Minister of Industrialisation, Mines and Energy, Nantangue Ithete, says he will issue a formal statement on the status of the Namibia Industrial Development Agency (NIDA) board.

This follows a question raised by Affirmative Repositioning leader and Associate Professor Job Amupanda, who sought clarity on the current state of the board and a recent meeting held between the Minister and the board.

Amupanda’s question comes amid growing concerns over alleged irregularities at NIDA, including the reported sale of state assets and deals with foreign entities without following procurement procedures.

While acknowledging Minister Ithete’s recent engagement with the NIDA board chairperson, Amupanda asked, “How does the ministry intend to ensure such actions are not repeated in future?”

In response, Minister Ithete said, “I will deliver a statement with regard to the outcomes and the decisions I will take concerning NIDA.”

He also addressed confusion about legacy agreements signed under previous entities, saying:“Currently, there is nothing called NDC or ODC. The new entity now is NIDA. You will find people claiming they don’t recognise the current leadership because their agreements were signed with the former NDC. You can’t argue that way.”

He added, “You can’t say you have agreements with Namibia when it was still Southwest Africa. There are companies and clients refusing to pay or comply, saying their agreements were with the NDC. That is not acceptable.”