The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has accused the South-East Development Commission (SEDC) of failing to deliver any tangible development projects one year after receiving an approved budget of ₦140 billion.
In a statement issued on Thursday and signed by its National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Nnadozie Onwubiko, the civil rights group challenged the leadership of the Commission to publicly account for how the funds allocated for the 2025 financial year were utilised.
HURIWA said its independent research team could not identify any visible infrastructure, rehabilitation projects, or development initiatives executed by the SEDC across the South-East region since the Commission commenced operations.
According to the group, repeated attempts to obtain detailed information on the Commission’s achievements from the Chairman of the Senate Committee on the South-East Development Commission, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, and the Chairman of the SEDC Governing Board, Chief Emeka Wogu, yielded no satisfactory response.
“HURIWA was informed by the Governing Board Chairman, Chief Emeka Wogu, that the Commission had merely ‘set its roadmap,’ while the Senate Committee Chairman bluntly stated that he had no information on any achievements recorded so far,” the statement said.
The rights group recalled that the National Assembly approved ₦140 billion for the SEDC in the 2025 budget, which was part of the ₦54.9 trillion national budget passed on February 14. Other regional development commissions South-West, South-South, and North-Central received similar allocations, while the North-West Development Commission was allocated ₦145.61 billion. The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) received ₦626.53 billion.
The SEDC board, chaired by Dr. Emeka Wogu with Mr. Mark Okoye as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, was inaugurated in February 2025 following the signing of the establishing bill into law by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in July 2024.
At his inauguration, Okoye cited World Bank estimates indicating that the South-East would require about $10 billion annually for 30 years to close its infrastructure gap.
He also pledged that the Commission would work with state governments, the private sector, and development partners to grow the region into a $200 billion economy by 2035.
The SEDC’s mandate includes post-civil war reconstruction, erosion control, infrastructure development, agriculture, industrialisation, technology, innovation, and human capital development across Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, and Imo states.
However, HURIWA argued that despite these promises, there is no evidence on the ground to suggest that the Commission has begun fulfilling its mandate.
“The optimism that greeted the establishment of the SEDC has given way to disappointment. From what is visible across the South-East, the Commission has failed to take off meaningfully,” the group stated.
HURIWA also called on Igbo youths, professionals, and intellectuals to demand accountability from the Commission, warning that it would be “criminal” for funds meant for regional development to be misappropriated by political elites.
“The SEDC was created to serve the collective development interests of the Igbo people, and Nigerians deserve to know how ₦140 billion in public funds has been spent,” HURIWA added.
The Commission is expected to focus on rebuilding war-damaged infrastructure, addressing ecological challenges such as erosion, improving security and investment climate, and unlocking the region’s commercial potential.
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