- Ogbuku recommits to devt
From Femi Folaranmi, Yenagoa
Former Governor of Bayelsa State and senator representing Bayelsa West senatorial district, Seriake Dickson have urged states of the Niger Delta region to partner the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) to fast track the developmental processes of the area.
The federal lawmaker gave the charge over the weekend at Ayakoro community, home town of the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (MD/CEO) of the NDDC, Dr Samuel Ogbuku during the 2024 edition of the community’s annual cultural celebration, ‘Eyal Obein’.
He commended the community for the preservation of her cultural heritage, saying that a people without culture is likened to one without history.
Dickson also lauded Ogbuku on the achievements of the commission under his stewardship noting he has been impressed with the performance of the interventionist agency under the leadership of Dr Samuel Ogbuku.
According to him, Ogbuku and his team have demonstrated capacity and love for the Niger Delta region in terms of project execution and policy implementation.
“The NDDC under the stewardship of Dr Samuel Ogbuku is doing well. Ogbuku and his team are carrying out the mandate of the NDDC meritoriously well.
“I want to thank Ogbuku for remembering that he came from a place. The projects I’ve seen in this community and other parts of the Niger Delta, including my home town, especially the solar powered lights and others clearly shows that Ogbuku knows where he came from. It shows that he’s completely linked with his people at home,” Dickson said.
Ogbuku in an interview restated that commitment of the NDDC to the development of the Niger Delta region.
He assured that under his stewardship, he would ensure that projects awarded and executed by the commission have direct impacts on their benefiting communities.
He said the era of stalled projects was over in the NDDC, noting however, that the commission will no longer condone the habit whereby some communities act as encumbrances to contractors handling NDDC projects in their domain.
The NDDC MD warned that contracts awarded to communities which impede their peaceful execution may be relocated, saying that no place can develop devoid of peace and cooperation.
“A situation where communities impose all sorts of conditions on contractors executing projects in their communities would no longer be accepted. However, we’ll also not allow contractors to exploit communities when executing their projects. In the event that there are unnecessary encumbrances from communities on the execution of projects in their domain, then it’s clear that such communities do not want the project, and so the NDDC may be forced to relocate projects like that,” Ogbuku said.