NDDC: Why President Buhari Sacked Prof Pondei, Appoints Akwa |The Source

By Akinwale Kasali

President Muhammadu Buhari has sacked the Interim Management Committee of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, headed by Prof Kemebradikumo Pondei.

In Pondei place, President Buhari appointed Effiong Okon Akwa as the Interim Sole Administrator, NDDC.

Before his appointment, Akwa was the Acting Executive Director, Finance and Administration, of the NDDC, under the Professor Pondei-led Interim Management Committee (IMC).

In a statement, the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, said Akwa would henceforth oversee the affairs of the Commission till the end of the ongoing forensic auditing of the interventionist agency.

He said, “President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the appointment of an interim administrator to oversee the affairs of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

“He is Mr Effiong Okon Akwa, the Ag. Executive Director, Finance and Administration of the Commission, who is to assume headship till completion of the forensic audit.

“Mr Akwa is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants and a Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Nigeria.

“The development became necessary as a result of a plethora of litigation and a restraining order issued recently against the Interim Management Committee of the NDDC by a Federal High Court in Abuja”, the statement said.

The Pondei-led NDDC has been enmeshed in financial misappropriation, and  had been faced with stiff opposition by various categories of the oil-rich Niger Delta region’s stakeholders.

Various allegations, including financial impropriety, leveled against the IMC and its leadership, leading to a National Assembly probe and a short-lived faceoff between the federal lawmakers on one side and the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Obot Akpabio and the IMC on the other hand.