Senate confirms Paul Tarfa as chairman of North-East Development Commission

The senate has confirmed Paul Tarfa, a retired major-general, as the chairman governing board of the North-East Development Commission (NEDC).

Tarfa and other members of the board were confirmed after a report was presented by Abdulaziz Nyako, chairman of the committee on special duties, on Tuesday.

The chairman of the committee while presenting his report said all the nominees met the necessary requirements and urged his colleagues to confirm them.

“That the senate do confirm the underlisted names as chairman and board members of the commission,” Nyako said.

Before the nominees were confirmed, Binta Garba, senator representing Adamawa north, wondered why Mohammed Alkali was nominated as managing director since he is from Borno and the commission is domiciled in the state.

Garba further argued that the nomination did not follow any known precedence.

“The UN is domiciled in the US, the general-secretary is never from there,” she said.

In his reaction to this, Bala Na’Allah, senate leader, argued that there are exceptions and the case of the north-east commission is one.

Thereafter, the senate confirmed the nominees after a voice vote.

President Muhammadu Buhari signed the bill establishing the commission in October 2017 but did not send nominees till January 2019.

Here are the names of the other confirmed nominees.

• Mohammed Alkali, MD/CEO of the commission
• Musa Yashi, executive director of humanitarian affairs
• Muhammad Jawa, executive director, administration and finance
• Omar Mohammed, executive director of operation
• David Kente, member representing north-east zone
• Asmau Mohammed, member representing north-west
• Benjamin Adanyi, member representing north-central
• Olawale Oshun, member representing south-west
• T. E. O Ekechi, member representing south-east
• Obasuke McDonald, member representing south-south

The commission was setup to respond to the humanitarian crisis owing to the insurgency.