A group, Justice & Equity Forum, has expressed displeasure with the composition of membership of the South-West Development Commission (SWDC) Management Team and Board, saying that it did not reflect the principle of federal character principle.
According to the group in a statement by its coordinator, Kehinde Adebayo, the composition doesn’t only throw equity away, it showed that the many months of looking for men to man the all-important interventionist commission was a waste.
This was just as the group lashed out at both chambers of the National Assembly for appointing two Oyo lawmakers to chair the legislative committees on SWDC in the Senate and House of Representatives, respectively.
The group stated: “Recent happenings about appointment under President Bola Tinubu administration dismay us, and especially the membership of the South West Development Commission, concerns us. regional balance as well as federal character were not considered.
“More baffling is the appointment of three Ekiti men— chairman, executive director, and a member all hailing from Ekiti State. It brings to fore constitutional and equity issues, that amount to over concentration of leadership roles within a single state. That undermines the principles of federal character and regional balance, which are vital for fair representation in Nigeria’s governance structures. It is not only illegal but unconstitutional.
“We had expected that bearing in mind that six states form SWDC, the leadership positions would have reflected the region’s diversity in order to ensure trust is maintained and effective governance is assured.
“The appointment of multiple top officials from the same state would jeopardise the running of the affairs of the commission. It is democracy and numbers apply.
“Of importance too is the appointment of chairmen of committee on SWDC by the red and green chambers of the National Assembly. The senate especially didn’t do well by appointing an Oyo man as its committee chairman again while the House of Representatives had previously appointed another Oyo man as its own committee chairman too. While we feel it is not too late to correct, we urge the National Assembly to take equity, justice and fairness into consideration when deliberating on issues like this in the future. It breeds suspicion.”
“We also like to call on President Bola Tinubu and other appointing authorities to be fair and ensure balanced epresentation when appointing people. While we feel it is not too late to correct all these obvious lapses, we urge the President to look critically on the composition of South-West development Commission,” the statement added.
