The Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, has commenced the
construction of its permanent office complex for Akwa Ibom State,
following the ground breaking and foundation stone laying ceremony for the
project.
The NDDC Managing Director, Mr Nsima Ekere, who performed the ceremony in
Uyo, said that the Commission was determined to complete all its state
offices in the Niger Delta region.
He said: “The project will be completed expeditiously in line with our
policy that each state office complex is completed and put to use before
the end of the tenure of this current board. This will help us to channel
the resources being invested on rented apartments into our core operations
and mandate of providing infrastructure to improve the living conditions
of the people of the region.”
Ekere said that when the current board assumed office nearly two years
ago, it discovered that NDDC’s head office and state offices across the
region were occupying rented buildings. He observed: “Aside from the huge
amount of funds spent on these rented properties, the Commission has to
contend with inadequate office accommodation for the teaming workforce and
the huge work profile it has to contend with in fulfilment of its
mandate.”
The NDDC boss said that the Commission found the scenario very unpleasant
and immediately swung into action to reverse the ugly trend. Accordingly,
he said, the current Board and Management inspected the on-going
construction of the permanent headquarters complex in Port Harcourt and
“this spurred the urgent actions being taken to ensure that the head
office building was completed within the shortest possible time.”
Ekere said that the same urgency was driving the efforts to build state
offices in the nine mandate states of the NDDC. He explained that although
the contract for the construction of the Akwa Ibom State office was
awarded in 2012, the issues relating to inadequate space made it necessary
to seek for a new location that was more spacious.
He observed that it became necessary to redesign the building to
accommodate more offices, regretting that the time needed to address the
sundry issues contributed to the delays which the project had suffered.
The Managiing Director declared: “It is gratifying to note that the Akwa
Ibom State Government considered our request for a new site and responded
promptly and favourably by granting us these plots of land. For this
understanding and cooperation of the state government, we say thank you.”