President Muhammadu Buhari had on 23 November forwarded the names of Lauretta Onochie and 14 others for affirmation as chairman and participants of the NDDC Board.
The Senate Committee on Niger Delta Affairs screened Lauretta Onochie and 14 different nominees for their appointments as chair and participants of the board of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).
Ms Onochie, lately a unique assistant to the president on new media, gave the impression ahead of the panel on Thursday for the screening procedure. She and the opposite nominees had been appointed through President Muhammadu Buhari on 23 November.
She was once enmeshed in a arguable appointment into the electoral umpire, INEC, in 2020 when she was once named a countrywide commissioner to constitute Delta State.
The appointment generated public outcry from people, civic teams and opposition events who wrote petitions, staged protests and referred to as at the Senate to reject Ms Onochie’s appointment. Many additionally described the appointment as unconstitutional – majorly as a result of she is partisan and has overtly campaigned for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
She was once, then again, rejected through the Senate in July. And the root for her rejection was once no longer her partisanship. The Senate stated her appointment was once rejected as a result of “it breaches the federal character principle.”
Lawmakers grill nominees
At Thursday’s screening chaired through Gombe senator Bulus Amos, some senators questioned if Ms Onochie’s native executive was once an oil-producing group.
Seriake Dickson (PDP, Bayelsa West) stated her nomination breached the provisions of Section 12(1) of NDDC (Establishment and many others.) Act.
He requested Ms Onochie about her native executive and if it is an oil-producing group.
But he was once reminded through the Senate leader whip, Orji Kalu (APC, Abia North) {that a} former NDDC chairman, Onyema Ugochukwu, was once appointed from a group that doesn’t produce oil in Abia State.
“We need to be more guided. We have appointed a chairman from our state that is not from the local government where they produce oil, Chief Onyema Ugochukwu, and nobody can tell us to reject this one,” he stated.
While Ekiti senator Opeyemi Bamidele, who supported Ms Onochie’s appointment, stated she is certified for the location, Delta senator James Manager stated a petition was once written towards her nomination.
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He, then again, confident that the committee would have a look at the petition written through the involved crew from the Niger Delta area.
“This is one nominee we rejected on the floor of the Senate. We rarely reject nominees from the president but this was done,” Mr Manager stated. “Now this person is here again before the Senate. I want the public to know that this one is an isolated case. In an executive session we will discuss it. We will look at the petitions.”
Onochie’s guarantees
On her phase, Ms Onochie promised that the board will paintings as a group for the advance of the oil generating area.
She stated being an indigene of a group that produces agricultural merchandise, they are going to “work on bringing food to the table of Nigerians.”
“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,” she stated. “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.”
Meanwhile 3 senators from Ondo State have rejected the nomination of Charles Ogunmola who was once appointed Executive Director, Projects for the board.
The senators are Ajayi Boroffice (Ondo North); Ayo Akinyelure (Ondo South) and Nicholas Tofowomo (Ondo South).
PREMIUM TIMES reported that the senators sought his rejection on grounds that he’s no longer from an oil-producing group.
Author: Premium Times
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