NEPAD Nigeria to be made a Commission this year.

The Senate Tuesday began moves to revitalise the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) as a new bill seeking to establish the NEPAD Commission passed through the second reading.
The sponsor of the bill, Senator Simeon Ajibola (Kwara Central), recalled how NEPAD was adopted as a policy development framework in 2001 as a response to the prevalent poor governance in Africa which he said gave rise to economic inequality, underdevelopment and marginalisation in global process.

Ajibola, who described NEPAD as both a vision and mission for the socio-economic development of Africa, recalled that Nigeria was one of the five African countries which initiated the idea.
While noting that NEPAD framework was supported by the United Nations and G8, he listed the objectives of the agency, which he said had been placed under the presidency since inception, to include eradication of extreme poverty and hunger and integration into world economy.
He also listed the functions of the agency to include campaign for debt negotiation and eventual reduction of the external debt of African countries.

However, Ajibola said despite the good intention behind the initiation of NEPAD, implementation of its objectives has been confronted with a number of challenges which he said necessitated the need to establish a commission.
The Senator also listed other imperatives for the commission to include inadequate funding, inability to train skilled personnel, lack of an enabling law to enforce best practices standards, among others.
He said establishment of the commission had no cost implementation since a sum of N236 million had already been appropriated for NEPAD in the 2013 budget.

The functions of the commission as spelt out in the bill include promotion of mechanism in planning delivery and monitoring of effective public services, translation of policy into action and research in fields of socio-economic, political and technological issues.
Also speaking on the bill, Senate Leader, Victor Ndoma-Egba, who said one of the achievements of former President Olusegun Obasanjo was Nigeria's involvement in the emergence of NEPAD, added that the agency had the capacity to provide solution to the myriad of Africa's problems.

In the same vein, Ndoma-Egba's deputy, Abdul Ningi, lamented that since Obasanjo left office in 2007, the structure of NEPAD has been weakened, adding that for Nigeria to achieve its vision to be among the 20 leading economies of the world, the agency must be very active.
While other senators said NEPAD is a platform that will help African nations learn from one another, Senators Danjuma Goje and Joshua Dariye opposed the bill, saying the agency is another drain pipe for the countries' resources.
The bill was committed to the committee on co-operation and integration in Africa and has two weeks to report back to the Senate.

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