The Managing Director of Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Dr. Samuel Ogbuku, has been cautioned against engaging any of the sacked executive directors in the management of the interventionist agency.
Community Development Committees of Oil and Gas Producing Areas of the Niger Delta (CDC) issued the warning
in a statement issued on Monday and signed by its Chairman, Board of Trustees, Joseph Ambadekerimo.
The group, while commending President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for the dissolution of all the boards of institutions and agencies, including that of the NDDC, leaving its Managing Director, said it was against moves by Dr. Ogbuku to engage some of the sacked directors in the running of the agency.
Ambadekerimo charged Dr. Ogbuku to take responsibility for all decisions taken in the running of the agency in the absence of a substantive board.
“The announcement made by the Federal Government directing boards of government institutions and agencies to dissolve was the right step in the right direction for the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) whose board was just inaugurated a couple of months back. The NDDC would have been spared taking into cognizance the Commission’s long existence without any board for about four years until January this year when a new board was inaugurated.
“However, going forward with the magnanimity of President Bola Tinubu, the substantive Managing Director, Dr. Samuel Ogbuku, has been directed by the Secretary to the Federal Government via a letter to take charge of affairs of the NDDC until another substantive board is appointed. We thank the President for this noble act.
“While we applauded the Federal Government for retaining Dr. Samuel Ogbuku to take charge going forward, the President must have recognized that the vision of the Dr. Samuel Ogbuku for the region is in tandem with President Bola Tinubu’s vision for the Niger Delta region”, it added.
The group, however, reminded the managing director about the fall-out of the meeting he recently had with staff of the commission during which he planned to engage the services of two former executive directors to assist him in running the agency contrary to laid down rules.
“We want to remind Dr. Samuel Ogbuku about the fall-out of the meeting with staff of the commission, which is a signal that the action of the managing director does not conform with laid down rules of engagement of appointments of officers into executive positions of boards and parastatals of government. The two other executive directors have been removed and they so stand removed until they may be considered for reappointment only by the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“Information coming out of the meeting alluding to the statement made by the managing director that he will work with the removed executive directors smacks of insubordination to President Bola Tinubu’s directive as issued by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Dr. George Akume, on June 19t, 2023”, it stated.
While urging Ogbuku not to create avoidable problems where there were none, the group urged him to allow the internal system to seamlessly function, adding that the most paramount thing to do now is for him to put forward his vision to the people of Niger Delta.
“If the President appoints anyone to be drafted to the Commission to support him is a different matter entirely and so far that it’s not the case. The managing director as it stands today should take responsibility and run the affairs of the Commission for the good of all.
“The managing director does not have the powers to say he will work with persons who do not have letters of appointment to show that they have been appointed to work with him. The President is the final authority. Therefore, he must act within the ambit of the President’s directive. Anything contrary is gross insubordination.
“The Managing Director, Dr. Samuel Ogbuku, had wanted to run the Commission like a sole administrator and just now that he has been appointed as a sole head to superintend over the Commission he is shrieking from his responsibility by inviting outsiders”, it concluded.
