By KEMI KASUMU
The Senate and House of Representatives Committees on Niger Delta on Thursday screened Lauretta Onochie over her appointment by President Muhammadu Buhari as Chairman of the Board of Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).
Onochie, who is a Special Assistant o President Muhammadu Buhari on Social Media, was screened by the NASS joint committees alongside 13 others, who were equally appointed to serve on Board the interventionist organisation.
Buhari had written to the Senate requesting the Upper Chamber to confirm the appointment of the Chairman and Members of the NDDC board in accordance with the provisions of section 2( 2)( a) of the Niger Delta Development Commission( Establishment) Act.
However, there appeared to be reservations by some committee members against the nomination of Onochie notably on the grounds that she is not from an oil-producing community in Delta State where she hails from and this, they claimed, is against the NDDC Act and consequently she cannot chair the commission.
This, however, is a reason that many have faulted as the holders of such views were described as ignorant of the law of the country and law guiding operations of the NDDC.
Ironically, the view was coming from from a man, who had served in the House of Representatives before becoming governor of Bayelsa State for eight years and now back in he National Assembly but this time as a senator.
Senator Dickson noted the “unpopular” view during the screening exercise but was countered by some committee members, who argued that such view is not explicitly stated in the NDDC Act.
Another committee member, Senator Orji Kalu reminded his colleagues that a former NDDC Chairman Onyema Ugochukwu is from Abia State.
This is the second time Buhari forwarded a list of nominees for the NDDC Board for confirmation.
He sent the first list of nominees for the board in 2021 and the Senate screened and confirmed the nominees.
However, Senate President Ahmad Lawan stated that Buhari’s decision to send another list of nominees for confirmation was because there was a flaw in the previous compilation.
The DEFENDER reports Lauretta Onochie to have said, during the screening process, that: “Since the announcement of my nomination, I have received thousands of applications from our young people wanting to be personal assistants because that is all they know.
“We are going to show them that there is more to life than being a personal assistant. We are going to show them how to be properly empowered so that our region can start booming like all the other regions…“
NDDC Board nominees
Below are some of the new nominees for the NDDC Board:
1. Chairman – Laureta Ifeanyi Onochie (Delta, South-South)
2. Dimgba Erugba State representative (Abia, South-East)
3. Dr Ene Wilcox (Akwa Ibom, State Representative, South-South)
4. Dr Pius Odudu (Edo, South-South)
5. Hon.Gbenga Odegba (Ondo, South-West)
6. Engr. Anthony Ekene (Imo, South-East)
7. Onyekachi Dimgba (Rivers, South-South)
8. Alhaji Mohammed Kabiru Abubakar (Zonal Representative, Nasarawa)
9. Professor Tallen Mamma, SAN (North-East Representative, Adamawa)
10. Sodique Sani (North-West, Zonal Representative)
11. Chief Dr. Samuel Ibukun (MD)
12. General Charles Ehigie Airhiavbere (Rtd) (Executive of Finance)
13. Charles Ogunmola (Executive Director Project, South-West)
