TheCable

Some politicians are altering the list of successful candidates recommended to work on the Livelihood Improvement Family Enterprises Programme in the Niger Delta (LIFE-ND) project in Abia state, sources have told TheCable. 

The project, driven by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), is carried out in partnership with the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and targeted at creating 38,250 jobs in the agricultural sector.

Based on performance both at the written and oral interview in October, a panel, chaired by Uzoamaka Ikone, permanent secretary in the state’s ministry of agriculture, and also consisting of relevant stakeholders, had passed its recommendations on the successful candidates for the job. 

Out of the eight candidates for the top position of state coordinator, Uchena Rowland Onyeizu, a lecturer at the Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, was recommended having scored highest in the tests. 

Ten other candidates were also recommended to different roles for the projects in the list submitted to Okezie Ikpeazu, governor of the state, and seen by TheCable. 

“There have been moves to alter the results in favour of certain candidates,” a source said, adding that politicians were mounting pressure for their favoured candidates to be chosen. 

Another source said “they want their candidates to get the positions, not minding the results of the interview.”

According to the source, what had made it challenging for the politicians to have their way was that the panel signed off its report on the same day, included the scores of each candidate, and recommended those to be appointed. 

“Since they know that the results would be attached to the memo to the governor, who has the final say on the issue, the lobbyists are saying the panel can only recommend. It cannot appoint,” the source said.

Part of the politics playing up, sources explained is how in the past, those appointed as state coordinators had come from the same senatorial district. This was at the time the appointments did not undergo the level of scrutiny that the present process entailed. 

“One of the recommendations, in the current exercise, indicated detailed attention that produced those recommended,” one of the sources added. 

Ikechi Megbeoji, the state’s commissioner for agriculture, could not be immediately reached for comments. 

The LIFE-ND project would be implemented in the nine Niger Delta states and was designed to commence with 10 local government areas and 10 communities per local government.