Senate confirms 4 for NCC board appointment
Tunde Opalana, Abuja
Aliyu Sa’idu Abubakar on Thursday scaled the screening hurdles of the Senate as his nomination as a non – executive commissioner of the Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC) was confirmed.
The Senate also confirmed the appointment of the other nominees namely, Uba Maska from North West reappointed as executive commissioner, Prof. Millionaire Abowei from South South as non – executive commissioner and Abdulazeez Mohammed Salman from North Central as non – executive commissioner.
Before being confirmed, Abubakar’s nomination faced stiff opposition on the ground that his nomination was rejected in 2016 by the 8th Senate for having a low educational qualification of a diploma.
But, Senate President Ahmad Lawan insisted that the committee has cleared Abubakar for meeting the requirements of appointment into the board of the commission.
Their confirmation followed the recommendation of the ad hoc committee on the screening of presidential nominees that screened the nominees into the governing board of NCC.
Presenting the report, its Chairman, Sen. Teslim Folarin (Oyo Central) said that President Muhammadu Buhari forwarded the names of the nominees for Senate confirmation in accordance with Section 8 (1) of the NCC Act.
He said the committee after scrutinising the resume of the nominees and carrying out checks on their activities and satisfied that they have no record of indictment, recommended that the Senate confirm their appointments.
However, Senate Minority Leader, Sen. Enyinnaya Abaribe noted that the South East representative on the board of the NCC resigned last year to pursue his political career and has not being replaced.
He therefore, appealed to President Buhari to appoint someone from the zone to fill the existing vacancy on the NCC board.
In the same vein, the Senate also confirmed the nomination of Prof. Habu Galadima for appointment as the substantive director general, National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Jos.
