Blessing Ibunge in Port Harcourt
The Interim Administrator of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Dr. Efiong Akwa, has thanked President Muhammadu Buhari for approving the procurement of 33 Ford Ranger vehicles used by the security operatives during the physical verification phase of the forensic audit of the commission.
Akwa made the commendation yesterday during the handover of the utility vehicles used for the projects across the Niger Delta region to security agencies.
Presenting the vehicle documents and keys to the security agencies at the NDDC warehouse in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Akwa also commended security agencies that were part of the Joint Security Committee of the audit exercise, for their commitment to ensuring that the audit exercise was conducted without any security hitches.
The joint security committee includes officers from the Nigerian Army, Navy, Police, Directorate of State Security (DSS), and the Nigeria Civil Defence Corps.
According to Akwa, “The vehicles were provided for the security agencies as directed by President Buhari. The president also instructed that the security vehicles be handed over to the security agencies at the end of the forensic audit exercise and that is why we are doing this today.
“The ceremony is very symbolic because it tells a very good story about the security agencies. They did their job successfully without hitches. The forensic exercise has helped the NDDC to show projects that were uncompleted.
“The president graciously directed that upon completion of the job which they did, without any loss of human life, that the vehicles should be handed over to various security agencies as part of federal government’s contribution in solving their logistics problems.”
Receiving the security vehicles on behalf of the security agencies, the representative of the Nigeria Navy on the Joint Security Committee, Rear Admiral Bamidele Oluwagbamila, thanked Buhari and the NDDC for supporting the efforts of the security agencies through the donation of the security vehicles.
He noted that the security agencies would not relent in their efforts to ensure the security of lives and property in the Niger Delta region.
Oluwagbamila remarked that: “This is a good day for us-the security agencies and the NDDC. The task the federal government gave us to support the forensic audit was successfully carried out. The audit was carried out without any ugly incident. We are grateful that the vehicles have been handed over to us for internal security activities.”
The Director, Research, Planning and Statistics of the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, Mr. Alfred Abba, who represented the Permanent Secretary, thanked Buhari for supporting the forensic audit exercise, and commended the Joint Security Committee for ensuring that the exercise was carried out safely.
