Ondo marginalised in NDDC appointments, says Group

The non-appointment of an Ondo State indigene into the key position of Executive Director (Finance or Projects) since the establishment of the Niger Delta Development Commission has been decried as being contrary to the enabling law setting up the commission, and also, an act of injustice.
Making the observation in a statement, a pressure group in the state, Shunshine Study Group, said it was high time Ondo State was given the slot of the vacant position of Executive Director, Finance, of the commission.
In the statement issued by its National Coordinator, Barr. Modeccai Egbaiyelo, and Secretary, Dr. (Mrs) Iyabo Omojolowo, the SSG condemned “the clear marginalisation of Ondo State in the appointment of people into key positions in the NDDC, as we have seen that the rotational formula designed for the oil-producing state-members has been perverted, to favour certain privileged states to the detriment of Ondo, especially.”
The group stated, “Ondo is the fifth largest oil-producing state in the country and by that arrangement, it should be given key slots in appointments into the NDDC. For instance, while the state has not produced a Managing Director of the NDDC, it is also on record that no Ondo indigene has ever become an Executive Director in charge of Finance or of Projects; being two positions that are critical to the operations of the commission.”
The group noted that it accepted that it is not yet the turn of Ondo to produce a Managing Director for the NDDC because Bayelsa State is yet to finish up its four-year tenure vacated by Dr. Timi Alaibe, who only served for two years.
“But while Bayelsa should produce an MD for two years to complete its term, an Ondo indigene of repute, from the oil-producing area of the state, and with vast experience in the banking and other finance sectors, should be appointed as Executive Director, Finance and Administration, as we have never risen to that epochal position since the NDDC was established in 2000,” the group averred.
The group also expressed its displeasure with the delay by the Buhari administration in re-constituting the Board of the NDDC, stressing that the present Board had outlived its tenure, and that failure to reconstitute the Board was already creating serious disaffection in the circles of the oil-producing states.