Senate grills NWDC over N943m board allowances, vacant executive director positions.

The Senate Committee on Regional Development has raised concerns over the operations of the North West Development Commission (NWDC), particularly the delay in appointing executive directors, alleged internal divisions and the spending of about N943 million on board allowances.

At an investigative session with officials of the commission and the Federal Ministry of Regional Development, lawmakers questioned why the NWDC remains the only regional development commission without executive directors, despite being among the first to be established by an Act of the National Assembly.
Minister of State for Regional Development, Alhaji Uba Maigari Ahmadu, told the committee that the ministry had intervened in the lingering dispute over office accommodation for the commission in Kano. He explained that the NWDC initially operated from offices donated by private organisations, but disagreements over which facility should serve as its headquarters created friction between the board and management.
According to the minister, the Kano State Government has now provided a fully furnished office, operational vehicles and a plot of land for the commission. He said the ministry, board and management formally took over the facility last week and directed that all other offices be shut down to end the controversy.
“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 told the committee.
He said the absence of executive directors had weakened the commission’s management structure and contributed to its operational difficulties since its inauguration. Ahmadu noted that although the board was inaugurated in February 2025 to prevent further delays in take-off, the commission had continued to face one crisis after another.
The minister also compared the situation in Kano with arrangements in other regions, noting that state governments in Enugu, Oyo and Nasarawa had provided office accommodation for their respective regional commissions without controversy. He said the expectation was that Kano State would do the same and that the latest intervention should finally end the office dispute.
During the session, senators also raised concerns over delays in convening board meetings, the commission’s financial records and the scale of spending on board-related allowances. One lawmaker queried how the board could claim to have no cash backing while still undertaking official visits to governors and other stakeholders.
Another senator questioned the payment of duty tour allowance to the Managing Director for a visit to the Governor of Kano State, despite the fact that the commission’s headquarters is in Kano. The lawmaker said the claim reportedly included air tickets, local transport and other running costs, and asked why such expenditure was necessary for what should have been a local engagement.
The committee was particularly alarmed by documents indicating that out of N1.19 billion spent by the commission, N943 million went to allowances for members of the governing board, representing nearly 79 per cent of the expenditure under that subhead.
Lawmakers described the figure as disturbing and inconsistent with the purpose for which the commission was established—to bring development closer to the people of the North West and tackle pressing challenges, especially insecurity and infrastructure deficits.
Chairman of the Governing Board, Abdullahi Lawal, defended the board’s activities, saying its actions were backed by the North West Development Commission Act, 2024. He said the board had held seven meetings—five regular and two emergency sessions—during which it passed 63 resolutions aimed at putting in place the institutional and policy framework for the commission.
According to him, the board approved standing orders, operational guidelines, committee structures, budget frameworks and fund allocation principles for the seven North West states. He added that committee activities and sitting allowances were lawful governance expenses under the commission’s establishing Act.
Lawal, however, drew a distinction between the approval of expenditure and the actual disbursement of funds. He said while the board approved legitimate governance expenses, responsibility for processing payments rested with the commission’s management, particularly the Managing Director and finance officials.
He also complained of what he described as the non-implementation of board resolutions, communication gaps and the slow execution of key operational decisions, all of which, he said, had hampered the smooth take-off of the commission.
Several senators insisted that the ministry must take responsibility for the failure to complete the commission’s management structure, especially the appointment of executive directors. They argued that the continued vacuum was undermining the effectiveness of the NWDC at a time when the North West urgently needs coordinated development intervention.
Lawmakers also raised concerns over delays in staff recruitment and the implementation of the commission’s capital budget, despite approvals reportedly granted since February. They stressed that the commission was created to address development deficits and insecurity in the region and should not be bogged down by administrative disputes and governance lapses.
At the end of the public hearing, the committee resolved to move into an executive session to consider sensitive issues and receive further clarifications from officials.
The hearing forms part of the Senate’s ongoing oversight of the newly created regional development commissions, which were established to accelerate infrastructure delivery, economic recovery and peace-building across the country’s geo-political zones.