Ondo may produce new NDDC MD, as APC holds talks on appointments

By Damisi Ojo

THE National Leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) is reportedly holding crucial talks on which of the states in the Niger Delta region should produce principal officers in the incoming Governing Council of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).
The key positions seriously in contention include the Managing Director, Executive Director, Projects (EDP) and Executive Director, Finance and Administration (EDFA), and representatives from each member state.

The leadership of the party, according to sources, has however reached a consensus that the seats of the principal officers be shared among the three geo-political zones that make up the member states.
A chieftain of the party who spoke in confidence said the position of the MD has been zoned to Ondo State to represent the South West geopolitical zone, while Edo and Imo states have been asked to nominate candidates for the positions of EDP and EDFA of the commission representing South-South and South East geo-political zones respectively.
Delta State will tentatively produce the next Chairman of the board, The Nation further learnt.
Explaining the rationale for the choice of Ondo State to produce the new MD of NDDC, a source said the state, which is currently rated number five among the oil producing states, has never produced a candidate for the top three management members of the governing board, while the first four states comprising of Akwa Ibom, Delta, Rivers and Bayelsa States have concurrently produced candidates for the positions.
The source said, “The appointment of the Managing Director and the two Executive Directors who are also members of the governing board of the NDDC as stated in Section 2 Paragraph I, G and H, seems to have raised dust on which of the states is to produce the next Managing Director of the Commission.
“Section 12 paragraph 1 of the NDDC Act 2000 states that there shall be for the Commission a Managing Director and two Executive Directors, who shall be indigenes of the oil-producing areas starting with the member-states of the commission with the highest quantum of oil and the appointment shall rotate among member states in the order of their oil quantum.”
Akwa-Ibom, Rivers, Delta and Bayelsa States who are often referred to as the “Big four” among the oil producing states, have repeatedly produced the Managing Director, EDP and EDFA of the commission while Ondo, Edo and others have not tasted any of the juicy positions since the inception of the commission 15 years ago.
Statistics showed that the first Managing Director of the Commission came from Delta State, while Bayelsa and Akwa ibom produced the EDFA and EDP respectively.
During the term of the second board, following the resignation of Emmanuel Aguariavwodo from Delta State, Timi Alaibe from Bayelsa State became the substantive Managing Director of the board having earlier served on the Board as EDFA, while Delta produced the EDFA with the EDP position filled by Rivers State.
In the third and fourth governing boards of the Commission, the statistics further revealed that Delta, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa and Rivers States produced the Managing Director, EDFA and EDP at the detriment of Ondo, Edo and other states.
APC spokesman in the state, Abayomi Adesanya said the state deserved the Managing Director’s position of the commission going by the rotational arrangement and the massive support the party enjoyed from the people of the state during the presidential election.

Culled from The Nations newspaper