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 Monday 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.”