•As NASS clears her of tax fraud
From George Onyejiuwa, Owerri and Fred Itua, Abuja
Imo legislators yesterday kicked against the appointment of Mrs. Ibim Seminitari as the Acting Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission(NDDC), saying Rivers State had previously produced a chairman of the board while Imo state has never produced its executive director nor the managing director.
The Imo House of Assembly resolved to draw the attention of members of the National Assembly from the state to prevail on President Muhammadu Buhari to observe federal character and the Act that established NDDC in the appointment of a managing director of the commission.
The state legislators took the position at plenary presided by the Speaker Acho Ihim.
In a motion of urgent attention brought by member representing Oguta State constituency and Chairman of the House committee on Imo State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission(ISOPADEC), Ezediaro Henry Uzoma, which was supported by the entire members, the legislators pointed out that the appointment of Mrs. Seminitari, from Rivers State, as acting managing director of NDDC negates the equity in appointments and section four of the Act that established the commission, stressing that it is now the turn of Imo state to produce either the managing director or chairman, being the only member state yet to produce a chairman or managing director of NDDC.
Similarly, Majority Leader, Lugard Osuji, representing Owerri Municipal said NDDC, since its establishment, had continued to marginalise Imo in terms of developmental projects and executive appointments.
Meanwhile, the NDDC yesterday, came under fire for allegedly manipulating tax payments made to it by oil companies operating in oil producing areas of the country.
The companies fingered in the shady deals were handed end of April, 2016 deadline for payment of their three per cent tax to commission.
Acting NDDC MD, Ibim Seminatari, yesterday, at an interactive session organised by the Senate Committee on Niger Delta and the House of Representatives Committee on NDDC confirmed the company’s payment in naira.
They said indigenous company had said it made its payments in dollars since inception in 2008 before the tenure of Semenitari.
Senate Minority Leader, Godswill Akpabio, who was at the meeting, expressed disappointment, saying. “It does not make any financial or accounting sense that you cannot give us the actual dollar figure. I said this because you have presented to the committee documents showing dollar payments from other companies, so, why would that of Platform Oil be recorded in naira?
“This means that somebody in your tax unit is playing pranks. Also, it is not enough that you converted the dollar to naira; you have to prove at what rate the money was converted.”
On his part, Senate Committee Chairman on Niger Delta Affairs, Peter Nwaboshi, said being new, the Acting MD should not defend what could not be defended.
“Don’t try to protect what you cannot because we know you came in in December and you may not know most of these things. We want to know at what exchange rate the money was converted because the figure you quoted for the company that paid $6 million was ridiculous,” he said.
The committees warned all the defaulting oil companies to reconcile with the NDDC by the end of April or be ready to be sanctioned.