…calls for inauguration of nominees screened by Senate
Abuja—The national coordinator, Association of Rural Chiefs for Peace and Development, Alabo Nengi James, has described the Interim Management Committee (IMC) of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) as illegal, Mangrovepen.ng has gathered.
Alabo Nengi James, in an interview with Arise TV on Sunday, called for the dissolution of the IMC, reiterating that the interventionist agency (NDDC) should not be used for political gambling.
In his words: “It is illegal to have an interim board; the act does not envisage an interim.
“The NDDC is not for political gambling. It is for development.
“So we are saying that by the act, and from recent amended clause by Senate, Mr. President is having the right to approve, nominate, and the persons need to be screened.
Nengi James, who is also vice president of the foremost Ijaw National Congress (INC), suggested that those earlier confirmed by the National Assembly in 2019 should be inaugurated.
According to him, “Persons in the Niger Delta have been vetted by the security agencies. They passed through the DSS and the police.
“They have been screened by the Nigerian Senate, and confirmed by the Nigerian Senate. So why an interim board?”
Mangrovepen.ng recalls that President Muhammadu Buhari had in 2019 nominated a former deputy governor of Edo State, Dr. Pius Odubu, as chairman of the board and Bernard Okumagba as managing director, inter alia.
But a renowned lawyer and environmental advocate in the Niger Delta region, Iniruo Wills, has insisted that it would be illegal for President Muhammadu Buhari to inaugurate the 2019 nominees that were confirmed by the Senate.
Wills, a former commissioner for environment in Bayelsa State, opined that “the composition of that list is an illegality” and a deviation from the act establishing the interventionist agency.
He pointed out that, “By the explicit provisions of the NDDC Act, it is the turn of Delta State, not Edo, to produce a Chairman, unless the sequence of the English alphabet has changed. Likewise, it is Bayelsa State’s turn to have the MD.”
He argued that “Bayelsa’s right was traded off in the last Board composition by the Jonathan Administration. It has equally been traded off since the inception of the Buhari Administration.”
