₦airaland Forum

The South East Development Commission appeared before the Senate Committee on South East Development Commission yesterday as part of the National Assembly's constitutional oversight process and welcomes every opportunity to account for its stewardship of public resources.

Several issues from today's session have attracted public commentary. The Commission has addressed them directly: what the Abuja office expenditure actually covers, what "implied expenditure" means and why that money has not left our accounts, and how available funds have been deployed to build an institution and advance regional projects in the absence of any capital budget release.

Read the full statement

PUBLIC STATEMENT

9 June 2026

SEDC AFFIRMS COMMITMENT TO TRANSPARENCY AND FULL DISCLOSURE FOLLOWING SENATE COMMITTEE SESSION

The South East Development Commission (SEDC) today participated in an interactive session with the Senate Committee on South East Development Commission as part of the National Assembly's constitutional oversight responsibilities.

During the engagement, the Commission provided detailed briefings on its financial position, operational activities, procurement processes, institutional development, strategic partnerships, and ongoing programmes across the South East.

As part of its review, the Committee requested additional documentation relating to specific aspects of the Commission's operations and expenditure. The Commission welcomed the request and sought a short period within which to collate and transmit the materials in the level of detail required by the Committee. Following discussions, proceedings were adjourned to a later date pending submission of the requested documents, which the Commission will provide on or before 23 June 2026.

In view of public interest in the session, the Commission considers it important to clarify a number of issues that have featured prominently in public commentary.

On the Abuja Liaison Office

The expenditure relating to the Commission's Abuja Liaison Office covers the establishment and operation of a functional office facility at the Congress Building, Maitama, Abuja. It serves as the Commission's operational base for engagement with the National Assembly, federal ministries and agencies, development finance institutions, and strategic partners. The expenditure cited reflects the cumulative cost of establishing and running the office since its inauguration on 11 February 2025 to date, covering rent, operational costs, utilities, and basic fit-out works across that entire period.

The board and management have prioritised relocating to the Commission's designated headquarters in Enugu at the earliest possible opportunity. Rather than procuring an entirely new facility, which would have represented a significantly greater call on public resources, the Commission secured the transfer of an existing building from the Enugu State Government and has since entered into a formal agreement with the State Government to fast-track its rehabilitation and the Commission's transition to that facility. The contract awarded for that rehabilitation is addressed further below.

On Implied Expenditure

References to funds described as "implied expenditure" relate to a contract awarded for the rehabilitation of the Commission's headquarters facility in Enugu — a building transferred to SEDC by the Enugu State Government that requires significant work to be fit for institutional use. The contract was awarded in accordance with the Public Procurement Act 2007, following approval by the Bureau of Public Procurement and the concurrence of the supervising ministry. These commitments represent budgeted obligations that have been lawfully committed but not yet disbursed, consistent with established public sector fmancial management practice. To be precise: this money has not left the Commission's accounts.

On Expenditure to Date

It is important to note that the Commission has not received any funds from its capital budget. Notwithstanding this, and in response to the development expectations of the South East, the Commission has drawn on every available resource and goodwill to advance project development work on high-impact regional capital projects, ensuring that the necessary groundwork is in place to enable swift execution once capital releases are made.

Expenditure to date has therefore been directed towards two mutually reinforcing objectives: building the institutional foundation on which the Commission's full programme delivery rests, and advancing project development work that would ordinarily fall within the capital budget.

It is worth recalling that the Commission received its first disbursement of funds after more than ten months of being in existence. On the institutional side, expenditure has covered the payment of staff salaries and arrears for personnel who were operational from February 2025 and who continued to serve the Commission through that extended period of delayed fund releases, capacity training for seconded staff, the establishment of the Commission's operational bases in Abuja and Enugu, and the procurement of essential ICT infrastructure to bring the Commission to a basic standard of operational readiness.

