By Musa Baba Adamu
All the nominees for the Governing Boards of the North West Development Commission, (NWDC) and the South East Development Commission, (SEDC) have been confirmed by the Nigerian Senate yesterday.
The Senate presided by the Senate President Godswill Akpabio confirmed Mark Okoye and Professor Abdullahi Shehu Ma’aji as the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officers of the SEDC and NWDC respectively.
The Senate gave its final confirmation after the Ad-Hoc Committee on regional development Commissions led by Senator Orji Uzor Kalu APC, Abia-North submitted the report of its screening exercise.
According to Kalu’s report the nominees had during the screening proved their capacities to man the affairs of the respective Development Commissions.
A mild drama however ensued as some Legislators made a move to invoke Order (1b) to step down the confirmation process for further consultations.
The move was however unsuccessful as the Senate voted to dissolve into the Committee of the Whole to consider the report in the course of which all the nominees of both Commissions were approved.
The confirmed nominees are; the 14 board member nominees of the NWDC led by Alhaji Lawal Samai’la Abdullahi as Chairman of the commission and Professor Abdullahi Shehu Ma’aji as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer.
Others are; Dr. Yahaya Umar Namahe, Hon. Aminu Suleiman, Ja’afar Abubakar Sadeeq, Yahaya Aminu Abdullahi, Hon. Engr Muhammad Ali Wudil, Shamsu Sule, Nasidi Ali, Chukwu Chijtoke, Ahmed Mohammed, Engr. Ahmed Rufai Timasantyu, Macdonalds Michael Uyi And Hon. Babatunde Dada.
Followed by the 18-member nominees of the South-East Development Commission led by Dr. Emeka Nworgu who was also confirmed as Chairman and Hon. Mark Okoye as the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer.
Others are; Barr. Ugochukwu H. Agballah , Hon. Okey kzenwa , Chief Hyacinth Ikpor , Chidi Echeazu, Barr. Ifeanyi Agwu Ph.D , Nasiru Usman, Hamma Adama Ali Kumo Edward David Onoja , Orure Kufre Inima , Daniel Akwari, Chief (Mrs) Joke Adebayo-Chukwuma, Rt. Hon. Stanley Ohajuruka (E.D. Finance), Chief Sylvester Okonkwo ( E.D. Corporate Services , Hon. Toby Okechukwu ( E.D. Projects ), Sen, Anthony Agbo ( E.D. Commercial and Industrial Development ) and Dr. Clifford Ogbede (E.D. Natural Resources, Agriculture and Rural Development).
It would be recalled that four weeks ago, President Bola Tinubu submitted a revised list of nominees for the Governing Boards of the Regional Development Commissions to the Senate for confirmation.
Consequently, Senate President Godswill Akpabio who presided over the plenary referred the nominees to undergo grilling by an Ad-Hoc Committee it created chaired by Senator Orji Uzor Kalu APC, Abia-North.
During the screening held on Monday, members of the committee sternly warned the nominees for the Governing Boards not to fail Nigerians, adding that they would be closely monitored by the Senate and won’t hesitate to expedite their sack if found wanting in unethical acts.
Kalu in his speech re-emphasised the importance of accountability and transparency in the governance of the development commissions.
Shortly after adopting the report of Kalu’s committee on the nominees were confirmed via voice votes after the Senate President Godswill Akpabio put it into question.
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