President Muhammadu Buhari might have put an end to the notorious era of interim administrations in the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), following ceaseless public outcry in support of the constitution of a substantive board of the commission.
This is as the President, in a statement issued on Thursday by Director of Press, Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, Patricia Deworitshe, announced the disengagement of the Interim Administrator of the NDDC, Mr Effing Okon Akwa, from his post with effect from Thursday, October 20, 2022.
In the statement, the president also ordered the constitution of a new management team and governing board of the NDDC.
According to the statement, the names of the new management team and governing board will be transmitted to the national assembly for approval.
“President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the disengagement of the Interim Administrator of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Mr Effiong Okon Akwa, from his post with effect from today, 20 October 2022,” the statement reads.
“Mr Akwa was appointed interim administrator of the commission for the duration of the Forensic Audit into the operations of the NDDC, which has now been concluded.
“President Buhari has also approved the constitution of a new Management Team and Governing Board of the NDDC in line with section 5(2) of the NDDC Act, 2000. The names of the nominees for the new management team and Governing Board are to be transmitted to the National Assembly for approval,” the statement reads.
It would be recalled that following the dissolution of the NDDC board in 2019, Chief Bernard Okumagba was nominated as Managing Director of the Commission and had since been screened by the Senate and confirmed for the position alongside other 14 members of the governing board including Dr. Pius Odubu who was nominated and confirmed as Chairman of the board by the Senate.
However, rather than inaugurate the substantive board as confirmed by the Senate, an interim Sole Administrator led by Kemebradikumo Pondei was appointed to manage the commission with the President saying that the board would be inaugurated after an internal probe on the affairs of the NDDC is completed.
Pondei was sacked in December 2020, in response to a Federal High Court Abuja ruling which declared the Interim Management Committee illegal.
The president then appointed Effiong Akwa as the sole administrator and has since been operating in that capacity until now.
The New Diplomat had also reported severally that stakeholders in the Niger Delta have urged the president to constitute a substantive board and management of the commission in compliance with the law.
