Igbo men and women would see nothing wrong in voting money for it.
Among the 43 lawmakers who made inputs, Hon Nwawuba, who was unarguably the brain behind it, would have been allowed to lead the presentation. Success can never be made without synergy and stake holding. As I earlier stated, the bill debate leadership, would have been based on merit, accuracy, ideology and team player. I am not saying that Hon. Chuwuka Onyema lacked these qualities, but some lawmakers from other zones preferred Nwawuba. From the context of political synergy, many lawmakers outside the South -East extraction claimed that the bill was not well lobbied for.
But all hope is not lost. The bill could still be repackaged, its loopholes filled, and made more sellable and appealing to other lawmakers. Lawmaking, as technical as it may be, is not far from agenda setting through constitutional impetus. In doing this, the lawmaker is expected to relax issues that are capable of undermining his or her aim and objectives.
The objectives of the bill is not far from the development, reconstruction, and rehabilitation of roads, houses and other infrastructure, as well as tackle the menace of poverty, ecological problems and any other related environmental or developmental challenges in the South-East States. The leader of the debate would have been faithful to this aim without digressing from the crux of the matter. Therefore, in the repackaging the bill, funding from federation account must be expunged. There should be wider consultations with clearer inputs.
If we are able to pull it through, the bill will strive to bring an end to the many years of emasculation of the Igbo both politically and economically. Nigerians in different quarters, while congratulating Hon. Nwawuba and his colleagues in the green chambers, have rallied round Senator Samuel Anyanwu for taking the lead in ensuring the bill passed through in the Senate.
People expressed worries and questions were asked on why a bill that was signed by 43 lawmakers could be stepped down when some bills with less than 10 signatories had in the past scaled through. Therefore, as accolades are being poured on Senator Anyanwu for making the bill scale second reading in the senate, there is need for thorough collaboration and negotiation by South -East senators with their colleagues to avert a repeat of the ‘’conspiracy’’ in the green chamber.
Be that as it may, we cannot continue to dwell in the past. The stage is set to allay the fears of Ndi Igbo. From what transpired in the House on June 1, 2017, there was clearly an alleged tribal cum regional conspiracy against the South-East, as demonstrated by northern lawmakers in the House.
The drama as scripted and played out by Northern lawmakers on the day was thematically ‘operation kill the bill.’ It is however important to remind them that the bill was a key to Nigeria’s longevity, roadmap to a greater and better federalism. Therefore, they are expected to show sense of patriotism by supporting the bill in the senate.
There is ultimate need for Nigeria if it must not go the way of Yugoslavia to restructure, moving away from a hegemonic structure reminiscent of a unitary system where the centre is over powerful with feudalistic tendencies. This bill, far from a Biafran agitation, calls for a paradigm shift from the era of injustice to era of true reconciliation, reconstruction and rehabilitation.