On Friday, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (ret.) asked the Senate to approve the appointment of 12 nominees to the North-East Development Commission’s Governing Board.
Buhari’s request is contained in a letter dated May 3, 2023 addressed to Senate President Ahmed Lawan, according to a statement signed by the President’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu.
”I am pleased to present the appointment of twelve (12) nominees as tabulated below to the Governing Board of the North East Development Commission for confirmation by the Senate, in accordance with the provisions of Part 1, section 2(5)(b) of the North-East Development Commission Establishment Act, 2017,” it read.
“The Senate is invited to note that the current North-East Development Commission Governing Board’s term will expire on May 7, 2023.”
There are five candidates: Dr. Ismaila Maksha, Executive Director, Operations (North-East, Adamawa), Barr. Bashir Baale, Chairman (North-East, Yobe), Suwaiba Baba, Executive Director, Humanitarian Affairs (North-East, Taraba), Musa Yashi, Executive Director, Administration and Finance (North-East, Bauchi), and Umar Hashidu, MD/CEO (North-East, Gombe).
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Other members include Grema Ali (North-East, Borno), Onyeka Gospel-Tony (South-East), Mrs. Hailmary Aipoh (South-South), Air Commodore Babatunde Akanbi (retd), Mustapha Ibrahim, Hadiza Maina, and a representative from the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget, and National Planning.
”Will receive the usual expeditious consideration and confirmation of the Senate,” Buhari hoped in regards to his request.
For the implementation of all programmes and initiatives for the North East states, namely Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Taraba, and Yobe, the NEDC assesses, coordinates, harmonises, and reports on all intervention programmes and initiatives by the Federal Government or any of its Ministries, Departments, and Agencies, States, and other Development Partners.
The President formally inaugurated the commission’s new board on May 9, 2019. However, in March 2023, two transparency and civil society organisations accused Mohammed Alkali, the company’s managing director, of mismanaging budgetary allocations totaling N146.19 billion.
