The Federal Government said that the Board of Nigerian Communications Satellite Limited (NigComSat) which was inaugurated on February 23, 2011,? would be exempted from a presidential directive issued in October 2011 dissolving all federal parastatals, agencies, institutions and companies.
Minister of Communication Technology, Mrs. Omobola Johnson, confirmed yesterday that by this presidential directive, the board of NigComSat remained constituted as inaugurated on February 23, 2011. All the federal government boards and parastatals are dissolved every four years.
NigComSat board currently chaired by Professor Turner Isuon, former minister of science and technology was exempted because it had not served for four years. On? October 19 , 2011, President Goodluck Jonathan, dissolved all federal government boards and parastatals while inaugurating the Committee on the Composition of the Boards of Federal Government Parastatals chaired by Vice-President Namadi Sambo.
He? emphasised that the former members of the various boards were not sent packing because they were incompetent but because it was the tradition to do so every four years. The president said: “It is customary that at the end of every four years, the boards of federal government parastatals, agencies are dissolved. The dissolution would have been done earlier but of course this is a continuous government that is why we were not in a hurry to dissolve boards. But of course, we have to review and reposition properly.
The communication technology minister had on Tuesday inaugurated new members into the board of the NCC and USPF. She said that the inauguration followed the confirmation by Senate of the members and has come about as a result of the expiration of tenures of some serving commissioners on the NCC board and the requirement that the USP board include private sector representation as prescribed in the Nigeria Communications Act 2003.