“In this year of our Lord 2024, Rt. Hon. Benjamin Kalu, the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives resuscitated the bill and expanded its scope. It is with improved lobbying and more friendly House of Representatives that saw to the passage of the bill with commendable speed. The Senate did not delay in giving its concurrence. And when the bill was submitted to the President for assent the processes were carried out expeditiously which gave birth to what has now become the South East Development Commission Act.
“It is heartwarming that this Act among other specified objectives is principally aimed at addressing the infrastructural and other developmental deficits which resulted from the fratricidal Nigeria – Biafra war that ended in 1970. The Federal Government of Nigeria under General Yakubu Gowon announced the policy of No Victor, No Vanquished and pledged to implement the programme of Reconciliation, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction (3R) in the war ravaged part of the then Biafra enclave which is now in the South East geopolitical zone of Nigeria,” he said.
He noted that the commitment of the Federal Government of Nigeria to deliver on the 3R was observed in the breach, adding that for a period of approximately 50 years after the end of the war there was no visible federal presence in accordance with the objective of the 3R.
