Pegasus Reporters Issues on the Wing
“Needless to say, it’s obvious to suspect that these faceless and satanic forces, are up to some mischievous and irresponsibly unfounded rumours bordering on cheap blackmail, reinforce by flimsy excuses against the new Governing Board, both of which are spuriously untenable”
PEGASUS REPORTERS, LAGOS | JUNE 10, 2023
BACKGROUND SCENARIO:
The North East Development Commission NEDC is an intervention Agency established by the Federal Government of Nigeria to address developmental challenges in the region arising from over a decade-long Boko Haram insurgency crisis. Indeed, the coming on board of the Agency in 2017, was heralded with great enthusiasm and patriotic jubilation by virtually all Nigerians, across the length and breadth of the country who saw the move by Government as the most definitely desirable and pragmatic approach towards fast-trackingthe reconstruction and rehabilitation of the region which had been completely wasted and kept under siege by the marauding Boko Haram insurgents.
As a deliberàte effort to ensure equity, fairness and justice to all communities and people of the affected region, a holistic operational guideline was formulated and embedded in the Act establishing the Commission. Among other things, it stipulates that membership of the Management and Board of the NEDC shall be drawn from among the six catchment States; namely Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Yobe and Taraba. Each of the States shall be represented on the Management and Board with leadership of the two bodies rotating among the States periodically. In other words, while the Managing Director is appointed from one State, the Chairman of the Board, shall come from another State and this measure was put in place to ensure fairness and a sense of belonging to all stakeholders.
Former President, Muhammadu Buhari must be commended for his foresight and concern for the Zone which led to the establishment of the Commission.
To set the ball rolling, the former President appointed Maj. General Paul Tarfa (Rtd) from Adamawa State as pioneer Chairman of the Governing Board and Alh. Mohammed Goni Alkali from Borno State as Managing Director/CEO along with three (3) Executive Directors and other Members to serve for a period of four years from May 2019 to May 2023. Their tenure actually elapsed on the 7th of May, 2023 and to avoid a leadership vacuum, in a sensitive organization dedicated to bringing succour to affected victims of Boko Haram senseless attacks, the former President nominated new Governing Board Members which he submitted to the National Assembly for confirmation.
The Members of the new Governing Board which has Barrister Bashir Bukar Ba’ale as the Chairman, (North East, Yobe) include; Suwaiba Idris Baba, Executive Director, Humanitarian Affairs, (North East, Taraba), Musa Umar Yashi, Executive Director, Administration and Finance, (North East, Bauchi), Dr Ismaila Nuhu Maksha, Executive Director, Operations (North East, Adamawa), and Umar Abubakar Hashidu, MD/CEO, (North East, Gombe).
Others are Onyeka Gospel-Tony, Member, (South East), Hon. Mrs Hailmary Ogolo Aipoh, Member, (South-South), Air Commodore Babatunde Akanbi (rtd), Member, (South West), Mustapha Ahmed Ibrahim, Member, (North West), Hadiza Maina, Member, (North Central), Alhaji Grema Ali, Member, (North East, Borno) and a Representative from the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning.
In nominating this team, the Federal Government certainly went for the best brains that can deliver and achieve the set targets and goals of the Commission. From the new Managing Director/CEO, Dr Umar Abubakar Hashidu to the renominated Executive Director, Administration and Finance, Mal. Musa Umar Yashi and others, are people who will bring their administrative and managerial acumen to bear in running the affairs of the Commission.
FG/NASS SHOULD NOT SUCCUMB TO THE CAMPAIGN OF CALUMNY
However, while the Country eagerly awaits the Senate confirmation of the new Governing Board Members as wishfully anticipated by the former President, it appears there is something ominous being hatched now, as a desperate effort and campaign of calumny, secretly waged by some dark forces who are bent on causing confusion and bad blood against the good intention of the Federal Government in constituting the new Governing Board of the Commission. Their ultimate goal is to disrupt the smooth operations and peaceful activities of the new Management from charting a way forward for our dear Zone.
Needless to say, it’s obvious to suspect that these faceless and satanic forces, are up to some mischievous and irresponsibly unfounded rumours bordering on cheap blackmail, reinforce by flimsy excuses against the new Governing Board, both of which are spuriously untenable.
For one, there is no doubt that the new NEDC Management headed by Dr Umar Hashidu as Ag. MD/CEO and Barrister Bashir Bukar Ba’ale as Ag. Chairman of the Governing Board, were carefully selected based on merit, competencies and track record of cognate experiences-driven performance indicators in their previous places of assignments. It’s a source of pride to acknowledge here as well that, each of the new Board Members is an accomplished individual, whose life experiences and achievements were used as the measuring yardstick for his or her appointment, including the Ag. MD/CEO, Dr Umar Hashidu who was the former Chief Executive Officer of KEDCO and YEDCO Electricity Company and was able to successfully turn all of them around, into an efficient organization.
It is obvious to be understood that the then Government of the day, under President Muhammadu Buhari, which appointed and sworn in the new Management Board in an acting capacity, did so purely out of patriotic necessity, to avoid a leadership vacuum in the administration of the Commission, following the expiration of the tenure of the old Governing Board on 7th May, 2023. Of course, it’s quite right and legitimate to initiate their engagements, pending the formal Senate confirmation of the new nominees; and it behoves the Government to also use all the instruments of administration and continuity in the affairs of the NEDC, which prompted the action to swear in the new Governing Board in an acting capacity.
To argue to the contrary, does seem to be unpatriotic and ungodly.
As supporters and lovers of our dear region, it has now come to our knowledge that some of the faceless people against the new Governing Board are from within the old but dissolved Management of the Commission who had hurriedly awarded massive and over-bloated contracts on the eve of, or immediately after leaving office. Since such actions did not necessarily follow laid down rules and regulations, they are most likely afraid that the new NEDC Management might not be obliged to honour what they had done, hence, their resort to a campaign of calumny and conspiracy against the new Governing Board and by extension, the new Management.
But all their satanic and ungodly move will not succeed or materialize since our God-sent new Leader and President, His Excellency, Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Vice-President, His Excellency, Kashim Shettima, have promised and pledged to continue with all programmes and activities inherited from the past Government. In fact, continuity is one of the cornerstone and cardinal goals of the new Tinubu Administration.
We therefore urge His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the National Assembly to ignore all the desperate move to scuttle the good intention of Government to reposition the NEDC through the new Governing Board headed by Barrister Bashir Bukar Ba’ale as Chairman and the new Management headed by Dr Umar Abubakar Hashidu as MD/CEO.
Written by A. G. Hamza
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