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By Amos Okioma, Yenagoa
Traditional rulers, elders, women and youth groups, under the banner of a peace advocacy group in the South-South region known as the Movement for Sustainable Development of the Niger Delta (MSDND), have commended President Muhammadu Buhari over the appointment of Engr. Dr. Emmanuel Audu-Ohwavborua as the acting managing director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).
According to the group, the appointment of Engr. Dr. Audu-Ohwavborua, from Delta State, is a clear show of commitment to the setting up of a substantive board for the commission.
The Movement for Sustainable Development of the Niger Delta (MSDND), in a statement signed by its national coordinator, Chief Ayibatekena Olodin, said the people of the region are more convinced that the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari is “sincere in his approach at handing the region a more proactive substantive NDDC board with the appointment of Engr. Dr. Audu-Ohwavborua which clearly stated that he will take over and perform the duties of the managing director in an acting capacity.
“We welcome the appointment of Engr. Dr. Emmanuel Audu-Ohwavborua, and we commend President Buhari for the timely show of commitment to the prayers of the people of the Niger Delta region. The Acting MD is a round-peg in a round-hole, and he is expected to prepare the template for the tidy and effective transition for the substantive board of the commission.
“Engr. Dr. Emmanuel Audu-Ohwavborua (FNSE, PMP) is a public administrator, a certified Project Manager (PMP), an entrepreneur with interest in agriculture, and a Fellow of the Nigeria Society of Engineers (FNSE). He is currently a serving senior director at the Delta State office of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), a public sector organization established by law in 2000 to address the developmental deficits of the impoverished oil-bearing Niger Delta Region of Nigeria.
“With degrees in electrical engineering and business administration, as well as professional certification in Project Management, an award in March 2019 of Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) with specialization in Project Management, he has had over 30 years’ experience working in diverse sectors ranging from engineering designs, industrial and production management, through power plant engineering to project management.
“About one-third of these years, he invested in the private sector having worked in Dresser Kellogg Energy Services Limited, Granherne Limited (United Kingdom), and Bonny Allied Industries Limited (Rock Cement). He also worked at the now defunct National Electric Power Authority (NEPA), and the National Engineering and Technical Company (NETCO), a subsidiary of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). A fast-growing entrepreneur, he is the chairman of Emmppek Farms Limited, a privately owned commercial agricultural enterprise (with specialty in both animal and crop production), located in the South-South region of Nigeria.
“He successfully completed the Master Class Certificate in Business Management & Leadership in March 2019 at the London Graduate School. In May 2015, he successfully completed a programme on “Business Model Innovations” at the Cambridge Judge Business School, Cambridge University. He also successfully completed a certificate programme on Negotiation at the Harvard Law School, Boston, USA in 2012.
“He is the author of the recently released book (August 2020), ‘Real Enemies Of The Niger Delta,’ a book that captures the plight of a people and a land so blessed, yet beleaguered, impoverished, and generally taken for granted. It examines some historical, social-political, and economic challenges that the hydrocarbon-rich Niger Delta faces, and makes a prescription for not only its transformation, but also on how the NDDC can catalyze the envisaged transformative process.”