The recent appointment of Mrs. Ibim Seminatari as the new Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) bodes well for that strategic agency, given the amazon’s antecedents, Correspondent SAM NWOKORO profiles the former publisher
In a male-dominated society like Nigeria, women are rarely given tough jobs. The reason is that there are no sentiments for the fairer gender in Nigerian politics and power games, notwithstanding United Nations conventions on empowerment of women.
Strategic appointments such as the MD of NDDC are often a global concern for obvious reasons. One, any one that gets appointed by a no-nonsense leader like President Muhammadu Buhari must have passed the crucibles of public scrutiny and endorsement. Two, anyone that satisfies Buhari’s strict standards to merit appointment in the hot theatre of intrigues called NDDC must have been made of sterner stuff which others lacked. And only someone conversant with environmental issues and the global politics that go with it is best suited to man the NDDC.
Only recently did the president officially confirm the appointment of Semenitari as NDDC MD at the end of the former MD’s tenure.
Why Semenitari?
Mrs. Semenitari is an award-winning investigative journalist, editor and publisher who has worked for over 20 years with some of the leading titles in Nigeria and America. She has also worked as Journalism Trainer/Editor with the BBC World Service Trust.
The first Nigerian female journalist to win the CNN African Journalist of the Year Awards for her reports in the Nigerian print media, she came second in print journalism in the CNN African Journalist Award in 1997. She is also two-time winner of the Nigerian Media Merit Award (NMMA) and three-time winner of the Diamond Award for Media Excellence (DAME) among several others.
The former commissioner has been a resource person to journalism training workshops organised by United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), the World Bank, Freedom House, the BBC and International Labour Organisation (ILO).
The mother of four is said to be a devout Christian who teaches during Sunday school at her local church. The woman has also cut her teeth in Niger Delta activism and is more at home with the womenfolk in the creeks of Niger Delta.
Probably it is on account of her good heart that the youths in Niger Delta agitated when it appeared her confirmation was being unduly delayed by the President. One respondent from Ndoni area of Rivers State said of Mrs. Semenitari: “We suspect the President was ambivalent that Mrs. Semenitari might not have the guts to withstand the power play in Niger Delta. That was why they (government) may not have confirmed her. But this one was our own. We know her well, not because she was a woman. Here, we don’t look at faces. That is why they say that Niger Deltans are rascally. But it is our nature. We don’t accept mediocrity or cheating or intimidation.
“Mrs. Semenitari has touched many people here (positively), even within the short period she was in acting capacity. From the very moment she was named in acting capacity, she started visiting every state in the commission, starting here. We knew what she promised us, and we know she will fulfil them.
“This one is not going to be like the former politicians they put to head the place, and only ended up playing politics with contracts awarded by the Commission. That was why we were calling for quick confirmation and it was good the President listened to us, because we feared he was not going to confirm her.”
Obviously, the new NDDC chief is homegrown, having the problems of the oil-producing states at her fingertips.
Group Corporate Affairs chief of the Commission, Ibitoye Abosede, while reading the citations of Semenitari when she was on inaugural tour of the Commission upon her confirmation, gingered hope of transformation of the operation of the Commission and a new work ethic. His assurance was on the NDDC MD’s pedigree as a journalist who for long is much like a social crusader and activist for human dignity.
He informed: “She was the first Nigerian female journalist to win the CNN African Journalist of the Year Award. She won second place, Print Journalism in the CNN African Journalist Award in 1997. She is a two-time winner of the Nigeria Media Merit Award, and a three time winner of the Diamond Media Merit Award for Excellence.”
Also endorsing her appointment, President, Niger Delta Youth for Positive Change and Progress, Emmanuel Enisuo, said of her appointment: “Semenitari has effected positive changes in the Commission within the short period she was in acting capacity. And that needed to be consolidated with her confirmation as substantive Managing Director. She has been a blessing to the region. Her appointment is a round peg in a round hole. That was why we urged the President to confirm her appointment and also constitute the board to help her deliver on her new assignment.”
Amazon at work
True to her calling, the woman did not have to start studying the files of her predecessors before she hit the ground running. After all, she was and still is a journalist who by the nature of the profession is always on the move, with eyes for details, heart for the deprived and knowledge of the social conditions of the constituency she was called to serve.
No doubt, as soon as she got confirmed, she went on tour of all the NDDC states to ascertain the level of jobs done and those undone in line with the change agenda of the government she is currently working under.
For instance, she observed in Imo State that actually there are still projects to be executed there. When she visited the state early in the year, Governor Rochas Okorocha was swift to point out that her predecessor promised the state a lot and delivered little, a development Okorocha said was not in line with the change agenda of the present government. The NDDC boss promised to earnestly attend to all the abandoned road projects in Imo, especially where the performance of the Commission was the worst under her predecessor. Though the governor read political undertone to the shoddy performance of the Commission in his state, the NDDC amazon assured that within her tenure, no job would be left undone.
Same assurance she gave to all the NDDC states where she took inventory of all uncompleted projects.
“NDDC will inspect projects before payment,” she said while addressing staff of the Commission during her inaugural meeting with them. “We will ensure we put people of the region first. Those doing a good job will be rewarded and celebrated and those who don’t do their job well should be ready to face the consequences.
“We need staff that are committed to the task of changing the Niger Delta region. Let us do the right thing and it will work well.”
Task that needs support
To say that Niger Delta region is not one of the most challenging assignments facing the present regime is to live in delusion. Aside the volatile political and social temperament of the area, the burden is made more daunting by series of binding mandates by sundry statutory courts within and without for the government to commence earnestly the task of environmental remediation of the area. For one, the United Nations Environmental Protection (UNEP) court judgments against the Nigerian authorities and the sundry oil companies in the pollution binge of the area are clearly matters the Buhari government would have to earnestly begin to tackle.
Popular views are that the choice of the woman who is versed on environmental issues and who has won sundry awards because of her concerns for environmental sustainability gives the government confidence that the agency is now being manned by a thoroughbred technocrat, and not a politician who would be preoccupied with how to divert funds to feed their bloated ambitions.
An environmentalist, Fred Iwori of Save the Earth campaign, believes that “Semenitari would bring her experience in environment matters into the job. Clearly, she would make a difference from her predecessors if she gets the level of funding and political support her predecessors got. She has been in the campaign to save our environment and secure our future more importantly than the oil. The Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) should be passed, and this needless controversy over host community remediation tax in the bill is a bellyache that will not help matters. The woman needs all the support to redress gargantuan environmental rape of the area.”
Another task the woman would encounter, according to observers, is getting the media to support her efforts. According to a reporter in a national daily who covers the region, and who pleaded anonymity: “The media should be part of the campaign to save the environment by supporting the new NDDC chief since she is one of us. She is a woman and women are not so fantastic in political intrigues.”
Another challenge facing the journalist-turned environmental crusader is cleaning the Augean stables of corruption, mediocrity and poor supervision of projects left by her immediate past predecessor, Dan Abia. There is however the belief that the woman would not turn out a rookie in the job.
