Delta state government has appointed a new Management Board for the Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission (DESOPADEC).

Members of new Board, screened and cleared by the State House of Assembly on August 11, 2011, following their nominated by Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan are to take over from the Care-taker Committee headed by Mr. Reginald Bayoko, which was appointed by Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan to take over the affairs of the Commission when the tenure of the former Board led by Chief Wellington Okirika expired in July 2010.

The new Chairman of the Board, Mr. Oritsua Kpogho, former Head of Finance in the Commission, is from the Itsekiri Ethnic Nationality and entitled by law to 50% of the 13% derivation allocation from the Federal Government.

The amended constitution of the Commission states that the Secretary of the Board, who would be a thorough-bred bureaucrat with a status a Director will be sourced from the Delta state civil service.

It will be recalled that the Constitution of DESOPADEC was amended in July 2010, following widespread speculations that there was a sinister plot to extend the tenure of the old Board led by Chief Okirika by a couple of years to accommodate the 2011 general elections and the emergence of a new administration.

Composition of new DESOPADEC Board:

Oritsua Kpogho – Chairman

Sir Ede Oghoro -Secretary

Henry Offa –Member

Joseph Ogeh – Member

Michael Diden – Member

Johnson Boro – Member

Rev.Chukwudi Eke – Member

Barr. Benedicta Osakunih – Member

Kingsley Otuaro – Member

Dr. Peter Egedegbe – Member