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… Commission will not be distracted by ‘Peddlers of Rumours’ ~ Ogbuku
By Kelechi Nwaucha
Following the loss of lives and destruction in the wake of flooding in parts of Borno State, the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) says it has taken steps to mitigate impact of a possible occurrence in the Niger Delta.
This was made known by the managing director of the NDDC, Dr. Samuel Ogbuku, during a press briefing in Port Harcourt on Tuesday, while also frowning at what he described as attempts by peddlers of rumours on tenure” to distract the commission.
Ogbuku, who noted that this is a time for the nation to stand by the people of Borno, pointed out that Maiduguri, the state capital, being a cosmopolitan area, naturally has Nigerians from the various geopolitical zones, including the Niger Delta, residing there
Drawing from past experiences of flooding in the Niger Delta, he said that as part of proactive steps in preparation for the flood, the commission had intervened with regards to the East-West Road, a major artery of the region, part of which was washed away in the floods of 2022.
“When our people started suffering from the difficulty of passing the East-West road, the NDDC had to intervene immediately to ensure that we make that road passable. Today, the road, the traffic we used to experience on that road, is no more there.
“We have also kept our contractors on standby to ensure that those sections of the road that have been worked upon might face some challenges when the flood comes. We want to ensure that we have our people on site to help us.
“We are also working towards ensuring that, at least when the flood comes, as usual, we are also going to prepare relief materials to send to the various states, as the NDDC has been doing before now, to also curtail the sufferings from the people,” the NDDC MD said.
Ogbuku noted that since floods are a natural phenomenon, “We can only just try to mitigate.”
As part of the mitigation efforts, the NDDC has started building flood and emergency shelters for such situation. Presently, the commission is building two such shelters in Bayelsa State, two in Rivers State and another two in Delta State.
“These are the ones we started, and we are also going to do others too. We are to do this while taking mapping from areas where we normally have major floods, getting those details from them, using their mapping on areas of high flooding in the Niger Delta. So these projects are located in areas where they suffer heavy flooding challenges.
“This project (shelter) has a school in it. It has hostels to accommodate the people that are going to be there. It has cafeteria. It is a mini community that we are building. “The project is actually a huge project which the NDDC is building across these various areas. That is to tell you that we are also responding. We are not just sleeping and waiting for our people to suffer.
We came up with this concept because we realized that over the years whenever the flood comes, people rather run into school buildings and where they deny school children that are already schooling in those places from going back to school after the flood. Because when they live in those schools, they defecate there and they actually mess up the school buildings.
“This project is not only going to serve as an emergency for the flooding situation, it is also going to serve as a place for camping in case people want to use them for camping, for events and other programs too. It is a multipurpose complex that we are building,” Dr Ogbuku said.
He added that aside the issue of flooding, there is also that of rising ocean level that’s affecting some of our communities like Sangana. Going to Sangana today, rising water level is affecting the community where ocean surge is feeding into some of these communities. You go to Ayietoro in Ondo State, the same problem they are facing. You go to Delta State around Escravos area, it is the same challenges they are facing.
“These are challenges that are ecological and they also deserve huge funding to mitigate them but we have already started studying in ensuring that we handle some of these challenges because in some of these natural disasters we don’t have to limit it to only flooding, because even erosion itself is affecting most of our communities.”
Ogbuku further frowned at those peddling rumours of tenure expiration or rotation at the board of the NDDC, describing this as an attempt to distract the board and the commission from carrying out their statutory functions.
He said he has been appointed to a four-year term by President Bola Tinubu and is committed to promoting the development of the Niger Delta, the job he was appointed to, while serving out the term.
There are people who benefit from the instability. The present board and management is working towards delivering dividends for the people of the Niger Delta. We are united, there is no infighting, there is no quarrel.
For me I don’t want to be distracted I want to be doing my job which the president has given to me. I am very happy when I go out and people tell me internationally and locally that yes NDDC is doing well, he said, attributing the commission’s achievements to “the commitment from the directors (board and staff).
Among projects embarked on by the NDDC are the Project HOPE initiative, launch of the LIFE-ND project for Akwa Ibom, Imo and Rivers states, and internship programme for Niger Delta youths.
