Senate Confirms Hon. Mark Okoye II, Nworgu, Others For SEDC, NWDC

By Kenneth Udeh, Abuja

The Nigerian Senate today confirmed Hon. Mark Okoye and Dr Emeka Nworgu as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer and Chairman, Board of Directors respectively of the South East Development Commission.

Also confirmed are other nominees of the 18-member governing board of the SEDC which includes Barr. Ugochukwu H. Agballah , Hon. Okey Ezenwa , Chief Hyacinth Ikpor , Chidi Echeazu, Barr. Ifeanyi Agwu Ph.D , Nasiru Usman, Hamma Adama Ali Kumo Edward David Onoja , Orure Kufre Inima , Daniel Akwari, Chief (Mrs) Joke Adebayo-Chukwuma, Rt. Hon. Stanley Ohajuruka (E.D. Finance), Chief Sylvester Okonkwo ( E.D. Corporate Services , Hon. Toby Okechukwu ( E.D. Projects ), Sen, Anthony Agbo ( E.D. Commercial and Industrial Development ) and Dr. Clifford Ogbede (E.D. Natural Resources, Agriculture and Rural Development).

The nominees were confirmed following the submission of the report of the screening exercise conducted by the Adhoc Committee on Regional Development Commissions led by Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, the APC Senator representing Abia North Constituency in the National Assembly.

According to Kalu’s report the nominees had during the screening proved their capacities to man the affairs of the respective Development Commission.

Also confirmed are the nominees for the North West Development Commission (NWDC) led by Alhaji Lawal Samai’la Abdullahi as Chairman of the commission and Professor Abdullahi Shehu Ma’aji as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer.

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Other confirmed board members of the NWDC include Dr. Yahaya Umar Namahe, Hon. Aminu Suleiman, Ja’afar Abubakar Sadeeq, Yahaya Aminu Abdullahi, Hon. Engr Muhammad Ali Wudil, Shamsu Sule, Nasidi Ali, Chukwu Chijtoke, Ahmed Mohammed, Engr. Ahmed Rufai Timasantyu, Macdonalds Michael Uyi And Hon. Babatunde Dada.

It would be recalled that four weeks ago, President Bola Tinubu submitted a revised list of nominees for the Governing Boards of the Regional Development Commissions to the Senate for confirmation.

Consequently, Senate President Godswill Akpabio who presided over the plenary referred the nominees to undergo grilling by an Ad-Hoc Committee it created chaired by Senator Orji Uzor Kalu APC, Abia-North.

During the screening members of the committee sternly warned the nominees for the Governing Boards not to fail Nigerians, adding that they would be closely monitored by the Senate which would not hesitate to expedite their sack if found wanting in unethical acts.

Speaking at the confirmation, Senator Kalu re-emphasised the importance of accountability and transparency in the governance of the development commissions.

The nominees were all confirmed by voice votes from the senators shortly after adopting the report of Kalu’s committee.