Akeredolu Decries Frequent Changes in NDDC Leadership

By James Sowole

The Ondo State Governor, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, yesterday decried frequent changes in the leadership of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

Akeredolu spoke in Akure, Ondo State capital, when the management of the commission led by the Interim Administrator and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Effiong Akwa, paid him a visit in his office.

During the visit of the management team, the NDDC donated three waste disposal trucks and skip bins to the state government.

The team also paid inspection visit to the construction site of the 132 KVA Transmission Station at Erinje in Okitipupa Local Government Area of the state financed by the NDDC.

According to Akeredolu, “Frequent changes in the leadership of the NDDC do not augur well for the purpose for which the organisation was created, as it does not allow for continuity.

He said: “The purposes for which the NDDC was created were so much important than the way its leadership was being changed.

“The frequent changes do not augur well for the organisation. The leadership in the management of the commission was just being changed as if we are just sending them to fetch water.”

Akeredolu urged the NDDC to partner the state for the purpose of diversification of the economy, saying the state has many potential.

Specifically, the governor said there were many sectors the NDDC could invest in the state and stopped reliance on oil revenue.

Akeredolu listed bitumen exploitation, gem stones, cassava, tourism among others, as areas the NDDC could enter into partnership with the state.

Earlier in his address, the NDDC interim administrator said his visit to the Niger Delta states was to rebuild relationship with stakeholders and ensure that there’s no duplication of projects.

Akwa said the management team had paid similar visits to governors of Rivers, Delta, Akwa Ibom and Imo Statesto seek their inputs as major stakeholders in NDDC projects.

He specifically stated that the NDDC would no longer embark on any project in its mandate areas without consulting with the governor and other stakeholders in a particular state.

“The past practice where the commission undertook projects and programmes in the states without first building a working coalition with the states governments with a view to integrating plans, policies, projects and programmes into the state government’s overall master plan would no longer happen.

“Because the state governments know where the needs are, what the needs are, and how to do them, working together can bring development to our people in the best way possible,” the NDDC chief said.