Halt NEDC nominees confirmation, group urges Senate

A group, Civil Rights Congress For Transparency, has called on the Senate to reject the confirmation of nominees for the North East Development Commission board members.

The group said the Senate must ensure the nominees are thoroughly probed and avoid the temptation of rushing to confirm them.

The group made the call in a statement by its Chairman, Dr. Shehu Gimba.

The nominees by the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd), include 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), Dr Ismaila Maksha, Executive Director, Operations (North-East, Adamawa) and Umar Hashidu, MD/CEO, (North-East, Gombe).

Others are Grema Ali, member, (North-East, Borno), Onyeka Gospel-Tony, member, (South-East), Mrs Hailmary Aipoh, member, (South-South), Air Commodore Babatunde Akanbi (retd), member, (South-West), Mustapha Ibrahim, member, (North-West), Hadiza Maina, member, (North-Central) and a representative from the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning.

However, the group urged the Senate to temporarily halt their confirmation.

Gimba alleged that most of the nominees, including Hashidu who is nominated to be the NEDC MD/CEO, are “incompetent, inexperienced, and unfit for the job”.

He said that the NEDC has proven to be a model agency, adhering to the mandate to “resettle, rehabilitate, integrate, and reconstruct infrastructure for victims and terrorism as well as tackling the menace of poverty, illiteracy, ecological challenges in the North-Eastern states and other related matter”.

Gimba said, “The appointment of Hashidu will take the agency backward. He is ill-equipped for the task. Hashidu has not done anything of note to warrant his nomination for such a critical role.”

The group, however, urged the lawmakers at the Red Chamber to revisit Hashidu’s nomination and thoroughly probe his track record before approval.

Gimba urged the President to review the list and forward a “more suitable and deserving” nominee to the lawmakers.