Akwa Ibom State Governor, Pastor Umo Eno, has called for collaboration between the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) and the state governments in the region for better service delivery in line with the core mandates of the Commission.
Governor Eno made the call when he received a delegation of the NDDC Board and Management team led by the Board Chairman, Mr. Chiedu Ebie, visiting the state for a two-day retreat.
The Governor expressed optimism that the new board will uphold its mandate and core responsibilities as an interventionist agency for the development of the Niger Delta region, urging the team not to subvert its mandate for political reasons.
He promised to collaborate with the Commission for the delivery of dividends of democracy to the people of the state and tasked the management on involvement of the state government in its interventionist programmes based on needs assessment to avoid replication of projects.
“I say this because the opinion of a lot of us, particularly Governors of the South South region, is that the mandate and core responsibility of NDDC as an interventionist agency appear to have been subverted to satisfy purely political purposes, and I don’t say this lightly. That is not what it should be.
“The NDDC is an interventionist agency that is supposed to be very apolitical, looking at the development of the Niger Delta States and of course, Nigeria as a whole. But over the years, I can say that it has not been truly so.
“I wish, hope, and trust that this new leadership will move away from being political. Yes, we cannot take out politics in all we do, but we need to be able to balance it so that the people of the South South can begin to feel very strongly the impact of the NDDC.
“I am happy about the theme of this retreat, “Renewed Hope: An Era of Vitality, Peace, and Sustainable Development.” This theme aligns deeply with the Renewed Hope Agenda of His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR,” he added.
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Governor Eno noted that his administration has been all-inclusive, having worked across party lines, believing that it is a sure way to deliver the dividends of democracy to the people.
He expressed optimism that the Renewed Hope Agenda of the President and the inspiring theme of the retreat will foster collaboration between the Commission and the State administration for the attainment of the agency’s core mandate to usher in an era of vitality, peace, and sustainable development in the state.
“I remain very optimistic that given this Renewed Hope Agenda of President Tinubu and the theme of this retreat, this new vista of collaboration and depoliticization of the agency’s core mandate, the era of vitality, peace, and sustainable development will finally be here,” he assured.
Earlier, Chairman of the Board, Mr. Chiedu Ebie, congratulated the Governor for his victory at the Supreme Court and expressed the commitment of the board and management of the Commission to work as a team with all state governments in the Niger Delta to deliver on its mandate of bringing the dividends of democracy to the people, assuring of the board’s readiness to work closely with the Akwa Ibom State government to ensure the development of infrastructure and the empowerment of the people of the region.
He assured of the development of the region based on need assessment to complement the State Government development strides.