News
CDC And Development
Precisely, 24 years ago during the military administration of General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida who stepped aside from the White House at Aso Rock, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja in August 1993, deemed it necessary to establish an institution known as Community Development Committee (alias CDC).
Obviously, before the creation of the CDC, there exists what was known as three-tier arms of recognised leadership organs i.e. The Federal, State and Local Governments respectively. However, the governments’ policies from the central authority can now be downloaded to the rural dwellers through the noble agency of Community Development Committee (CDC).
Invariably, the CDC is the government of the rural areas. Certainly, the affairs of the rural inhabitants could be channeled to the Local, State and Federal governments through the CDC that knows its rights and obligations.
Really, the primary assignment of the Community Development Community is to see to the general welfare of the people by means of strategising, planning and implementation of developmental projects. Of course, the day-to-day running of the community becomes paramount responsibility of the CDC in terms of passing necessary and relevant information, education the rural dwellers either through the Town Crier, Family Heads or by assembly the people at the Civic arena to address them appropriately on vital issues.
In the area of any educational establishment in the community, the CDC serves as the monitor or coordinator to harness the smooth operations of the institutions within its domain and create the atmosphere of unity and understanding through what is known as Teachers/Parents Association (alias PTA). The PTA is a forum whereby the developmental progress of various establishments in the rural areas is deliberated and proffers solution to itching problems.
Besides government agencies, there could be multipurpose limited companies operating in the rural domain. Herein, the CDC have a great task of liaising with such firm(s) and draws its attention to the rural areas of some developmental programmes to be instituted in order to enhance socio-economic, political, industrial and mental well being of the people. Without mincing words, CDC is very outstanding to the welfare of its people on which the entire community depends.
In fact, the CDC being the policy-making organ of the community would motivate other constituted organs of the community and work closely as a team. Nevertheless, the CDC would invariably serve as supervisory body to all developmental projects earmarked and cited for the rural community.
Furthermore, the CDC also serves as the chief security agency (CSA) of the community in the sense that nobody would be carried away from the community by any security agent without the knowledge of the CDC irrespective of the degree of offence. The CDC is the first port of call by any august visitor to the community in whose shoulder it is to arraign other constituted organs of the community before the entire community would be notified of the purpose of such visit.
In the light of the few enumerated functions, the CDC occupies and elevated position of honour and of course, should be transparent in its services to the people and not being corp of sycophants in disguise. However, CDC may equally connote ‘concise development of the community” which would be piloted by bonafide indigene of the community. Hence, the need to have visionary, objective and focused administrators in Community Development Committee (CDC) cannot be over stressed.
The visionary focus of the Federal Government of Nigeria under military regime of IBB in 1985 was highly laudable to have established Community Development Committee to reach the grassroots level of government’s administration. At this juncture, it behooves one to beckon the Presidency of the present dispensation to financially support the CDCs globally to enhance appropriate and adequate functioning at various localities.
Additionally, the Local Government Council could be authorised or mandated to coordinate elections of rural communities into the office of Community Development Committee (CDC) to create the impact of its importance in the scheme of things for the simple fact of avoiding arrogance and self-centredness amongst the leadership toxicants in the rural environment.
Ominyanwa is editor’s guest
G. N. Ominyanwa
The Nigeria Immigration Service has officially ended passport production at multiple centres, transitioning to a single, centralised system for the first time in 62 years.
Minister of Interior, Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, disclosed this yesterday while inspecting Nigeria’s new Centralised Passport Personalisation Centre at the NIS Headquarters in Abuja.
He stated that since the establishment of NIS in 1963, Nigeria had never operated a central passport production centre, until now, marking a major reform milestone.
“The project is 100 per cent ready. Nigeria can now be more productive and efficient in delivering passport services,” Tunji-Ojo said.
He explained that old machines could only produce 250 to 300 passports daily, but the new system had a capacity of 4,500 to 5,000 passports every day.
“With this, NIS can now meet daily demands within just four to five hours of operation,” he added, describing it as a game-changer for passport processing in Nigeria.
