PANDEF demands due process in constitution of NDDC board

The Pan Niger Delta Forum on Friday urged President Muhammadu Buhari to follow due process in the constitution of the board and management for the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

The president sacked the sole administrator of the NDDC, Effiong Akwa, on Thursday.

In a statement issued by its National Publicity Secretary, Ken Robinson, PANDEF urged the Federal Government to follow strictly the guidelines in the NDDC Act in the appointment of the chairman of the new board.

Robinson said: “We receive the news of the sack of the Interim Administrator, and that is the third or fourth interim administrator for the NDDC in the last three years, since 2019.

“And so there is nothing one should be excited about, apart from saying that given the inconsistencies of the government they will follow this through and the NDDC will have a substantive board and management in the shortest possible time.

“The Act establishing the NDDC is explicit in terms of chairmanship of the board. That it rotates alphabetically. The last Chairman of the board of the NDDC was Edoma Egba, from Cross River State.

READ ALSO: Buhari sacks NDDC administrator, Effiong, approves constitution of new management

“So, if we follow that order, the next Chairman of the board of the NDDC should come from Delta State. Anything otherwise is a breach of the Act establishing the commission.”

PANDEF also questioned the president’s decision to form a board for the interventionist agency with about seven months left in office.

He added: “Why is it that about seven months to the end of the administration, you are appointing management and governing council for a statutory council? It means that the new administration will inherit whoever is appointed and obviously would be based on the recommendation of people in the corridors of power and may not follow merit.

“But whatever it is, they have promised to do what is right. They have said they are going to send nominees for the board and management to the National Assembly. We hope that would be done as quickly as possible, and that the Niger Delta people will have a board of the NDDC that is what it should be.”

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