For those untutored on Nigeria’s history, the passage of the South- East Development Commission, SEDC, last week was just one of the crummy activities of the Senate. In truth, it was a historic milestone of sorts, the breaking of a jinx.

The effort has fared particularly badly in the House of Representatives, where it was thrown out twice (2017 and 2018) under former President Muhammadu Buhari. When the bill is signed into law by President Bola Tinubu, it will signify a new dawn for the South-East, the smallest in landmass among the six geopolitical zones.

Already, other geopolitical zones are also clamouring for the establishment of their own federally-funded development commissions. The North-East Development Commission, NEDC, has been running smoothly and helping to rebuild the zone after 15 years of Boko Haram devastation. The South-South Zone has just tabled the request in the National Assembly for the creation of its own commission.

We are strong advocates for the creation of development commissions for all six geopolitical zones to address the peculiar developmental and security issues each face.

Those who have clamoured for the establishment of the SEDC are doing so, cognisant of the failure of the General Yakubu Gowon’s policy of Reconstruction, Reconciliation and Rehabilitation, which helped to persuade the Biafran side to lay down their arms and rejoin a united Nigeria. This policy was an apparent emulation of the Marshall Plan, which the Allied Powers used to pacify Germany and its allies, especially Japan, after their defeat in the Second World War.

The Allies offered to provide funds to rebuild damaged infrastructure and assist Germany towards full economic recovery in exchange for their abdication of military belligerence except in self-defence. This is largely why Western Europe has been war-free, while Japan and Germany are the third and fourth wealthiest nations in the world.

But in Nigeria, apart from the Twenty Pounds per adult and the liberal political processes that enabled the Igbo nation to produce a Vice President (Dr Alex Ekwueme) for Nigeria within the first nine years after the war, people of the zone have complained of “marginalisation”. Federal neglect and successive low quality state governments compounded the zone’s woes.

With the passage of this bill, we hope Senator Akpabio’s declaration that the area’s marginalisation is over. We want to see action, not mere words. Areas needing urgent attention are roads, gully erosions, security and synergising with the governors to create an enabling environment for economic prosperity.

This will reduce the mass emigration syndrome for which the people of the zone are known, and also make it attractive for other Nigerians and expatriates to find opportunities there. No part of this country should be left behind for any reason.

The consequences of that will haunt all Nigerians.