Board appointments subvert NDDC establishment act, group tells Buhari

Oil producing communities in Ondo State, under the Justice Council of the Oil Producing Communities, have decried the composition of the Niger-Delta Development Commission (NDDC) board, saying it is a subversion of the Act that established it. The body called for a review.

The group noted that the Federal Government, despite frequent agitations, refused to abide by the Act by appointing the managing director and chairman of the board from Edo and Delta States.

Aside position of managing director, they lamented that nobody from Ondo State has ever been considered for the post of Executive Directors in the NDDC since its creation.

The Permanent Secretary (General Services office) Office of Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Olusegun Adekunle announced the16-man new Board of NDDC, with Dr. Pius Odubu from Edo State as Chairman, while Bernard Okumagba from Delta was made the Managing
Director.

In a letter to the Presidency, the group’s spokesperson, Mr. Segun Odolo, said: “We reject the purported composition, because it violated the Act of NDDC, and it is capable of causing disharmony among member states of the commission.”

He disclosed that the Establishment Act paragraphs 4 and 12 stipulate that the position of chairman and managing director shall be rotated among member states. Paragraph 4 on alphabetical order for the chairmanship and managing director on quantum of production.”He added that based on rotation, as contained in the act, it is the turn of Ondo State to produce the Managing Director of the commission.