The Gombe State Governor, Alhaji Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya has called on the National Assembly to consider making the North-East Development Commission (NEDC) a permanent organization to tackle the huge challenges facing the North-East zone of the country.
Governor Yahaya made the call at the graduation of about 200 youths in the 1st batch that participated in the ICT Skills Acquisition training conducted by the commission in Gombe.
He said making the commission a permanent like the Niger Delta Development Commission would help address the challenges of the economy of the zone, which according to him has gone back to that of the pre-independence days.
“And the fact that it is time-bound, it is not like the Niger Delta Development Commission, which is open-ended. This NEDC is an intervention that is tied to time, I think ten years, so, in ten years, there may not be NEDC. So, to that extent, we need to stand firmly and enjoy whatever that is provided by the NEDC for the advancement of our zone,” Governor Yahaya said.
He said the commission was created out of necessity, which is the enormous devastation caused by the insurgency in the North-East, and that until the challenges were solved, there was the need for an intervention agency to tackle the challenges in the zone.
“Picking it up is really a big challenge and taking up to match their colleagues on the other side of the country, especially the sound and even the North West is not an easy task. So, there is a very big task ahead of the NEDC,” the Governor added.
He said however called on the NEDC to work together with the state to solve the challenges together in educating the people in the provision of the skills they acquired to move the zone forward.
While commending the NEDC for its numerous interventions in the state, Governor Yahaya pledged to support the commission in any way possible to achieve its goals.
Zainab Sa’id
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