Senate Fumes: N943m Spent on Allowances As North-West Commission Stalls

By Omoyeni Ojeifo

Millions of residents across Nigeria’s North-West are still waiting for the development projects and security interventions promised by the North-West Development Commission (NWDC), months after its inauguration, even as the agency has spent N943 million on allowances for members of its governing board.

The spending has triggered questions from the Senate, which is investigating why a commission created to address the region’s challenges remains without key executives needed to drive its operations.

The concerns were raised on Tuesday during an investigative hearing of the Senate Committee on Regional Development, where lawmakers examined the commission’s spending and the prolonged delay in constituting its full management team.

They also heard that the commission has been unsettled by an internal crisis reportedly linked to a top government official, further hampering its ability to effectively carry out its mandate.

The committee agreed that although President Bola Tinubu inaugurated the commission’s governing board on February 11, 2025, the agency remains without executive directors and other key officials.

It noted that among the six regional development commissions established by the National Assembly, the NWDC remains the only one yet to put a full management structure in place.

Documents presented before the committee showed that the commission had spent N1.19 billion since its inauguration.

Of the amount, N943 million representing about 79 per cent of the expenditure under the relevant subhead was paid as allowances to members of the governing board, despite the commission yet to commence full operations.

The lawmakers described the spending as worrisome and inconsistent with the commission’s mandate of bringing development closer to the people of the North-West and addressing insecurity and infrastructure deficits.

In his response, the Minister of State for Regional Development, Alhaji Uba Maigari Ahmadu, attributed part of the delay to disagreements over office accommodation and the location of the commission’s headquarters.

According to him, the controversy began after office accommodation was initially provided by private individuals, resulting in disagreements over where the commission should be headquartered.

However, he said the situation was being resolved following the provision of office accommodation by the Kano State Government.

“The North West Development Commission is the only commission that does not yet have executive directors. Every other regional commission has its full management structure in place.”

“Something urgent must be done for the commission to function effectively,” Ahmadu said.

He said that without executive directors, the commission’s governance structure would remain weak, hindering its full take-off.

The minister added that while the dispute over office accommodation delayed the NWDC’s operations, other states such as Oyo, Enugu and Nasarawa, which host other regional development commissions, commenced operations without similar challenges.

Despite the explanation, senators remained dissatisfied with the huge spending on board allowances, insisting that such expenditure could not be justified when the commission had yet to fully commence operations or deliver projects to the people.

Defending the expenditure, Chairman of the Governing Board, Abdullahi Lawal, said the payments were backed by the Act establishing the commission.

He told lawmakers that the board had held seven meetings, five regular and two emergency sessions during which it passed 63 resolutions to establish the institutional and policy framework for the commission.

Lawal said the resolutions covered standing orders, operational guidelines, committee structures, budget frameworks and fund allocation principles for the seven North-West states under the commission.

“The activities of the Board and the sitting allowances are lawful governance expenses under the Commission’s establishing Act,” he said.

Lawal, however, distinguished between approving expenditure and making payments.

“While the Board approves legitimate governance expenses, responsibility for processing payments rests with the Commission’s management, particularly the Managing Director and finance officials,” he said.

The explanation fell flat with the Senate committee, prompting members to retreat into a private meeting.

Persecondnews reports that as the commission remains paralyzed by a lack of full management, the North-West communities it was set up to serve are left in limbo, waiting for desperately needed development projects.