From Femi Folaranmi. Yenagoa
The South South Integrity Group has commended the Dr. Samuel Ogbuku-led management of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).
The coordinator of the group, Comrade Alex Alabo Nathan, who gave the commendation at the end of a stakeholders meeting with the NDDC management team declared that the group will continue to support the current NDDC leadership because of its giant developmental strides and particularly for carrying Niger Delta stakeholders along.
Nathan thanked President Bola Tinubu for the re-appointment of Dr. Samuel Ogbuku as well as other members of the NDDC board.
According to him, “Mr. The President should pay no heed to detractors of the current leadership of the commission who are calling for its removal, because such persons are nothing but enemies of the Niger Delta region.”
While lauding the efforts of the Ogbuku-led NDDC including the light-up Niger Delta project being executed, he added all Niger Deltans should rally round the NDDC management so that they can achieve more in the four-year tenure.
“This current NDDC board has lit up the Niger Delta and will also do more. Therefore, we are passing a vote of confidence on the Ogbuku-led NDDC management after the recent stakeholders meeting held in Port Harcourt.”
Nathan also thanked Ogbuku “for giving us a son of the soil as a Special Assistant (SA) on youth in the person of Matthew Dambo, for galvanising the youths to see how Niger Delta will move forward.”
He urged youths, women, opinion leaders and other well-meaning Niger Deltans to support the efforts of the Ogbuku-led NDDC.
“Stability in the leadership of the commission is what will bring development and not the frequent removal of the commission’s leadership.
“Let us defend this board because the current peace we are enjoying in the region is as a result of the board’s good management,” he advised.
He also commended the NDDC management on the decision to complete abandoned projects and offset debts the commission is owing contractors before embarking on major projects
On the perennial problem of erosion suffered by most coastal communities in the region, Nathan thanked Ogbuku for his on-the-spot assessment of Sangana in Bayelsa State.
He suggested that the commission should create more shoreline protection jobs to tackle the age-long problem bedeviling riverine communities in the Niger Delta.
The group’s coordinator equally appealed to the Ogbuku-led management board to ensure the next phase of the solar light project is extended to more rural communities in the region.
“This will help light up the communities which will in turn checkmate crime and criminality,” he stressed.