Members of the Governing Board of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, have been charged by the Minister of Niger-Delta Affairs, Chief Umana Okon Umana, to follow the report’s recommendations faithfully.
Umana delivered the instruction when establishing the new Commission board in Abuja yesterday. She urged the board members to get started right now.
Mrs. Lauretta Onochie, a former advisor to President Muhammadu Buhari, serves as the new board’s chairman. Chief Dr. Samuel Ogbuku serves as the board’s managing director.
The minister emphasised that in order to ensure prudent administration of scarce resources, the board and management must rigorously abide by the procurement Act and financial requirements.
Every contract that exceeds the management level must be forwarded to the Federal Executive Council’s Ministerial Tenders Board, he said. Any deviation from the contract approval parameters will result in harsh penalties.
The board was also tasked by Umana with investigating “any claims of irregular employment from 2019 and monitoring the ongoing personal audit in the Commission to ensure that all cases of employment during the review period were in compliance with the service’s then-current rules and regulations.”
In order to improve public opinion of the NDDC, Umana asked the board members to concentrate on finishing up ongoing projects and to avoid the allure of “grant of false and indiscriminate new contracts.”
Boss Mustapha, Secretary to the Government of the Federation, said in his remarks that the National Assembly’s support was essential to the new board’s establishment.
Mustapha advised members of the new board to use all of their skills to improve the lives and environment of the region. Mustapha was represented by a former permanent secretary, Mrs. Habiba Lawal.
The board’s chairman, Lauretta Onochie, also spoke and pleaded for Nigerians, particularly those from the Niger Delta, to support them in carrying out their duty.
“We’re going to do things differently so that the Niger Delta’s residents may profit from Nigeria’s investments there”, she said. Many Niger Delta investments have previously made their way to Abuja, London, Dubai, and other places.
Onochie continued, saying that one of the objectives of the new board was to shift the narrative from the current scenario in which young people were seeking employment as Special Assistants (SAs) to that of becoming labor suppliers.
She added that the Buhari administration was committed to youth development and would do everything possible to equip youths in the region with necessary skills to compete with their peers from other climes.