Former Senate Chief Whip Ali Ndume has commended President Bola Ahmed Tinubu over fresh appointments into Boards of key Federal agencies.
The new appointees unveiled at the weekend included the son of former Military President, Muhammad Babangida, who was named chairman of the revamped Bank of Agriculture.
Others were Lydia Kalat Musa, chairperson of the Oil and Gas Free Zones Authority; Jamilu Wada Aliyu, chairman of the National Educational Research and Development Council;
Yahuza Ado Inuwa, as chairman of the Standards Organisation of Nigeria and
Sanusi Musa (SAN) who was named chairman of the Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution.
The list also included Professor Al-Mustapha Aliyu as Director-General of the Directorate of Technical Cooperation in Africa; Sanusi Garba Rikiji as Director-General of the Nigerian Office for Trade Negotiations and Abdulmumini Aminu-Zaria as new executive director of the Integrated Water Resources Management Commission.
In the latest appointments, apart from Muhammad Babangida that is from Niger state in the North Central Region, Kano and Kaduna States had three and two appointees respectively.
Sokoto and Zamfara from same North West region had a slot each while Oyo State produced Tomi Somefun as the managing director of the National Hydro-Electric Power Areas Development Commission.
President Tinubu last May appointed 12 individuals from Northern states into significant positions in federal agencies.
Ndume in a statement to newsmen in Abuja at the weekend commended Tinubu for taking necessary steps to calm frayed nerves in the Northern part of the country.
He said: “This appointments and the one he did last May when he gave 12 key agencies to competent individuals from the North were assuring enough. It goes to show that he is a responsive leader who listens to criticisms and surrender to genuine and legitimate agitation.
“These two appointments will reassure the North, particularly its elders that President Tinubu isn’t a leader that will deliberately promote an agenda to alienate the region that stood with him during the last general elections.”
Ndume however appealed to Tinubu to consider the South East region in his next appointments of individuals to key federal agencies.
He said: “The wrong narrative that the South East has been abandoned and would not count in patronage distribution should not be allowed to fester for long.
“It is even a breach of the Federal Character Principle, as enshrined in the 1999 Constitution to strip an entire region of adequate representation. This is a big mistep that must be corrected. Every part of the country deserves sense of belonging in a federation.
“While I acknowledge Mr. President’s steadfastness with this appointments, we are hopeful that subsequent nominations will reflect broader national inclusiveness, by accommodating more individuals from the South East.”