On the programme and project development side, it has included the engagement of consultants for feasibility studies and due diligence on priority regional projects, among them a potential gas infrastructure partnership with significant energy and industrial implications for the South East, participation in the Intra-African Trade Fair in Algeria, from which the Commission is now in active development of a partnership with Afreximbank to co-develop a Project Preparation Fund targeting moribund industries across the region, the South East Vision 2050 Stakeholder Forum, and the launch and first-cycle investment of the South East Venture Capital Programme, which has delivered funded support to 25 startups across the South East.

Submission of Documentation

The Commission will submit comprehensive documentation, including procurement records, contract details, payment schedules, and supporting financial records, to the Senate Committee on or before 23 June 2026. SEDC remains fully committed to transparency, accountability, and cooperation with all constitutional oversight institutions.

The South East Development Commission was established to drive economic transformation, infrastructure development, investment mobilisation, and regional prosperity across the South East. The Commission remains focused on that mandate and is confident that a full review of the facts and supporting documentation will provide a complete picture of its activities and stewardship of public resources.

Issued by:

Office of the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer South East Development Commission

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1c88XJM8De/

We don’t want stories

Show us the projects you have done with the billions you have received

A crime scene should be called Apc

So you allocated #135,million for one room suit in one of those ghastly looking plazas all over Abuja .

Highest yiu will pay rent for one of those office space can't be more than #5m.


What office equipment did you buy that will amount for the rest #130mill?

Let's say you buy 5 HP desktops at a generous #2ml each and give each staff a laptop at same price , buy a 2.5hP standing AC at 2.5mil, purchase two photocopiers, furnishings, a smart TV, water dispenser, fridge, purchase and subscribe to Starlink , you won't have spent up to #50mil.

And I am being highly generous with the wasteful and over inflated costing.

If the committee even decides to go on a tour of that office space, they will be shocked to meet it empty and that's if they even rented one sef.

Just to get at PO they will throw an entire tribe under the bus and you from that tribe is still standing on a madman mandate.


Nice one tinubu. Fish out all the bad eggs 🪺 in SE.

All these so called development commissions are just conduits for syphoning money.

Tinubu didn’t allow us to build airport,Tinubu don’t allow us to build sea port and all sorts of jargon statements.it was the same Tinubu they are abusing that established the SEDC for them and funded it,see how they are paying back and they will still be defending it,if it happened in other region,their gbajue would have released a statement

CorrectionFLuid:
.
Why the hell the very first head of SEDC has to be Orji Uzor Kalu is beyond me.

That commission is just set to fail
.

kalu is not the head of SEDC okay,if you are so ignorant you need to learn and not rush to post

.
Why the hell the very first head of SEDC has to be Orji Uzor Kalu is beyond me.

That commission is just set to fail
.

If corruption doesn't kill Nigeria, Nigeria will kill corruption.

They want regional commission, at the end of the day, the money will go to individual pockets rather than the region. This will also applicable wen they finally got self-rule.

Una go explain tire


E b like Tinubu don look that side.

These guys are jokers.

These are the people that want to run a country but ordinary to rent a room just look at the astronomical level of corruption. How can you rent a room for 150 million Naira and you expect Nigerians to trust you with the country's resources.

They say they want Obi to rule Nigeria just because he is Igbo. It doesn't even matter if Obi is a failure as long as he is Igbo.

Mark Okoye doesn't know what he has gotten himself into with these dirty politicians. If he has dipped his hands into the till, they'll disgrace him and tarnish his name. If his hands are clean, he must quickly present all documents to clear his name.
Otherwise, his case will be like that Kemi Adeosun who was forced to resign because she didn't complete the mandatory NYSC.

SEDC was inaugurated just last year........

Orji Uzor Kalu dun dey blow breeze enter the MD yansh.....

I see conflict of interest playing out

Hmmmmm. Na wa o. Wahala everywhere

Fiscus105:
They want regional commission, at the end of the day, the money will go to individual pocket, rather than the region. This will also applicable wen they finally give them self-rule.

