14th September, 2011
Less than 24 hours after the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, board was dissolved, security has been beefed up at Dappa Briye House, headquarters of the commission, located along Aba/Port Harcourt expressway, Port Harcourt.
When P.M.NEWS visited the commission’s headquarters today, soldiers had taken over the security of the entry and exit gate of the commission.
They did not allow any visitor into the complex. Only the staff were allowed to go in.
The few staff that were allowed in were thoroughly screened to ensure that no official document or commission’s property including cars or other valuables were smuggled out.
It was observed that the commission’s headquarters that used to be a beehive was this morning a shadow of itself almost the place was dead quiet.
Meanwhile, some stakeholders have been reacting to the dissolution of the board and the sacking of the Managing Director, Chibuzor Ugwuoha and his team.
The Rivers State chapter of Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, in a statement by Jerry Needam, its Publicity Secretary, welcomed the dissolution, calling it good riddance to bad rubbish.
The party called for the appointment of very competent persons who would go to the commission and perform.
Others such as Marvin Yobana, the African Representative in the World Council of Youth and President Ogoni Youths Council, lamented that the dissolution of the Board and the sacking of the Management would not solve the problem affecting the agency in service delivery to the people of the region,especially funding.
He said the action would cause a serious setback to the needed development of the region as contractors would abandon sites and later make spurious claims.
“All the region needs now is roaring bulldozers involved in massive construction and a holistic approach to the issue of development in the region,” he said.
Unofficial reports said that some top management staff have been invited to Abuja for questioning on some issues concerning the running of the agency.
It was difficult getting confirmation at press time the particular officials invited to Abuja as none of senior staff in the Media and Corporate Affairs section was willing to comment even under anonymity.
—Okafor Ofiebor/Port Harcourt