“We promised two-week delivery, and we’re now pushing for one week.
“Automation and optimisation are crucial for keeping this promise to Nigerians,” the minister said.
He noted that centralisation, in line with global standards, would improve uniformity and enhance the overall integrity of Nigerian travel documents worldwide.
Tunji-Ojo described the development as a step toward bringing services closer to Nigerians while driving a culture of efficiency and total passport system reform.
He said the centralised production system aligned with President Bola Tinubu’s reform agenda, boosting NIS capacity and changing the narrative for better service delivery.
The Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) has disbursed N2.225 trillion as federation revenue for the month of August 2025, the highest ever allocation to the three tiers of government and other statutory recipients.
This marks the second consecutive month that FAAC disbursements have crossed the N2 trillion mark.
The revenue, shared at the August 2025 FAAC meeting in Abuja, was buoyed by increases in oil and gas royalty, value-added tax (VAT), and common external tariff (CET) levies, according to a communiqué issued at the end of the meeting.
Out of the N2.225 trillion total distributable revenue, FAAC said N1,478.593 trillion came from statutory revenue, N672.903 billion from VAT, N32.338 billion from the Electronic Money Transfer Levy (EMTL), and N41.284 billion from Exchange Difference.
The communiqué revealed that gross federation revenue for the month stood at N3.635 trillion. From this amount, N124.839 billion was deducted as cost of collection, while N1,285.845 trillion was set aside for transfers, interventions, refunds, and savings.
From the statutory revenue of N1.478 trillion, the Federal Government received N684.462 billion, State Governments received N347.168 billion, and Local Government Councils received N267.652 billion. A further N179.311 billion (13 per cent of mineral revenue) went to oil-producing states as derivation revenue.
From the distributable VAT revenue of N672.903 billion, the Federal Government received N100.935 billion, the states received N336.452 billion, while the local governments got N235.516 billion.
Of the N32.338 billion shared from EMTL, the Federal Government received N4.851 billion, the States received N16.169 billion, and the Local Governments received N11.318 billion.
From the N41.284 billion exchange difference, the Federal Government received N19.799 billion, the states received N10.042 billion, and the local governments received N7.742 billion, while N3.701 billion (13 per cent of mineral revenue) was shared to the oil-producing states as derivation.
The Governing Council of Kenule Beeson Saro-Wiwa Polytechnic, Bori, has decried the inadequate power supply and poor state of infrastructural facilities and equipment at the institution.
The Council also appealed to the government, including Non-Governmental Organisations, agencies, as well as well-meaning Rivers people to intervene to restore and sustain the laudable gesture, dreams and aspirations of the founding fathers of the polytechnic.
The Chairman of the newly inaugurated Council, Professor Friday B. Sigalo, made this appeal during a tour of facilities at the Polytechnic, recently.
Accompanied by members of the team, Prof Sigalo emphasised the position of technology, technical and vocational education in sustainable development.
He noted that with the prospects on ground, and the programmes and activities undertaken in the polytechnic, there is no doubt that the institution would add values to the educational system in our society and foster the desired development, if the existing challenges are jointly tackled.
This was contained in a statement signed by Deputy Registrar, Public Relations, Kenpoly, Innocent Ogbonda-Nwanwu, and made available to The Tide in Port Harcourt.
The chairman who restated the intention of his team of technocrats to ensure that KenPoly enjoys desirable face-lift, said the Council would deliver on its core mandates, accordingly.
Earlier, the Rector, KenPoly Engr. Dr. Ledum S. Gwarah, commended the appointment of Professor Friday B. Sigalo as Chairman of the KenPoly Governing Council.
He described him and his team as seasoned technocrats and expressed confidence in their ability to succeed.
The Rector pledged the management’s support to the Council to ensure that KenPoly resumes its rightful place in the comity of polytechnics in the country.
Facilities visited by the Governing Council include KenPoly workshops, laboratories, skills acquisition centre, library, hostels and medical centre.
Chinedu Wosu
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