NDDC: We are Delivering on Regional Projects, Set to Complete Abandoned Legacy Infrastructure
The Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Dr Samuel Ogbuku, yesterday said that the commission was committed to delivering on projects in the Niger Delta region.
Ogbuku stated that President Bola Tinubu, had charged the Commission to complete and inaugurate signature projects that would impact the lives of Niger Delta people.
The chief executive officer of the NDDC made the assertion through a virtual presentation at the commission’s region-wide media engagement, in Port Harcourt, Rivers state.
Speaking on the ongoing projects in the region, he said that the recent inauguration of five mega projects in Abia, Edo, Ondo, Bayelsa and Akwa Ibom states was a testimony of the new passion with which the commission was delivering on its mandate.
Ogbuku stated that the NDDC had so far inaugurated the 132/33kv electricity sub-station at Ode-Erinje in Okitipupa Local Government Area of Ondo State, to light up five local government areas in the state, as well as the 25.7-kilometre Ogbia-Nembe Road in Bayelsa State, which it executed in partnership with Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC).
Taking the media executives on a virtual tour of NDDC projects, the Executive Director Projects, Victor Antia, listed other numerous projects delivered by the commission, saying that the commission was determined to change the look of the region in space of some years.
Meanwhile, Ogbuku has assured that he will complete all legacy and people-oriented projects in the region irrespective of who initiated the project.
Ogbuku made the pledge yesterday, at a capacity building and sensitisation programme on due process compliance and anticorruption standard.
The NDDC boss represented by the Executive Director, Projects, Antai, said he was poised to change the wrong narratives and move NDDC from transaction to transformation that has zero tolerance for graft.
He noted that government is a continuum where everybody has performed within the ambit of his or her capabilities, adding that his administration will complete all projects that have direct impacts on the people.
"It is imperative that under Samuel Ogbuku's regime, he has decided that irrespective of who initiated the project, so far as the project has direct bearing to the betterment of the people of Niger Delta, he would complete them," he stated.
The Acting Director of Dispute and Conflict Resolution at NDDC, Mr. Godwin Ogedegbe, said the programme was imperative to look into the synergy and collective actions, which are aimed at confronting bribery and corruption in the discharge of their duties.
"We are working in synergy with the anti-graft agencies, Code of Conduct Bureau; they are here to lecture us and teach us of what is expected of us as staff. So, when we are carrying out our duties in the office, we will not be found culpable," he added.
In another development, Ogbuku said that the Commission was committed to eradicate malaria across the Niger Delta region.
Ogbuku disclosed this during a medical outreach to commemorate world malaria day 2024, organised by the Commission in Umuaka Obehi, Ukwa West Local Government Area, Abia to tackle the effect of malaria in rural communities.
Ogbuku, represented by Mr. Obia Ahamefuna, Head Education, Health and Social Service, Abia, said that the sensitisation programme was in line with the mandate of the commission across the nine Niger Delta states.
He said that the sensitisation programme was to create awareness to the rural communities on the measures put in place to prevent malaria.