Stakeholders urge Buhari to review new board of NDDC

Niger Delta stakeholders at the weekend urged President Muhammadu Buhari to review the composition of the new board of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

The stakeholders under the auspices of the Niger Delta Entrepreneurs Forum (NDEF) faulted the way and manner the Presidency replaced the Prof. Nelson Brambaifa-led board.

NDEF, in a statement signed by its Coordinator, Kester Okele and Secretary, Ebipade Timi, said the development was not in tandem with the style of Muhammadu Buhari-led Presidency and the Act establishing the commission.

Timi explained that Section 4 of the Act establishing the NDDC was clear on the rotation of the chairmanship position of the commission in alphabetical order.

“How come Edo is being gifted the chairmanship of the Board after Cross River State took the last shot?”

He queried and questioned why part IV of the Act was not respected in the entire process.

He said the part of the Act provides for a Managing Director and two Executive Directors, who must be indigenes of oil-producing areas beginning from states with the highest production quantum of oil.

Read Also: Row over appointment of Ondo NDDC Commissioner

Timi wondered why a state like Rivers, classified among the first three highest producers of oil, playing host to two refineries and refining the highest amount of crude oil, was  left out in the appointment of the management committee of the NDDC.

He pointed out loopholes in the procedure of the new appointments and the announcement by the Permanent Secretary, Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) asking appointees to come with their updated documents.

He said it was usually the function of the office of the President to forward a letter to the Senate to approve and confirm such appointments.

He noted that the previous set of appointments by the President in January was duly signed by the President’s Spokesman with a directive that the NDDC should come under the supervision of the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs rather than the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation.

Timi commended the President for appointing two sons of the region to serve as Ministers in the Niger Delta Ministry, but appealed to Buhari to direct the withdrawal of the alleged controversial and procedurally-defective appointment of the new Board of the NDDC.

He queried the parameters deployed in the move and demanded to know the who the stakeholders consulted before taking such a historical decision.

He frowned  on the speedy manner the dissolution of the Brambaifa-led board was carried out describing it as a larger plot to discredit the President.