Senate Confirms Buhari’s Nominee Rejected by 8th Assembly as NCC Commissioner

Senate Confirms Buhari’s Nominee Rejected by 8th Assembly as NCC Commissioner

By Deji Elumoye

The Senate Thursday approved the appointment of Mr Aliyu Abubakar, as a non Executive Commissioner on the board of the National Communications Commission (NCC), three years after his nomination was rejected by the 8th Senate.

Abubakar, from Bauchi State, was nominated last week by President Muhammadu Buhari for the same position despite his rejection by the 8th Senate due to low educational qualifications.

Like in 2016, Abubakar’s candidature faced stiff opposition on the grounds that his nomination was rejected in the 8th Senate for having a low educational qualification of a Diploma.

Abubakar presented a diploma in computer certificate which falls short of the requirement of the NCC Act for Commissioners of the telecom regulator.

Senator Binos Dauda Yaru (Adamawa South) had raised an objection to Abubakar ‘s nomination saying he discovered that the nominee would represent his geopolitical zone and decided to find out some information about him.

He said, “I goggled his name and what came out was what happened in the 8th Senate. Since the nominee has not acquired additional qualification since then, so, I now wonder what makes him qualified.

“The North East has no representative on the board of the NCC since 2016 that the nominee was not confirmed. Other nominees on the board are eminently qualified. We have a professor, and Masters Degree holders among them. All what my representative possess is a diploma and I wonder what has changed between 2016 and now.”

Yaru was however ruled out of order by the Senate President, Dr Ahmad Lawan, who said the Senate would rely on the report of its panel.

He had said, “We have a report before us from our committee which did its work on behalf of the Senate. If there was any protest or petition, the committee would have reflected it. So far, we must rely on what the committee reports recommend”

The Senate President insisted that the committee had cleared Abubakar for meeting the requirements of appointment into the board of the commission.

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