Reveals: Power Struggle Stalls Development in North-West Commission
Barely one year after the appointment of the board of the North-West Development Commission (NWDC), the commission is yet to find its footing, as the joint committee of the National Assembly’s interaction with the MD/CEO, Professor Shehu Abdullahi Ma’aji, on Wednesday, December 17, 2025, revealed the root cause of why the agency has continued to struggle despite its strategic nature in Nigeria.
By Raphael Ekpang
Barely one year after the appointment of the board of the North-West Development Commission (NWDC), the commission is yet to find its footing, as the joint committee of the National Assembly’s interaction with the MD/CEO, Professor Shehu Abdullahi Ma’aji, on Wednesday, December 17, 2025, revealed the root cause of why the agency has continued to struggle despite its strategic nature in Nigeria.
While addressing the joint committee of the Senate and House of Representatives on NWDC, chaired by Senator Babangida Hussaini and co-chaired by Hon. Dr. Sulaiman Abubakar Gumi, Prof. Ma’aji lamented that the chairman of the board, Alhaji Lawal Sama’ila Abdullahi, has not only undermined his office but has also assumed his position, because he has deliberately refused to see himself as a part-time chairman of the board, but rather as an executive chairman, which is contradicting the act that established the commission.
He therefore called on the commission to intervene to save the commission and allow its takeoff in earnest.
“My biggest problem is that the chairman of the board, Alhaji Lawal Sama’ila Abdullahi, sees himself as the executive chairman of the commission. At least, for the last four board meetings we’ve held, he doesn’t see me as the MD/CEO, rather as a board member, which he chaired. He has been going about with one of the board members, occupying my space, and that has stalled the development of the agency, so I want clarification here.”
In a swift reaction, the Senate Committee Chairman on NWDC, Sen. Babangida Hussaini, explained that, from the act establishing the commission, the board chairman is a part-time chairman and not an executive chairman, therefore urging Alhaji Lawal Sama’ila Abdullahi to take note and work accordingly.
Meanwhile, the joint committee delivered one of its toughest oversight messages yet, warning that patience is thinning as Nigeria’s newest regional intervention agency struggles to translate promise into visible impact across a region burdened by poverty, insecurity, and demographic pressure.
Members of the joint committee, at the intense interactive session, praised the vision behind the creation of the six new regional development commissions by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu but expressed growing concern that the North-West Commission is lagging dangerously behind its peers.
Committee members noted that while other commissions, particularly in the South-West, have moved swiftly from legislation to action, the NWDC remains largely defined by media appearances, internal disagreements, and delayed appointments, rather than projects on the ground.
“We did not create this commission for press statements and social media visibility,” the lawmakers warned. “We created it to solve problems.”
Lawmakers reminded the commission’s leadership that the North-West accounts for nearly a quarter of Nigeria’s population, over 52 million people, yet carries a disproportionate share of the country’s development crises: out-of-school children, banditry, kidnapping, drug abuse, climate stress, arms proliferation, and urban crime.
“These challenges are not abstract,” the committee said. “They are daily realities. That is why this commission matters more here than anywhere else.”
Against this backdrop, committee members expressed disappointment that nearly a year after takeoff, the commission is still struggling with executive appointments, weak stakeholder engagement, and unresolved governance tensions between the board an