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Uzodinma Asks NDDC To Shun Politics For Niger Delta Development

  Imo State, Hope Uzodinma, has asked the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) to work for the development of Nigeria’s oil-rich region. Advertisement The governor … Continue reading Uzodinma Asks NDDC To Shun Politics For Niger Delta Development


A file photo of NDDC office in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital.
A file photo of NDDC office in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital.

 

Imo State, Hope Uzodinma, has asked the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) to work for the development of Nigeria’s oil-rich region.

The governor made the call on Monday while receiving the NDDC Interim Administrator, Mr Efiong Akwa, and his team of directors at the Imo State Government House in Owerri.

“The time for politics is over. This is a time for governance,” he said, lamenting that over the years, politics had impeded the speed of work by the NDDC.

Governor Uzodinma advised people of the Niger Delta region not to allow politics and sentiments slow down the work of the commission.

He commended President Muhammadu Buhari and the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio for the appointment of Akwa as NDDC Interim Administrator pending the composition of a new board for the Commission.

The Imo governor noted that the NDDC, as an interventionist agency, was meant to fast-track development of the oil-producing region of the country.

“NDDC is not an ethnic or tribal organization,” he said while warning those trying to portray it as such to stop forthwith.

“Since it is the wisdom of Mr. President to put in place an Interim Administration, we are bound to respect the position of the President and support the Interim Administrator.”

Uzodinma said that Imo State was in dire need of NDDC’s intervention in roads and in the educational sector, especially the tertiary institutions.

He asked the NDDC to furnish the hostel it built for the state university so that students could use the facility in comfort and safety, noting that it was particularly important now in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.

On his part, the NDDC boss said the Interim Management was meeting with important stakeholders of the Niger Delta region as directed by President Buhari.

“Partnership is a key aspect in United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It advocates for a shared vision, shared responsibility, shared commitment, as well as shared budgeting process and implementation of development initiatives

“That was the spirit in fashioning a Master Plan for the Niger Delta, the vision of our shared allegiance to this great region. After so many years of neglect, it is important that, together, we do far more for our people. It is important that we do more for a region which has provided the bulk of Nigeria’s wealth, and accounted for our rise in the comity of nations,” he said.