Southwest also has a development commission with same budgets and allocations, yet hardly anyone knows of it's existence.
Abeg shift.

I wonder why you're so scared of them leaving. You don't like them yet you don't want them to leave. No be better witchcraft be that.

Lanretoye:
Tinubu didn’t allow us to build airport,Tinubu don’t allow us to build sea port and all sorts of jargon statements.it was the same Tinubu they are abusing that established the SEDC for them and funded it,see how they are paying back and they will still be defending it,if it happened in other region,their gbajue would have released a statementkalu is not the head of SEDC okay,if you are so ignorant you need to learn and not rush to post

Was it not tinubu that appointed the head of the SEDC?

It's all about transparency and accountability. Kudos should be given to the people of South East and how they do their things, no pretense.

What Nigerians fail to realize is that when the head is rotten, everything goes wrong.

153m for a year, if it's your personal office can you spend up to that

Arrest him ad send him to prison, we have waned them to very mindful of content they are creating bt insulted us and called it freedom of madness.

I have read everything up there and every paragraph sounds comical

stuffs2002:
These guys are jokers.

These are the people that want to run a country but ordinary to rent a room just look at the astronomical level of corruption. How can you rent a room for 150 million Naira and you expect Nigerians to trust you with the country's resources.

They say they want Obi to rule Nigeria just because he is Igbo. It doesn't even matter if Obi is a failure as long as he is Igbo.

‘They say’!? Dude, who are the ‘they’ and how Peter Obi take enter this matter!?

Klington:
All these so called development commissions are just conduits for syphoning money.

That's is the beauty of it. Some zone will develop massively while some will be sharing the money meant for development, that is Thier problem. Let the competition begins

These people are very stupid. We all saw and heard what the committee said yesterday. If the commission could not defend themselves in front of the committee, why are they now releasing a statement to pull wool over our eyes?


What do these clowns mean by implied expenditure? In which school of accountancy did they develop such balderdash? How do you spend 153 million in implied expenditure on a single room office? How?

Orji Uzor and his gang will not succeed

IGBOPROMISE1:
‘They say’!? Dude, who are the ‘they’ and how Peter Obi take enter this matter!?

Why is Peter Obi (the master of bad news) quiet on this matter? Why?

The never-to-be- elected, Dickson's Nwa Boy will not say anything where there is grave wrong-doing in his South East.

Na una matter. If you like develop, if you like continue to blame others.

Principal Executive Management

Chairman: Dr. Emeka Nworgu
Managing Director / CEO: Mark C. Okoye
Executive Director, Corporate Services: Chief Sylvester Okonkwo
Executive Director, Finance: Rt. Hon. Stanley Ohajuruka
Executive Director, Projects: Sir Toby Okechukwu
Executive Director, Commercial and Industrial Development: Sen. Anthony Agbo
Executive Director, Natural Resources, Agriculture, & Rural Development: Dr. Clifford Ogbede


Board Members & CommissionersThe commission also includes key zonal members and additional directors without specific portfolios:



Chidi EcheazuUgochukwu H.
AgballahHon.
Okey EzenwaChief Hyacinth Ikpor
Barr. Ifeanyi Agwu
Nasiru Usman
Hamma Adama Ali Kumo
Edward David Onoja
Orure Kufre InimaDaniel
Akwari
Chief (Mrs.) Joke Adebayo-Chukwuma

I didn't see even one executed project with all the monies allocated. 135m only for office space.
Let the commission not be a way to settle political loyalty oooo
Anyways I trust the people in f south east, they will ask questions.

Jayhome24:
Arrest him ad send him to prison, we have waned them to very mindful of content they are creating bt insulted us and called it freedom of madness.

Send him to prison for doing what exactly

Jayhome24:
Arrest him ad send him to prison, we have waned them to very mindful of content they are creating bt insulted us and called it freedom of madness.

Nothing is proven yet, so he can't be arrested. Got it?

you don forget say na Tinubu's fault