By Joe Iniodu
There seems to be no end to the new wave of change that has greeted the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) under the supervision of the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs and under the watch of Senator Godswill Akpabio, CON.
On September 28, 2021, the Commission delivered 67 flats to the Nigeria Police Special Protection Unit, Base 6, Omagwa in Rivers State. The sprawling structure also has other complementary features to give it that contemporary edge of sync with modernity.
From Omagwa in Rivers State, the next likely port of call which would attract yet another array of movers and shakers is Uyo in Akwa Ibom State, where NDDC is again set to deliver another landmark social investment; the construction of a 1000 bed space, which would accommodate students of the University of Uyo.
The edifice which is at about 98% completion, bears the architectural brand of NDDC headquarters building with the façade, design and aesthetics serving as a micro version of a true replication of the sparkling edifice in Port Harcourt.
The University of Uyo hostel project is said to have commenced about 15 years ago but was to go the way of the 13, 777 projects that litter the Niger Delta as abandoned. But rescue came to this project about four months ago when the present management of NDDC decided to break the jinx and give the project a new lease of life. From then, it has been feverish work pace at the site of the hostel, resulting in a record breaking stride that serenaded the performing minister with lavish joy.
The Minister of Niger Delta Affairs who was in Akwa Ibom with a message of peace, in the face of the fiasco trailng the APC Congress, added the inspection of the project to his itinerary. Being a man who is passionate about service, he decided to kill two birds with one stone. A day after the Congress which held on Saturday wherein the Minister as a leader of APC in the State, visited the two venues where parallel congresses took place, he used his day of rest, Sunday to carry out inspection of the 1000 bed space hostel which was awarded some distant fifteen years ago. As one with a Midas Touch, working in strict compliance with President Buhari’s directive, the legacy project is about to come to full manifestation and ready for use. This is the reality of those who are possessed with the grace to be change agents. And Akpabio belongs to that hue.
This facility tour was exhilarating and Akpabio stated that much: “The pace of work is good. I am satisfied that the work has started, I am also satisfied with the level they have taken it to. I have entered inside, the tiling is completed, the walls have been done, the toilet facilities have been fixed and all that. It is just the landscaping that is remaining”, the Minister intoned with a note of elation in his voice. He gave assurance of the determination of Mr. President to ensure that the students move into the facility by December, 2021, adding that it is in line with a presidential directive that all projects that have direct impact on the people should urgently be completed and handed over for use.
The facility has every trapping of modernity. The imposing structures would be supported by two standby power generating sets. The facility that would house the plants have already been completed. There is an asphalt parking space as well as two tennis courts. There are also two boreholes sunk with two overhead tanks to ensure steady supply of water. The model hostel facility is well fenced and fitted with properly covered drainages. The fence has an enhanced beauty of stone pitching, actually introduced to control erosion. On the side of safety, there is a fire house and hydrants to contain the eventuality of any fire outbreak. The facility also boasts of offices to accommodate school management.
The Minister, however expressed concern over the fact that the 1000 bed hostel serves both male and female students. He charged the contractor, AHR STANDARD GLOBAL to ensure that there is a reinforced concrete wall to divide the facility into female and male sections. Akpabio said that the original plan as conceived, was to have two of such structure for male and female students in the nine States of the region, totaling about 18. If this vision was pursued with strictness, 18 ultra-modern hostel facilities would have been available to accommodate 18, 000 students across the Niger Delta Region, thus freeing about 18, 000 houses for members of the public in the region to leverage on for their accommodation needs. But the vision went the way of the old NDDC which trademark was stillbirth or abandonment. But of the projected 18 hostel facilities in the region, only three have been completed, with Uyo being the fourth.
Government exists for the people. Studies attest that majority of global population are youths. The need to direct social investments in ways that would impact on their lives cannot be overemphasized. The vision to intervene through the construction of hostel accommodation in universities was therefore well articulated as, according to the Minister, it would assuage the anger of students who would have been ruing over such lack. Students constitute the youth bracket. An investment in any aspect of education is an investment in their future and the future of the Nation. Therefore providing a conducive accommodation for students would certainly enhance their performance in school just as it would rid them of negative influences the wrong environment may expose them to.
The Interim Administrator of NDDC while thanking President Buhari for his unprecedented support to the Niger Delta and Minister Godswill Akpabio for the clinical execution of the President's directive, also echoed the sentiments of safety, peace and high scholarship yield as apparent resultant values of the facility. He said many students join cultism because it is what they are exposed to, implying that the hostel accommodation would curtail such, ensure peace and expand access to accommodation to other members of the public.
NDDC was founded as an interventionist agency to evolve action plans the would meet the needs of the people of the region. For the more than two decades of its existence, this ideal has been far-fetched and often rightly described as a mirage. But recently, things are progressively changing in the NDDC. The Forensic Audit which was initially pooh-poohed seems to have achieved much more than was expected. The ideals which gave rise to the founding of NDDC is being reinvented and we are witnessing these in the social investments that have become a recurring decimal with the Commission.
Joe Iniodu is a public affairs analyst
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