Senate Confirms South East, North West Development Commissions’ Governing Boards

Sunday Aborisade in Abuja 

The Senate Tuesday confirmed the appointments of all the nominees for the Governing Boards of the North West Development Commission (NWDC) and the South East Development Commission (SEDC).

The Senate presided over by the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, confirmed Mark Okoye and Prof. Abdullahi Shehu Ma’aji as the Managing Director and Chief Executive officers of the SEDC and NWDC respectively.

The Senate gave its final confirmation after the ad hoc Committee on regional development commissions led by Senator Orji Uzor Kalu (APC, Abia-North) submitted the report of its screening exercise. 

Kalu, in his report, said the nominees had during the screening proved their capacity to man the affairs of the respective development commissions.

A mild drama however ensued as some senators made a move to invoke Order (1b) to step down the confirmation process for further consultations.

The move was however unsuccessful as the Senate voted to dissolve into the Committee of the Whole to consider the report.

After a brief deliberation, all the nominees of both the two commissions were approved.

The 14 board members of the NWDC are Alhaji Lawal Samai’la Abdullahi as Chairman of the commission and Professor Abdullahi Shehu Ma’aji as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer.

Others are Dr. Yahaya Umar Namahe, Hon. Aminu Suleiman, Ja’afar Abubakar Sadeeq, Yahaya Aminu Abdullahi, Hon. Muhammad Ali Wudil, Shamsu Sule, Nasidi Ali, Chukwu Chijtoke, Ahmed Mohammed, Engr. Ahmed Rufai Timasantyu, Macdonalds Michael Uyi And Hon. Babatunde Dada.

Similarly, the 18-member nominees of the SEDC led by Dr. Emeka Nworgu, were also confirmed as Chairman and Hon. Mark Okoye as the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer. 

Others are Ugochukwu H. Agballah, Hon. Okey kzenwa, Chief Hyacinth Ikpor, Chidi Echeazu, Ifeanyi Agwu, Nasiru Usman, Hamma Adama Ali, Kumo Edward David Onoja and Orure Kufre Inima.

They also included Daniel Akwari, Chief (Mrs) Joke Adebayo-Chukwuma, Hon. Stanley Ohajuruka (E.D. Finance), Chief Sylvester Okonkwo ( E.D. Corporate Services) and Hon. Toby Okechukwu ( E.D. Projects).

Others are Senator Anthony Agbo (E.D. Commercial and Industrial Development ) and Dr. Clifford Ogbede (E.D. Natural Resources, Agriculture and Rural Development).

President Bola Tinubu submitted a revised list of nominees for the governing boards of the Regional Development Commissions to the Senate for confirmation.