The Interim Management Committee (IMC) of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) on Tuesday refused to appear before the Senate Committee on Niger Delta Affairs investigating alleged illegal sack of some staff of the Commission early this year.
It would be recalled that the Senate had mandated its committee on Niger Delta Affairs to investigate the sack and assigned the probe of financial recklessness to an Ad- hoc Committee.
However, the Senate Committee on Niger Delta Affairs has not been able to get the attention of the IMC members on the matter.
It was learnt that several attempts by Senator Peter Nwaoboshi-led committee on Monday to carry out the investigation were not possible due to the absence of the entire IMC members along with the Managing Director, Professor Pondei.
Meanwhile, efforts by the Committee to ensure appearance of the IMC members today by 3:00pm failed, as none of them appeared at about 3:20 pm when the session resumed.
The committee chairman who was not happy about the development asked the NDDC Director of Human Resources, Silas Anyanwu, to offer explanation for the development .
Anyanwu, however, noted that the Managing Director of NDDC, Professor Pondei and other IMC members, were held back at the House of Representatives wing of the National Assembly where they were being engaged in similar investigation.
Not convinced with the explanation, Senator Nwaoboshi reminded the Human Resources Director that the Monday sitting was the third attempt to get the IMC members to respond to series of petitions written against them by the sacked members of staff.
At that point, the committee members quickly resolved that since tomorrow, Tuesday, July 14, 2020, is the day fixed for 2020 budget defence session for the Commission, the issue of illegal sacking of staff will be taken as well.
The session was consequently postponed to 1:00pm prompt on Tuesday, July 14, 2020.
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