The Acting Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission,
NDDC, Gbene Dr Joi Nunieh, says the Commission will drive a Niger Delta
Next Level Re-Orientation Campaign to promote a non-violent and clean Niger
Delta region.
Dr Nunieh stated this yesterday during a courtesy visit by a delegation
from the Amayanabo of Okochiri, in Okrika Local Government Area of Rivers
State, King Ateke Tom, at the NDDC headquarters in Port Harcourt.
The NDDC Chief Executive Officer was joined at the event by the Acting
Executive Director, Finance and Administration, Chief Ibanga Bassey Etang,
the Acting Executive Director, Projects, Dr. Cairo Ojougboh and other
directors.
Nunieh said: “We want all Niger delta stakeholders to join hands in the
re-orientation for a better environment and a non-violent Niger Delta. With
a clean and peaceful environment, investors will be interested to come to
the region.”
She urged all Niger Deltans to support the efforts of the Federal
Government to clean up Nigeria’s oil-rich region, assuring that NDDC would
encourage the various communities to keep their villages and waterways
clean.
The NDDC boss called on all Niger Delta stakeholders to join in the new
movement to take the region to the next level, assuring that President
Muhammadu Buhari was determined to give the NDDC a new face and a new lease
of life.
She noted: “The President stands with us in the quest to turn things around
for good in the Niger Delta. That is why he approved the setting up of the
Interim Management Committee to ensure that the process of the forensic
auditing of the NDDC was carried out properly.”
Nunieh stated that stakeholders in the region no longer had need to visit
the NDDC to get things done because according to her, “our work will
henceforth speak for us.”
She emphasised: “We want to take development to the rural communities and
we want the Community Development Committees, CDCs, to become very active
in rural development. Consequently, we have advised the youths that visit
the NDDC to go back and wait for us in their communities because the water
hyacinth contracts will henceforth be executed by communities through their
CDCs.”
Nunieh said that the NDDC was going through a reformation process, which
she observed went beyond the forensic auditing. She stated that the days of
wastages were over, adding: “We must all put our hands on the deck to save
the Niger Delta.”
Earlier in his remarks, the leader of the delegation from the Amayanabo of
Okochiri, Comrade Opia Joshua Ojieh, said they came to identify with the
Interim Management Committee of the NDDC.
He regretted that the NDDC, which was set up to fast-track the development
of the Niger Delta region, had not lived up to the expectations of the
people of the region.
Ojieh noted that the Commission was established as a result of the
struggles of concerned Niger deltans. He, however, observed: “We are not
satisfied with how the NDDC has been run in the past. That is why we
support the position of President Buhari in setting up the Interim
Management Committee.
“It is unfortunate that having stayed in the creeks for years to fight for
the development of the Niger Delta, we are yet to realize our goals because
of poor management of our collective resources by the previous
administrations in the NDDC.”
Ojieh commended members of the IMC, describing them as men and women of
integrity with good track record. He thanked the Federal Government for
giving a listening ear to the cries of the Niger Delta people, stating: “We
are looking forward to seeing the new face of the Niger Delta.”
Charles Obi Odili
Director, Corporate Affairs.
November 18, 2019.