Benue State University, Makurdi

A Critical Appraisal of the Constitutionality of Regionalised Federal Development Agencies: Case Studies of NDDC, NEDC, and Hyppadec

Dominic Obilor Akabuiro*

Abstract

Regionalized Federal Development Agencies RFDAs have over time become governmental institutions utilized to bring development closer to the grassroots in Nigeria. Chapter two of the 1999 Nigerian constitution as amended provides for Fundamental Objectives and Directive Principles of State Policy. These developmental rights, though not justiciable on their own, but are akin to the Rights to Development (RTD) under diverse international conventions and protocols signed and domesticated in Nigeria. There are divergent opinions as to whether RFDAs are not unnecessary duplications and usurpation of constitutional functions of the Local Governments Authorities. This paper argues contrarily that functions of RFDAs are rather complimentary to LGAs functions. The aim of this paper is to establish and of course justify the constitutionality of RFDAs in Nigeria. The central argument of this paper is that Regionalized Federal Development Agencies in Nigeria are constitutional, based on the following grounds: the enabling laws that established them are Acts of the Nigerian parliament; RFDA's developmental objectives are aimed at implementing the provisions of Chapter II of the 1999 CFRN (as amended); their objectives are focused on meeting peculiar developmental needs of Nigerians at the grassroots and they are government machineries used to safeguard Nigerian people’s RTD, in tandem with relevant international laws (conventions and protocols) to which the FGN is a signatory and obligated to comply with. This paper discusses selected RFDAs (NDDC, NEDC, and HYPPADEC) by examining their objectives, roles, and impacts. It also examines the constitutionality of the selected RFDAs and the imbalances in the establishment of RFDAs in Nigeria. It also examines the international legal frameworks on RTD and their impacts on local laws and implementation of RTD in Nigeria. This paper adopts a qualitative research methodology and concludes by making necessary recommendations on the need for the establishment and continuity of regional agencies to foster RTD.

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