The Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Okezie Kalu, made this known when he received in audience the Directors of Institute for Peace, Security and Development Studies (IPSDS) of Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka led by their Co-Chairman, Chief Chikwe Udensi on a courtesy visit to his office in Abuja.
A bill meant for the establishment of South East Development Commission (SEDC) has passed through third reading in the Senate and the House of Representatives, and will soon be transmitted to President Bola Tinubu for assent into law.
The Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Okezie Kalu, made this known when he received in audience the Directors of Institute for Peace, Security and Development Studies (IPSDS) of Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka led by their Co-Chairman, Chief Chikwe Udensi on a courtesy visit to his office in Abuja.
Kalu, who is representing Bende Federal Constituency of Abia State in the South East, said that the bill is presently at the Conference Committee stage for the concurrence of both chambers of the national assembly on its sections and provisions.
According to the lawmaker, the bill was an advocacy of Peace In South East Project (PISE-P), to help in solving the infrastructural challenges in the region 53 years after the civil war.
Kalu who decried the unfortunate high rate of insecurity in the South East said, “In my private studies and others conducted by the team around me, we discovered that the kinetic approach, in isolation of non kinetic mechanisms, was not delivering the expected deliverables of this engagement.
“Call it operation Egwueke or Lion or whatever you call it, wasn’t delivering; yet, Nigeria was spending so much money making those operations alive to the detriment of the blood of our citizens on the streets.
“And we said no. It was about time we considered an alternative approach to the resolution of this conflict. That was why we birthed the Peace in South East Project; fortunately advancing, advocating, highlighting, showcasing the possibilities of achieving peace without the barrels of guns.
“The region was tired of hearing the sounds of guns that they heard over 50 years ago. A new sound reminded those who were around what they passed through. And that stimulated a new conversation about the war – not about reconciliation, about the pain, not about the progress towards peace.
“So, the more sounds of guns, the more history is told about how it re-echoes in the minds of those who lost their dear ones.
“And we wanted to stop that. We said, for the price of guns, give us other tools that are non kinetic. Give us good roads, give us good hospitals.”
The lawmaker further noted, “For the price of the budget for the military interventions, give us good hospitals. Give us grants, fulfill that promise of reconciliation, of reconstruction, of reintegration.
“That was what pushed us through the advocacy of peace In South East Project to look for the lowest hanging fruits that catch-up the desires and the dreams of the region in one bloc, and that’s what we saw in the South East Development Commission Bill.
“In the lines of that legislation, lie the dreams of our people. In the sections of that legislation lie the desires from the South Eastern man.”
Speaking further, he said, “The fulfillment of that enactment, when the President assents to it, is a fulfillment of the dreams of our ancestors who long for peace, who long for integration, who long for development – all captured in one document, summarized, using the federal government allocation for the reconstruction of the dilapidated region as a result of the five decades of post war experience. We didn’t hide anything about it.
“And the lawmakers from the North, from the South, from the Southwest, from all over the country supported me and it passed through the House and we went to the Senate. It passed through the Senate.
“As we speak, as we are having this meeting now, the Senate and the House of Representatives Conference Committee is meeting to give it the final touch for it to go to Mr. President for assent.
“Your visit is significant. If we get that across, it will be one of the achievements of the Peace In South East Project. But we need you and what you stand for as an institution.”