TheNewsGuru

Tag: NDDC

  • One feared dead as trailer rams into NDDC’s MD convoy

    One feared dead as trailer rams into NDDC’s MD convoy

    One of the policemen attached to Mr Nsima Ekere, Managing Director, Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), has been feared dead in a motor accident involving the commission’s convoy.

    The incident was said to have occurred on Thursday at the Akwa Ibom axis of Calabar-Ituran when the convoy ran into a trailer.

    The Director of Corporate Affairs, NDDC, Mr Toye Abosede, who confirmed the incident, said that the managing director was on his way to Calabar to receive the Acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo.

    The acting president begins a two-day visit to Cross River on Thursday.

    Abosede, in a statement released in Uyo, said that the pilot vehicle conveying police escort was smashed in the incident and that one of the policemen was feared dead.

    He said that other policemen injured in the crash were taken to the nearby hospital and were responding to treatment.

    “Members of the entourage in other vehicles were unhurt in the unfortunate incident. Unfortunately, one of the policemen could not be saved,” Abosede said.

  • Niger Delta now an investment destination – NDDC MD

    Niger Delta now an investment destination – NDDC MD

    The Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, Mr. Nsima Ekere has stated that the current focus of the Federal Government on the Niger Delta region has made it an investment destination with opportunities in oil and gas, agriculture, Information Communication Technology, as well as power generation and distribution.

    Ekere spoke during the dinner held for participants at the 2017 Offshore Technology Conference, OTC, in Houston, Texas, United States. According to him the Niger Delta was being repositioned to attract investors in several growth areas beyond oil and gas.

    The NDDC Chief Executive Officer assured that specific policy initiatives targeting the root cause of the agitations in the Niger Delta were being prepared for rollout by the Federal Government. “These will tackle security, law and order, power, transport infrastructure, modular refineries and investment in people,” he said.

    Ekere stated that the NDDC’s participation at the 2017 OTC Conference was to explore partnerships and opportunities with investors who would support the efforts of the Federal Government and NDDC in creating more jobs for the teeming Niger Delta youths who were already armed with the requisite skills and knowledge to work and collaborate with investors in different economic sectors.

    The NDDC boss said that with 18 universities spread across the 9 States in the region, the Niger Delta was well positioned to provide the needed human resources to ensure viability and sustainability of investments.

    He added: “We are also working with the business community to identify ways to overcome constraints and ensure businesses take advantage of the numerous opportunities in the region. Investors are invited to join us on this journey of discovery of the potentials in the Niger Delta region. ”

    Ekere pledged that the NDDC would continue to work with communities and people of the region to provide needs-based interventions for communities, noting that the region was one of the most promising locations in Nigeria, covering 9 states with a population of about 32 million people, 60% of whom are below the age of 30 years.

    He underscored the fact that the region was the focal point for the Oil & Gas sector with about 37 billion barrels of proven reserves and numerous other mineral deposits such as granite, barites, marble, clay, gypsum, phosphate rock, feldspar, limestone sand and gravel.

    In addition, he said: “Before the advent of Oil the region exported coal, gold, tin, columbite, tantalite, lead and zinc. With over 750,000 hectares suitable for fish and shrimp farming and 500,000 hectares of arable land for farming, the region is a diversified portfolio of opportunities.”

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that the Offshore Technology Conference is a conglomeration of global players in the Oil and gas industry as well as Information Communication Technology, power generation and allied sectors. It offers a networking/investment platform to participants.

     

  • Sack NDDC board now or we make Niger Delta ungovernable – Militants tell Buhari

    A militant group known as the Niger Delta Revolutionary Crusaders, NDRC, has warned the Federal Government to sack the board of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, or it will make the region ungovernable.

    NDRC gave the call in a statement issued by its spokesperson, WOI Izon-Ebi, on Friday.

    The statement reads in part, “We want The Federal Government to allow the people of Niger Delta region to choose their leaders and control their God -given resources.

    “We want the appointment of directors of all Federal Government agencies and parastatals in the Niger Delta to be apolitical; we want the federal government to allow the people of the Niger Delta to recommend the best brains and technocrats to occupy the various offices if truly they are sincere and committed to the wellbeing, peace and development of the Niger Delta.

    “We want the Ministry of Niger Delta to be probed from the tenure of former minister, Elder Godsday Orubebe to date and the East-West Road in particular.

    “We want also the NDDC to be probed from the time of Dan Abia to the present Board.

    “We want the present board of the NDDC to be sacked immediately because they lack vision and focus.

    “We want the EFCC to swing into action to probe the present NDDC board because with the facts available to us, which we would publish next, it will be shameful.

    “If this present administration that rode to power with the slogan of fighting corruption refuses to hear to our plea, we, on our own, will make that place ungovernable for them because NDDC was created by the sacrifices and blood of the Niger Delta people. We would not sit and watch some group of unpatriotic Niger Deltans that lack vision of the NDDC to continue to enrich themselves to the detriment of the Niger Delta.”

    TheNewsGuru.com recalls that the Acting President, Yemi Osibajo was recently in the Niger Delta to meet with the various groups and leadership of the union to find long lasting solutions to the unrest that has engulfed the region for many years.