Sen. Godiya Akwashiki, Chairman Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, has said that the Senate would not have anything to do with the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) Caretaker Committee because it was not a legal entity.
Akwashiki said this while briefing newsmen in Abuja on Thursday. She said that the Senate was waiting for President Muhammadu Buhari to inaugurate the newly confirmed members of the NDDC board.
She said: “There is no confusion in the NDDC. Mr President sent his nominees who are people of impeccable character to the Senate for confirmation to occupy offices in the commission.
“We have done justice and the needful to his nominees. It is not our responsibility to inaugurate nominees. There is no confusion in the NDDC. In a short while the President will inaugurate the nominees.
“In case the caretaker committee refuses to vacate office, the Senate President has said that the Senate Committee on Niger Delta should deal with only the nominees confirmed by the Senate.”
News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports the Senate had on Nov. 5 confirmed the nomination of 15 persons for the appointment on board of the NDDC out of 16 names nominated by President Buhari.
The upper chamber had also rejected the nomination of Dr Joy Nunieh, nominee for Rivers, following her absence at the screening conducted by the Senate Committee on Niger Delta. Nunieh currently serves on the interim committee overseeing activities of NDDC.