Wednesday, Niger Delta Commission Minister Umana Okon Umana installed Lauretta Onochie, Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on New Media, as Chairman Board of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC). The Board's additional fourteen members were also sworn in.
The Minister emphasised the importance of implementing the Forensic Audit report's recommendations as he inaugurated the NDDC Board members in Abuja.
He gave them the responsibility of being responsible stewards of the Service's meagre resources by abiding by the nation's operating financial rules and the procurement thresholds set forth by the Public Procurement Act.
The Minister also counselled the incoming leadership to resist the urge to award contracts without giving them considerable thought. He believes that the incoming administration should put more emphasis on finishing ongoing projects so that the NDCC may better achieve its goal and enhance the quality of life for local inhabitants.
“The tasks before the New Board shall include a faithful implementation of the recommendations of the report of the Forensic Audit. Besides the findings of the Forensic Audit, the Government has received numerous petitions alleging irregular employment in the Commission.
“The New Board will have to look into these allegations of irregular employment from 2019 and follow up on the ongoing personnel audit in the Commission to make sure that all employment cases during the period under review were per extant rules and regulations of the Service.
“On our part as the overseeing Ministry, we will not relentlessly provide the Board and the Commission at large with the necessary support and guidance needed for a successful tenure.
“Every contract above the threshold of Management is to be referred to the Ministerial Tenders Board and the Federal Executive Council. Any breach of contract approval limits will attract severe sanctions.
“I also urge you to shun the impulse for the award of spurious and indiscriminate new contracts, and suggest that you instead focus on the completion of ongoing projects to better serve the people of the region and deliver on the mandate of the NDCC, thereby helping to repair the negative public perception for the Commission.”
While speaking to the media after her inauguration, Onochie promised a new approach at the NDDC that would improve the lives of the region’s youth and the general people.
“We have a template; the Minister has spoken widely about how we will reposition the NDDC. We will not do things the way we used to do them before because if we continue doing things the way we did before, we will get the same result that has made NDDC a troubled Commission.
“We are going to have serious changes; we are going to do things differently so that the people of Niger Delta can benefit from what the Nigerian people have been investing in the Niger Delta.
“In the past, the money invested in the Niger Delta finds its way to Abuja, Lagos, London Dubai and elsewhere; that is not what we want anymore; our youths are all over asking to be Personal Assistants where they can be employers of labour.
“We are going to reposition our region, empower our youth population so that they can be proud of who they are, they can be proud of where they come from,” she said.
The board members include Mr Dimgba Erugba (Abia State), Dr Emem Willcox Wills (Akwa Ibom State), Elder Denyanbofa Dimaro (Bayelsa State), Hon. Orok Duke (Cross River State), Dr Pius Odubu (Edo State), Hon. Gbenga Edema (Ondo State), Engr. Anthony Ekene (Imo State), Mr. Elekwachi Dimkpa (Rivers State).
Others are Alhaji. Rep. Mohammed Kabir Abubakar (North Central), Rep. Prof. Tahir Mamman SAN (North East), and Rep. Alhaji. Members of the Board: Sadiq Sami Sule-lkoh (North West Representative), Chief Dr Samuel Ogbuku (Managing Director), Major-General Charles Airhiavbere (Retired) (Executive Director, Finance and Administration), and Charles Ogunmola (Executive Director Project).