Minister of Niger Delta, Godswill Akpabio, has inaugurated an Interim Management Committee to take over from Akwagaga Enyia’s interim management of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), which was constituted in August.
This comes less than 24 hours after Senate President Ahmad Lawan read at the Senate plenary session a letter from President Muhammadu Buhari requesting for the Senate to screen and confirm the 16-member NDDC board.
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After reading the letter from President Buhari, Lawan referred the names of prospective board members to the Senate Committee on Niger Delta Affairs to carry out the screening and report back to plenary in one week.
The Senate Committee on Niger Delta led by Senator Peter Nwaoboshi has invited the nominated NDDC board members to appear for screening on October 31.
Stakeholders and experts have risen in unison to express shock at this development which is likely to portray the country in bad light given the confusion already created by the ministry’s conflicting directive.
Port Harcourt-based legal practitioner, Dr Stanley Wali, stated that Act No. 6 of 2000 which establishes the NDDC clearly states that the commission will be governed by a properly constituted board nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate.
Wali said it is an anomaly that nearly after one year of dissolving the last board, and appointment of an interim management led by Professor Brambaifa, followed by a current acting managing director, Akwagaga, another interim management is being put together by Akpabio when a new board has already been announced by Buhari and whose names have been submitted to the Senate for confirmation.
In his reaction, President of Ijaw Diaspora Coalition, Elder Johnson Ebibai, recalled that on assumption of duty as Acting Managing Director of NDDC in August, Akwagaga stated that her mandate was to oversee the smooth running of the NDDC until the substantive board is cleared to assume office.
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He, therefore, wondered what has changed to appoint another interim management in the middle of confirming a new board appointed by President Buhari.
Ebibai called on the Senate to quickly confirm the new board so that the President can inaugurate them to assume duty to save the nation from this travesty that portrays the country in very bad light and detrimental to development of the Niger Delta region.
