The Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, Chief Dr. Samuel Ogbuku, has pledged to take measures to strengthen the offices of the Commission in the nine states of the Niger Delta region.
Ogbuku made the pledge, while addressing staff, during his maiden visit to the Commission’s state office in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State. He was accompanied by the Bayelsa State representative on the Governing Board of the NDDC, Senator Denyanbofa Dimaro.
The NDDC Chief Executive Officer remarked that the state offices provided the closest platform for the supervision of development projects and programmes being executed by the Commission. He said: “There shouldn’t be a disconnect between the headquarters in Port Harcourt and the various state offices across the Niger Delta region. We need to work in synergy to ensure that all our projects are properly supervised.”
Ogbuku thanked the staff for the enthusiasm they showed in receiving him at the state office, noting that the visit had given him the opportunity to get acquainted with the activities in the state and familiarize himself with their achievements and challenges.
He said that seeing the facilities in the office at first hand, will help the management to take decisions on how best to improve on the performance of staff in the state office. He promised to initiate actions that would improve the working environment in the office, stating: “We need to have a good working environment for the staff to give out their best in ensuring that the service delivery of the Commission was enhanced.
“We will create a conducive environment that will encourage creativity and innovation in the performance of our duties, as part of measures to enable us achieve the mandate of NDDC as an interventionist agency.’
He commended the Director of the state office for his dedication to duty and selfless service to the Commission.
Earlier in his remarks, the Director, Bayelsa State Office, Engineer. Theophilus Allagoa, called for better funding of the offices in the states, noting that the bulk of supervisory work of the Commission were done by them.
Allagoa observed that the flood that devastated many states last year, destroyed a lot of things in the Bayelsa Stater office. In addition, he said, many staff were rendered homeless. To cushion their pains, he appealed to the Managing Director to extend some palliatives to those impacted by the flood.
