Tinubu wants rapid development in Niger Delta � NDDC

The Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission, Dr Samuel Ogbuku, says President Bola Tinubu has charged the commission to do more to develop the Niger Delta region and impact positively on the lives of the people.

Speaking during an interactive session with management and staff of the NDDC at the commission�s headquarters in Port Harcourt, Ogbuku said he was given �new commandments� when he visited the President recently at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.

This is according to a statement on Thursday by the commission�s director of corporate affairs, Ibitoye Abosede.

Ibitoye disclosed that the NDDC boss said the President expressed disappointment at the level of underdevelopment in the Niger Delta region and the performance of the NDDC as an interventionist agency in the oil-rich region.

According to Ogbuku, Tinubu decried the mismanagement of resources in the Niger Delta region and directed the management team to return to the Commission and ensure that a new NDDC emerged.

The NDDC boss said Tinubu was anxious to reposition the NDDC to ensure that it worked in the interest of the people of the region, saying, �I made a pledge to President Tinubu that all resources at the Commission�s disposal would be judiciously utilised to increase and improve the impact of the NDDC in the region.�

The statement partly read, �Speaking further, the NDDC MD clarified that it was only the NDDC Governing Board that was dissolved by the directive of the Federal Government, while the commission�s management team, consisting of the NDDC�s Managing Director, the Executive Director Finance and Administration as well as the Executive Director Projects remained intact.

�He announced that the commission was planning to engage a multinational professional services consultant, KPMG to help the Commission set up a viable and sustainable Corporate Governance structure.