Buhari Names New NDDC Board …Says FG In Talks With N’Delta Militants

President Muhammadu Buhari has forwarded the name of Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba to the Senate for confirmation as the Chairman of Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).
Buhari, in a letter to Senate President, Bukola Saraki, also nominated erstwhile Deputy Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Mr. Nsima Ekere as the new Managing Director of the commission to take over from Mrs Ibim Semenitari, who is currently acting as Managing Director.
Also nominated is Mr Ogaga Ifowodo, to represent Delta State on the board of the commission.
Sources said that the letter forwarding the nominations of the new board was already with the Senate President and was expected to have been read at yesterday’s Senate plenary.
The constitution of the new board of the NDDC follows last year’s dissolution of the Senator Bassey Ewa-Henshaw-led board.
That board was dissolved amidst infighting among board members leading to a paralysis of the board between then chairman and some executive members, a dispute that subsequently led to a court case between the board members and the Federal Government.
The case is still pending at the National Industrial Court, Abuja.
Senator Ndoma-Egba, the chairman nominee, who has an LL.B degree from the University of Lagos and an LL.M degree from the University of Calabar, was called to the Nigerian Bar in 1978, and was elevated to the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria in 2004.
He was Chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Calabar branch, and President of the Calabar Chamber of Commerce.
He became a Commissioner in Cross River State at the age of 27, and subsequently progressed in his legal career before winning election to the Senate in 2003 on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
He served in the Senate for three terms and had his last term between 2011 and 2015, as the Leader of the Senate.
He, however, defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC), in February, 2016, following a prolonged cold relationship with the state branch of the PDP.
However, Nkere, who has been nominated for the position of Managing Director of the NDDC was a former Deputy Governor of Akwa Ibom State but forced to step down in 2012 amidst intrigues.
President Muhammadu Buhari, yesterday, confirmed that his administration is currently engaging Niger Delta militants in talks in order to end the spate of violence being experienced in the region.
He said the talks are being done through oil companies and law-enforcement agencies and are meant to find a lasting solution to insecurity in the region.
According to a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, the President spoke while granting farewell audience to the outgoing Ambassador of Germany to Nigeria, Mr. Michael Zinner, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Buhari also told his guest that the Federal Government is studying the instruments of the Amnesty Programme inherited from the previous administration with a view to carrying out commitments made that were undelivered.
“We understand their feelings. We are studying the instruments. We have to secure the environment, otherwise investment will not come. We will do our best for the country,” the President was quoted as saying.
Buhari thanked the German government for its continuing support to Nigeria in the efforts to tackle insecurity and the ongoing rehabilitation and resettlement of displaced citizens in crisis areas in the North-Eastern parts of the country.
He also thanked Nigeria’s neighbours for their firm and unflinching support in the war against terror.
The outgoing German Ambassador noted that bilateral relations between Nigeria and Germany “had improved very much in the last 12 months of this administration.”
He expressed the readiness of Germany to assist Nigeria in the rehabilitation process in the North East to help displaced persons return to their villages. He also expressed the eagerness of German businesses to invest in the country, now that “conditions for investment have been put in place”.
The German Ambassador reiterated the standing invitation of Chancellor Angela Merkel to Buhari to visit Germany.