TheCable

The senate committee on Niger Delta affairs has screened Lauretta Onochie, a presidential aide, for the position of chair of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

In November, President Muhammadu Buhari asked the upper legislative chamber to confirm Onochie as the NDDC chair, and 15 other nominees as board members of the commission.

The other nominees are Samuel Ibukun as managing director; Charles Ehigie Airhiavbere, director of finance; Charles Ogunmola, director of project; Dimgba Erugba (Abia), Ene Wilcox (Akwa Ibom), Pius Odudu (Edo), Gbenga Odegba (Ondo), Anthony Ekene (Imo), and Onyekachi Dimgba (Rivers).

Others are Mohammed Kabiru Abubakar (Nasarawa), Tallen Mamma (Adamawa), and Sodique Sani.

Members of the house of representatives committee on Niger Delta were also present at the exercise, which was conducted at the senate wing of the national assembly.

Bulus Amos, deputy chairman of the senate committee on Niger Delta, presided over the screening following the absence of Peter Nwaoboshi, chairman of the committee.

While appearing before the committee, Onochie was asked where in Delta she is from and if the community produces crude oil.

But as she began to answer, Amos asked her to respond in a closed-session.

This is not the first time the president would appoint Onochie to a position that is subject to the confirmation of the senate.

Onochie was nominated as a commissioner of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in October 2020.

Her nomination sparked outrage over concerns that she is a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC), but the presidential aide said she resigned her membership of the ruling party in 2019.

In 2021, when the upper legislative chamber considered and screened her for the appointment, she was eventually disqualified.

At the time, the senate disqualified her on the grounds that Buhari had already nominated May Agbamuche as the INEC commissioner from Delta — the same state Onochie hails from.