• Commissions Rivers State Office
By NWADIKE UGOCHUKWU
THE Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), has re-stated its resolve to complete all on-going projects, as well as take giant strides to facilitate the all-round development of the Niger Delta and its people.
Speaking at the commissioning of the new Rivers State office along Olu Obasanjo Road in Port Harcourt, River State, the Acting Managing Director of the Commission, Mrs. Ibim Semenitari, said that the completion of the project conveyed the message of brighter prospects for the development of the region.
She said: “As we commission the Rivers State office, we are celebrating our success; celebrating a milestone; celebrating a commitment to making a difference not only in the lives of the people of the Niger Delta region but in our staffers, as well. Our decision is to ensure that we exit all rented accommodation at the headquarters and across all the states to enable us conserve scarce resources we should be using to develop our communities.”
Semenitari said the ultra-modern office was a testimonial to what could be achieve in the region when people work in unity. “My heart speaks more than my mouth can express as we commission this edifice which is a landmark. It is a relief that from today our workers in the Rivers State office can work in an elaborate environment deliberately textured for maximum output,” she said.
The NDDC Chief Executive Officer affirmed that the Commission was set-up to intervene in the provision of critical infrastructure in its mandate states. She said that the Commission was determined to create tranquility through elaborate development of human and natural resources, in addition to fashioning “abilities into development facilities to address the deficiency we may have inherited by reason of habitat and geography.”
Semenitari said that the new office, which was designed and completed with the staffers in mind, had changed the skyline of Port Harcourt in a good way. She stated: “It has provisions for several facilities, including a large reception hall, conference/multi-purpose hall for 250 people, staff canteen, sick bay and offices for drivers on the ground floor. Each of its four floors has ample space for offices and a basement floor for archiving and car park.”
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“It would accommodate about 120 members of staff, with unique office suites for the State Representative and the Director of the state office. Also, it has provisions for some Head Office Directorates such as Commercial and Industrial Development; Agricultural and Youths, Sports and Women Affairs. It is indeed, a workers’ delight!”
Semenitari thanked the host communities in Rebisi kingdom for co-operating with the Commission. She also commended the Governor of Edo State, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, for donating two hectares of land in Benin City for the building of a state office for NDDC workers in that state.
Eze Victor Worluchem, paramount ruler of Rebisi kingdom, said that it was fortuitous that the state office in Port Harcourt was the first to be commissioned out of the nine NDDC states. He commended the Acting MD for doing a good job at the Commission.
“You will never see youth restiveness here in Port Harcourt. We don’t have cultism and we don’t have kidnapping in our dictionary. We only have negotiation as our tool,” the Rebesi monarch said.
Eze Worluchen appealed to the NDDC to always employ the lower cadre of staff in the commission from its host communities. “Don’t forget Port Harcourt in your projects and programmes. We don’t have pipelines to break, we only have NDDC in our domain,” he said.
Earlier in his welcome address, the NDDC Director Rivers State Office, Mr. Benson Udo-Asubop, stated that the new office would ginger the staff to show greater responsibility and commitment to duty. He said that it would also ensure a sincere and undivided commitment to effective service delivery.
Mr. Udo-Asubop said that the new office would be well equipped with state of the art facilities to enhance the productivity of staff, adding that Mrs. Semenitari deserved special commendation for her zeal and commitment to the development of the Niger Delta region and her commitment to staff welfare.