…seeks de-radicalization programme for weapon bearers in South East
Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Benjamin Okezie Kalu has revealed that the South East Development Commission (SEDC) Bill that recently passed through third reading respectively in the Green Chambers and the Senate will soon be ready for onward transmission to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for his assent. Kalu said that the bill is presently at the Conference Committee stage for the concurrence of both chambers of national assembly on its sections and provisions.
The Deputy Speaker made the revelation on Tuesday in a statement signed by the Chief Press Secretary to the Deputy Speaker, House of Representatives Levinus Nwabughiogu when he received in audience the Directors of Institute for Peace, Security and Development Studies (IPSDS) of Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka led by their Co-Chairman, Chief Chikwe Udensi on a courtesy visit to his office in Abuja. IPSDS is a specialised Institute established by the Senate and the Council of the University to research into the causes, dimensions, consequences and possible managements of conflicts and insecurity, and their consequent effects on development.
Kalu said that the bill was an advocacy of Peace In South East Project (PISE-P), to help in solving the infrastructural challenges in the region 53 years after the civil war. He appreciated the Institute for opting to synergize with PISE-P, an initiative birthed by him and other members of the National Assembly from the South East that calls for a non-kinetic way of handling the insecurity in the region. The deputy speaker decried the rate of fatalities arising from incidences of insecurity in the zone, saying that the bill aims at creating jobs and healing the wounds of the past.
He said: “In my private studies and others conducted by the team around me, we discovered that, the kinetic approach, in isolation of non-kinetic mechanisms, was not delivering the expected deliverables of this engagement. Call it operation Egwueke or Lion or whatever you call it, wasn’t delivering; yet, Nigeria was spending so much money making those operations alive to the detriment of the blood of our citizens on the streets. “And we said no. It was about time we considered alternative approach to the resolution of this conflict. That was why we birthed the Peace in South East Project; fortunately advancing, advocating, highlighting, showcasing the possibilities of achieving peace without the barrels of guns.
“The region was tired of hearing the sounds of guns that they heard over 50 years ago. A new sound reminded those who were around what they passed through. And that stimulated a new conversation about the war – not about reconciliation, about the pain, not about the progress towards peace. So, the more sounds of guns, the more history is told about how it re-echoes in the minds of those who lost their dear ones.