SEN. OSITA IZUNASO MAKES A GENUINE CASE FOR COMPLIANCE WITH NDDC ACT, RESPECT FOR ORDER OF ALLOCATION OF POSITION AND PRESERVATION OF INTEGRITY OF SENATE
The ranking senator representing the good people of Imo West Senatorial District, Sen. Osita Bonaventure Izunaso, has continued to distinguish himself in the red Chambers of the National Assembly.
The senator who hails from Our West Senatorial District rose up at the committee of the whole session during the screening of nominees for the NDDC board to present critical analysis of the intendment of the NDDC ACT and to sue for total compliance to it’s stipulations.
Taking up a discuss on the need to follow the order of allocation of Chairman, Managing Director and Executive Director positions as outlined in the enabling Act, Senator Izunaso made it clear that during 8th Senate, his rejection of nomination into NDDC on the grounds that the enabling Act prescribed that the person to be nominated must come from oil producing region, and a strong commitment to upholding the integrity of the Senate, earned him a letter of commendation from the hallowed Chambers.
He wondered why some people that are currently nominated do not hail from oil producing regions of their state and the positions being considered not following order of precedence according to the Act.
He argued that the appointment of chairman of NDDC follows an order of highest producers of oil in alphabetical order and that has continued to be the order followed religiously, but wondered why the position of the Managing Director and positions of the three constitutional Executive Directors are not being observed in line with the provisions of the Act, which rotates in succession order among the oil producing states.
Sen. Izunaso successfully prayed the red Chambers to screen the nominees in line with the procedure but to defer their confirmation in order to allow the Senate to sort out grey areas and save the Senate from doing something that will impinge on the reputation of the hallowed Chambers.
His argument and analytical prowess proved brilliant and his grasp with the letters and spirit of the law showed him to be delightful in Legislative business. The Chairman of the committee of the whole and the Senate President, Sen. Godswill Akpabio assured that he has taken note of his brilliant presentation to do the needful.
This is what effective legislative role is all about; being able to interpret the existing laws in order to compel institutions to abide by the tenets and intendment of the law, authoring of new acts and lobbying to gain the support of fellow lawmakers, being watchful for any act that could deviate from the norm particularly as it affects his constituents, being dogged in asserting his opinion for the defense of the rights of his people, and so on.
Sen. Osita Bonaventure Izunaso has proved to be a well-groomed legislator who rose from the ranks as a senior reporter in the national Assembly through Chief Press Secretary to the Senate President, through election into the Federal House of Representatives, and election and re-election in the Senate to become one of the mercurial performers of the 10th Senate.
Nigeria is blessed with his erudition, intelligence, eloquence, sense of fairness, integrity and commitment to institutional decency.
© Amb. Anthony Akalugo
Kpakpando Titanic Media, 2023
