First to be screened was a former Deputy Governor of Edo State, PIUS ODUBU, as Chairman of the Board of the NDDC and the nominee for the position of Managing Director of the agency, BERNARD OKUMAGBA.
ODUBU who was a member of the House of Representatives from 1999 to 2007 was asked to take a bow and go in line with the parliamentary tradition of the Senate to extend such courtesies to former members of the National Assembly nominated for appointment.
Chief OKUMAGBA who was nominated for the post of Managing Director was also asked to take a bow and go after both the Chairman of the Committee, Senator PETER NWAOBOSHI and Senator JAMES MANAGER, representing Delta South, attested to his suitability for the job.
There was however drama when the nominee for the post of Executive Director Projects, OTOBONG NDEM, appeared before the committee after a member of the Committee, Senator MATTHEW URHOGHIDE picked holes in the curriculum vitae of Ndem.
He sought to know why there were discrepancies in the chronology the candidate’s educational progression.
He also urged the nominee not to disappoint Nigerians on confirmation in view of the increasing rate of abandoned projects in region by the NDDC.
On his part, Senator ROCHAS OKOROCHA said since NDEM had served in the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly, he should be asked ‘to take bow and go’ pointing out that the Minister of Transportation, ROTIMI AMAECHI as a former member of the Rivers State House of Assembly, was accorded a similar courtesy during his screening by the Senate.
This suggestion generated a heated argument among the committee members.
Senator James Manager however engaged OKOROCHA in heated exchange for insisting that the nominee be asked to take a bow and go.
The Chairman of the committee, NWAOBOSHI, however, intervened to calm the situation.
