When the Senate resumes from its 8-week recess, one of the urgent assignments it will attend to is the confirmation of the appointment of Bernard Okumagba as substantive chief executive officer of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NNDC).
NDDC was established in 2000 with the mission of facilitating the rapid, even and sustainable development of the Niger Delta into a region that is economically prosperous, socially stable, ecologically regenerative and politically peaceful.
The Federal Government had recently announced Okumagba from Delta State, as the new boss of the Commission.
NDDC has been running for some months now, on an interim basis, following the resignation of Nsima Ekere, who left to try his luck in the last gubernatorial election in his native state of Akwa Ibom on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
When Okumagba is inaugurated, he will be presiding over the NDDC that sits atop N300billion annual budget, and will be taking decisions on hundreds of ongoing projects and programmes with thousands of contractors and consultants milling around his office.
He will also, on a weekly basis, be inundated by an avalanche of proposals and hundreds of requests. And right decisions he must make.
Observers are already forecasting that development in the Niger Delta region of the country will soon witness a boost with the coming of Olorogun Okumagba.
This renewed optimism by the people of the region is as a result of Okumagba’s track record as an achiever, team player and a highly dedicated professional that does not compromise efficiency in the delivery of mandate.
His nomination by President Muhammadu Buhari has also been described as appropriate and one which did not come to Niger Deltans, and indeed, Nigerians, as a surprise given his track record as a tested and trusted manager of public resources.
The incoming NDDC boss is highly professional in discharging his duties, de-tribalised, target-oriented and is known to pay attention to details in order to get the best in his line of duty and with limited resources.
The reconstitution of the Board of NDDC by President Buhari and the appointment of the new CEO have received the approval of many Nigerians who hailed the development, irrespective of some pockets of agitations bordering on tribalism and politics as against merit and objectivity.
Okumagba is just the best man for the job at this material point in time. For many of us from the Niger Delta, it is a disaster that NDDC has not lived out its purpose of establishment despite huge allocations that had been appropriated to it since inception. It was a Commission that was well-thought out, but the people of the Niger Delta have not really drunken to the fullest of the abundant milk that flows from that Commission. Year-in, year-out, there are sad stories of shattered dreams, gross mismanagement of funds and allegations of mindless looting. I am very optimistic that the nomination/appointment of Okumagba will put laughter on the faces of people of the Niger Delta.
Over the years, selfishness has been the major factor militating against quality service at NDDC. But Okumagba, having established himself as a trusted Nigerian with an enviable record of success in his areas of operation, will continue on the right trajectory that endeared him to the President. I am persuaded that his coming on board this time around will mean that the Niger Delta people are in for a nice time. And I have no doubt that he will not disappoint.
A distinguished former senior banker with the United Bank for Africa (UBA), Okumagba also served as commissioner for economic planning and later finance in the Emmanuel Uduaghan administration between 2007 and 2015.
He also served as commissioner for Economic Planning, Delta State.
Presently, Olorogun Bernard Oboatarhieyeren Okumagba holds the position of chairman of Regents Consults Ltd, and chairman, Noly Insurance Brokers Ltd.
He is also on the board of Abbey Mortgage Bank Plc and Associate Member at the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria.
He had also occupied the position of senior manager at First Atlantic Bank Plc and head, Risk Management Department & Banking Division at Fidelity Bank Plc.
He received an undergraduate degree from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), and also passed through Government College Ughelli, Delta State.
Meanwhile, pending the confirmation of the nomination by the Senate, Akwagaga Lelegima Enyia, from Tombia, one of the few upland towns in Bayelsa State, is in acting capacity at the NDDC.
Festus Masajuwa
.Masajuwa, a public relations expert, writes from Lagos
