SSDC BILL: NDDC NOT GEOPOLITICAL BUT RESOURCE-BASED COMMISSION, DICKSON EXPLAINS

Senator Seriake Dickson, PDP, Bayelsa West has said the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) is a body created to manage the issues and crises emanating from oil-producing communities and it’s not a geopolitical commission.

Senator Dickson explained that the commission is resource-based and not a development-based geopolitical body for the South-South as its membership and its beneficiaries cut across the South West and South East.

The lawmaker said this at the plenary on Thursday while explaining the case made by Senator Asuquo Ekpenyong, APC, Cross Rivers South, on the need for the establishment of a South-South Development Commission (SSDC).

Dickson who is a former Governor of Bayelsa State convinced the senate on how the SSDC bill is different from the NDDC stating that the proposed SSDC bill will provide even development for all the states in the zone irrespective of whether they produce oil. 

He appealed for the case being made to be given favourable consideration.

Meanwhile, the SSDC bill on Thursday passed a second reading on the floor of the Senate.