… Lists major mega projects by NDDC that should make President Buhari to confirm the Brambaifa Led Commission
Recent consistent attacks on the works and management of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) by the Rivers state governor, Chief Nyesom Wike, have been described as part of the governor’s plans to hide the fact that he has been sloppy and inefficient.
A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the South-South, Chief Eze Chukwuemeka Eze, who disclosed this in a statement issued and circulated in Port Harcourt on Wednesday, also took a swipe at the governor for attempting to distract the NDDC from succeeding in the critical areas where he has failed as governor, saying the governor has been uncharitable and his actions located as a campaign of calumny and most unfortunate.
Eze, who was spokesman of the defunct New People’s Democratic Party (nPDP), recalled that Governor Wike, in his recent meeting with the management of the NDDC, led by its Acting Managing Director, Professor Nelson Brambaifa, had played a negative host as he reportedly launched verbal attacks on the commission’s leadership, even as he tried to berate the works and essence of the establishment.
Quoting the governor, referring to his comments during the commission’s leadership’s visit to the Government House in Port Harcourt recently, Eze recalled the governor saying “they have refused to constitute the Governors Board since 2015 because majority of the South-South States are controlled by the PDP. Nineteen years after establishment, the NDDC is still constructing its headquarters. All the participating states have no mega projects. The NDDC was designed to help the Niger Delta grow, but that is not the situation on ground. Can we justify the funds that have passed through the NDDC?”
He, however, advised the governor not to play politics with everything that comes his way, asking him to rather give credit and encourage the Brambaifa-led management for the great works it is doing, at least to make the people of Rivers State and other states within the region to feel the presence of the federal government within their areas.
He noted, rather with sadness, that Governor Wike, not minding the hundreds of billions that have accrued to the Rivers State Government’s coffers, has not been able to add any positive or landmark piece to the architecture of the state: no tangible or mega project has been executed by his administration, except for motor parks, an amusement park and markets that are under the purview of local government councils in the state.
To buttress his points, Eze highlighted a few of the mega projects so far initiated by the NDDC, and dared Wike to name one single mega project he had executed since he assumed office in 2015 as the Executive Governor of Rivers State.
According to him, the NDDC leadership can point to the following and more:
1. Few days ago, Prof. Nelson Brambaifa led members of his Executive Management Team and the Rivers State Rep of the Commission, Hon Tekena Flag Amachree, and others in the state office to Commission the Emergency Repairs of Failed and Unmotorable Sections of Reclamation Road in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
2. The NDDC team also took an on the spot assessment tour of the failed sections of East/West Road by Nkpolu/Rumuigbo, Port Harcourt where he was kept abreast of the situation of the heavily flooded section of the East/West Road which has greatly affected residents of the area and motorist plying the road negatively and seeing the deplorable situation promised to commence work and see to the repair of road in two (2) months.
Eze further exposed that NDDC is involved in the
3. Construction of Niger Delta Regional Specialist Hospital (Cardiovascular Hospital), Port Harcourt.
4. Construction of Niger Delta Regional Specialist Hospital (Orthopaedic Hospital), Port Harcourt.
5. Construction of Special Police Unit Omagwa, Rivers State. The structure has in it 4 buildings of 64 one bedroom flat each also at 95% completion.
6.The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) carried out a one-day sensitisation of Rivers State farmers on the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Anchor Borrowers’ Programme in the state which drew 250 participants from across the state aimed at promoting food security and improved incomes and living standards of our rural farmers. The Anchor Borrowers’ Programme of the Central Bank of Nigeria according to Eze is in line with the goal and objectives contained in the developmental master plan of the Niger Delta Development Commission” hence it considered it “appropriate as a development partner to sensitise farmers about the laudable programme.”
7.The Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, recently trained 200 graduates from the Niger Delta region in various departments of Information Communication Technology, ICT. The training was part of NDDC’s efforts to boost human capital development in the Niger Delta region, in addition to infrastructure, development of human capital was an important component that facilitates the rapid growth and development of any nation. Apart from teaching the youths how to fish rather than give them fish to satisfy their immediate hunger. The ICT programme covers Auto Cad training, CCNA programming, Database management, Java programming, Software engineering, website design, digital marketing, networking, among others.
8. The Commission, under the current leadership has set aside a whopping sum of N2Bn to cover the foreign scholarship of about 3,112 candidates, selected from over 5,000 who applied for the post-graduate foreign scholarship program of the NDDC for the 2019 program. The program designed to equip graduates of Niger-Delta origin with the relevant training and skills, as it was critical to capacity building and improving educational standards in the region. The scholarship scheme is also part of the NDDC’s human resource development initiatives.
9.. Prompt payments of the Commission’s Contractors to achieve timely completion of the projects embarked upon by the Commission
10. Revived the Naval Shipyard Limited and the Admiralty China Shipbuilding and Offshore International limited in Port Harcourt through completion of the 2.6 kilometre road which was completed in a record time of 46 days linking four major communities and seven smaller communities, with about fifty thousand people living or doing business there.
11. At the Ogoni area of Rivers State, residents of Nyogor, Lueku, Agbani and Wiikue in Khana Local government, have every reason to be grateful to the management of NDDC for the construction of a 5.6km road crisscrossing the four communities.
12. In Khana LGA, the NDDC undertook the construction of the four kilometre Beeri Road with drains and two culverts. The strategic road connects three rural communities in Ogoniland, namely; Yonbe, Luegbo and Beeri. The main occupation of the inhabitants of these communities is agriculture and by the achievement of this milestone, the farmers can easily evacuate their agricultural produce to the urban areas.
13. Completion of the N24 Billion Ogbia-Nembe Road in partnership with Shell Petroleum Development Company, SPDC. This was a road that was abandoned all these years but completed by this administration to making life easier for residents of the area
(14). Fully automated medical Ambulance and important medical equipment worth millions of naira were delivered to the Ondo State Government to help them combat Lassa fever and other medical emergencies.
(15). The Commission under the watch of Prof Brambaifa the Commission have treated Over 1.2m documented Patients
from simple diagnoses to complicated surgeries; with 6000 referral cases effectively managed while a total of 3500 communities have been visited by the free medical mission in the region a feat that is uncommon by any of such interventionist Agencies.
According to the NDDC Boss, “our vision of a wealthier Niger Delta is intrinsically tied to our efforts to promote a healthier region. During the recent outbreak of Lassa fever in some states in the region, we intervened promptly. Our people must be healthy to enjoy the development we bring even as the Commission is set to resume free medical treatment in the creeks and communities of the Niger Delta.
(16). In Cross Rivers, Akwa/Ibom, Delta, Edo, Abia and Imo States this management has made very positive impacts within the shortest possible time.
“Mentioning most of the key projects so far carried out by the present Board will entail writing a book. Wike should note that politics is over and should face governance and stop living in the past”, he said.
He, however, encourage Prof Brambaifa and members of his team not to be distracted by the antics of Wike and those that are overwhelmed by the much the Board had achieved in her six months of existence.
He also pleaded with President Muhammadu Buhari to save the region of dirty politics and campaign of calumny against NDDC by confirming the Prof Brambaifa-led team to enable it settle down and implement her vision of executing life impacting projects and make positive effects of the APC-led federal administration be felt in the region
ENDS
07 – 08 – 19
