Gov Hope Uzodinma of Imo has appealed to stakeholders to give room for the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) to work for the development of Nigeria’s oil-rich region.
The governor made the appeal during a courtesy visit by the NDDC Interim Administrator, Mr. Effiong Akwa, and his team of Directors at the Imo State Government House, Owerri on Tuesday.
This was contained in a press release signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr Oguwike Nwachukwu.
Uzodimma lamented that in the years past, politics had hampered the progress of work by the NDDC, and urged Niger Deltans to de-emphasise politics and sentiments.
According to him, the NDDC is an interventionist agency established to fast-track development of the oil-producing region of the country and not an ethnic or tribal organization.
He warned those trying to portray it in that light to stop while regretting that some young people from the region were being sponsored to protest the activities of the NDDC
He appealed to them to allow peace to reign noting that development can only take place in a peaceful atmosphere.
Uzodimma also noted that Imo was in dire need of NDDC intervention in the education and health sectors, quality roads infrastructure and provision of sufficient palliatives.
He specifically implored the NDDC to furnish the hostel it built for the state university so that students could use the facility in comfort and safety.
The governor also lauded President Muhammadu Buhari and the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio on the choice of Akwa as the NDDC Interim Administrator pending the composition of a new board for the Commission.
“Since it is the wisdom of Mr President to put in place an Interim Administration, we are bound to respect his position and support the Interim Administrator.”
Earlier, the NDDC Interim Administrator, Mr Akwa said the visit was both to acknowledge the governor’s strategic importance to Niger Delta development and to seek ways of forging a stronger alliance with the government and people of Imo.
Akwa said the Interim Management was meeting with important stakeholders of the Niger Delta region as directed by President Buhari.
The administrator said this was important because partnership was a key aspect in the 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.
“After so many years of neglect, it is important that, together, we do far more for our people and a region which has provided the bulk of Nigeria’s wealth, and accounted for our rise in the comity of nations,” Akwa said.
He also commended the governor for embarking on many projects which were helping to open up areas with rich agricultural potential.
“You are helping to boost the economy of these areas and helping to improve the living conditions of the people. We are here to learn from you,” he said.
The NDDC boss stressed the importance of energising the commission’s Presidential Advisory Council, comprising the state governors in the nine Niger Delta states.
“The past practice where the commission undertook projects and programmes in the states, without first building a working coalition with the state governments, to integrate our plans, policies, projects and programmes into the state government’s overall master plan, will no longer hold.
“We are determined to continue to make a difference in the Niger Delta region in general, and in Imo State, in particular.
“We remain committed to providing projects and programmes of enduring quality because to build the Niger Delta is to build ourselves,” he said.
The Interim Management team handed over four waste disposal trucks to the Imo State Government to assist the efforts towards improving the sanitary conditions of the cities in the state.
