Stakeholders under the aegis of Northern Youth Ambassador for Peace and Development Initiative (NYAPDI) have cautioned the National Assembly against any plan to reverse the appointment of Ambassador Haruna Ginsau as chairman of the board of the North West Development Commission (NWDC)
The group, in a statement signed by its chairman, Comrade Muhammad Sani, said the National Assembly’s delay in confirming President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s nominee for the commission has raised widespread concerns, particularly among stakeholders in Jigawa State.
It will be recalled that on September 28, 2024, President Bola Tinubu appointed Ambassador Haruna Ginsau, a seasoned diplomat and administrator from Jigawa State, Chairman of the NWDC’s governing board.
Sani said Article 4 of the Act establishing the NWDC states, “The office of the Chairman shall rotate amongst the member states of the commission in alphabetical order.”
According to him, “this clause gives Jigawa State the advantage to produce the pioneer chairman of the board.”
He explained that the initiators of the Act had proposed this rotation to guard against a situation where the board’s Chairman and Managing Director of the NWDC would come from the same state.
He said, “However, the Senate on October 24, 2024, decided to recall and amend the act establishing the NWDC, citing the fact that the Act did not give room for representation from other geopolitical zones
“We noticed that the Senate, in carrying out the amendment, removed the clause mandating the rotational chairmanship of the commission among member states
“During the Senate proceedings on October 24, 2024, Article 4 of the act was amended, and the clause, ‘The office of the chairman shall rotate amongst the member states of the commission in alphabetical order.”
The group said this is an attempt to marginalise Jigawa State, noting that this could pave the way for the chairmanship to be diverted to another state, undermining the trust and confidence of Jigawa people.
“Any reversal of Ambassador Haruna Ginsau’s appointment would be seen as a disheartening affront to this trust and our collective contributions to the nation,” the group noted.
It, therefore, called on the federal government to prioritise fairness, equity, and justice in managing the commission’s affairs, saying that the delay in confirming Ambassador Ginsau’s appointment has further exacerbated tensions.
