Date Published: 09/10/09

Overt letter to the Inaugurated Board of Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC)

By Onukwube Uwanu

Sir: in the recent past, much has been heard, said, written and read by many about how the leadership in the Niger Delta Region uses their political positions to fester their own nest to the detriment of the people in the region. A case in view and fortunately was the recover and return of about 3billion naira to the coffers of one of the South-South states by the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC). It is today common knowledge how past leadership and administration with kleptomaniac tendencies spirited billions of naira belonging to their states to closely guarded secret accounts. This trend has contributed in no mean measure to the present dilapidated state of infrastructure that dots the nooks and cranny in the zone.

Therefore, I see your positions as a team in NDDC as an opportunity to leave your foot prints in the sand of time and to exhaustively realize the cardinal objectives for which the body was setup. One of the reasons NDDC was setup is to provide social amenities to wit; good roads, pipe borne water, renovation and building of schools both primary and secondary etc.  in respect to the above, NDDC has performed a little above average with the lean financial resources at its beck and call. A lot still need to be done in area of road construction especially in remote villages.

The deplorable state of key roads in the rural areas which link rural dwellers with their urban counterparts is quite alarming. The advantage derivable from building roads in the rural areas cannot be overstated. It is common knowledge that some agricultural produce seen in the cities are produced in remote villages whose roads are most times impassable. It is believed that if key roads in the remote villages are constructed and linked to cities it will lead to more of agricultural produce finding its way into the city. This in the short run will bring down the price of agricultural produce, cost of transportation as well as save motorists the pain of changing automobile spare parts regularly..

As a development-driven agency, before the award of road contracts to contractors or construction firms, a comprehensive assessment of past roads constructed by them should be carried out to ascertain whether they delivered a quality job based on specification and the number of years the road understudy lasted before it depreciated. This will give insight on the choice of contractor or construction firm the job should be given to. This is because the agency can’t afford building the same roads every two or three years. A perfectly constructed road should at least last or serve the needs of road users from five to seven years before it can be revisited

At this point, I want to commend NDDC for its road projects especially here in Rivers State, and other states. The renovation and building of school blocks, youth employment, provision of boreholes amongst others are praiseworthy initiative even though the Federal Government have starved you of the necessary financial backbone in the past, as alleged in some quarters.

The candid prompting of my conscience to the newly inaugurated NDDC board is, put square pegs in square holes at all times in your effort to achieve the goals of NDDC. In addition, the onus to bequeath developmental projects that will stand the test of time in the region is in your hands. Finally and most importantly, one is remembered, celebrated or immortalized posthumously or otherwise by the positive impacts he or she made in the society. May this be your portion. God bless NDDC.               

Onukwube Uwanu , a social critic writes in from Elelenwo, Port Harcourt