Senate to amend Border Community Development Agency Act

Senator Abdullahi Gumel, Chairman, Senate Committee on States and Local Government Administration, said Senate had commenced amendment of Border Community Development Agency Act to tackle challenges faced by border communities.
Gumel told the News Agency of Nigeria in Abuja on Wednesday that the review of the Act would enable the agency to provide adequate intervention in areas with challenges.
He decried the neglect often suffered by border communities, and said that the 8th Senate was determined to contribute its quota to bringing succour to the people.
He said part of the amendment was to factor-in some border communities that were hitherto not captured under the Act.
He said: “We have 22 states that have borders, some with the Atlantic Ocean and some with other countries.
“Aside these ones, we have some others that are not captured in the Act.
“That is one of the reasons why we are amending the law establishing the Border Development Agency to put more communities in the coverage.
“As it is now, it is any town that is 15 kilometres from the border, but in our amendment we are taking it to 25 kilometres so that we can accommodate more communities.
“The bill has passed first reading.”
Gumel added that other amendments to the Act included the establishment of a viable board for the agency.
He said, although, there was a board in place, its composition posed a major challenge to the efficiency of the agency.
According to the committee chairman, the board as currently constituted has the Vice President as the chairman while the board members are ministers.
He said that the vice president and the ministers had a lot of responsibilities and were finding it difficult to discharge their duties on the board effectively, because “they are too busy”.
Gumel said: “With the amendment, we will have a 13-member board. That is the chairman and 12 other members.
“Two members will come from each of the six geo-political zones and the chairman, who will be appointed by the President so that they can meet, plan and help the agency.”
On the problem of poor funding for the agency, Gumel said that with the committee’s intervention, the 2017 budget for the agency was stepped up.
He said before he became the chairman of the committee, the budget of the agency was a paltry sum which could not impact positively on the border communities.
He assured that the committee would “oversight every kobo that is released by the government for the various projects”.