The Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio, says that the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, has shown focus and determination by completing its 13-floor new headquarters building at the Marine base in Port Harcourt.
Senator Akpabio, who addressed newsmen alongside the NDDC Interim Administrator, Mr. Efiong Akwa, at the newly completed headquarters, said that the new complex was a testimony to the fact that President Muhammadu Buhari was determined to reposition the NDDC for the rapid development of the Niger Delta region. “The NDDC has added to the infrastructural transformation of the Niger Delta. It gladdens my heart to see to the completion of this project. It shows that, indeed, Nigeria can change with determination and focus. I have seen it here in the NDDC,” Akpabio stated.
The former governor said the previous administrations that neglected the project may have had their reasons but it was important to note that a new leadership with focus and determination will always make a difference. “I commend the past Chief Executives like Prof Bradikumo Pondei and Dr Akwagaga Enyia who showed sufficient commitment to the project. It was Akwagaga who showed me around on my first visit to the project. I was not happy with what I saw and I was told that I was the first Minister to visit the project site.
“After the visit, I decided that I will convince Mr. President on the need to make the project a focus for the NDDC and a major achievement for the Federal Government which would also be used to reposition the NDDC. It came down to two major things; the forensic audit and the completion of the new headquarters.”