Senate Screens New Nominees for the NDDC Board

Lauretta Onochie has been screened as the Board Chairman of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) by the Senate and House Committees on the Niger Delta.

On Thursday, Onochie, a Special Assistant on Social Media to President Muhammadu Buhari, was screened by the joint committees alongside 13 others for NDDC board roles.

The President had written to the Senate to confirm the appointment of the Chairman and Members of the NDDC board in accordance with the provisions of section 2( 2)( a) of the Niger Delta Development Commission( Establishment) Act.

Onochie’s candidacy did, however, appear to be met with some committee members’ doubts, particularly the claim that she cannot serve as chair of the commission because she is not from an oil-producing village in her home state of Delta State, which is against the NDDC Act.

Senator Seriake Dickson, a committee member, brought up this question during the screening process, but he received criticism from several committee members who claimed that the NDDC Act does not make this point directly.

Senator Orji Kalu, another committee member, reminded his colleagues that former NDDC Chairman Onyema Ugochukwu is from Abia State.

It would be recalled that this is the second time the President is forwarding a list of nominees for the NDDC board for confirmation.

In 2021, he had sent the first list of nominees for the board which the Senate screened and confirmed the nominees.

However, Senate President Ahmad Lawan stated that Buhari’s decision to send another list of nominees for confirmation was because there was a flaw in the previous compilation.

See the list of the new nominees for the NDDC board:

1. Chairman – Laureta Ifeanyi Onochie (Delta, South-South)

2. Dimgba Erugba State representative (Abia, South-East)

3. Dr Ene Wilcox (Akwa Ibom, State Representative, South-South)