The acting managing director of Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Akwagaga Enyia has uncovered warehouses filled with items, equipment, trucks and drugs rotting away while the oil rich Niger Delta communities suffer in want.
According to Enyia’s close aides, the degree of waste drew tears from the woman who immediately vowed to put the ones still in good condition to use. The CEO had undertaken an unscheduled inspection of the warehouses in Port Harcourt where she met the items she described as “high degree of waste and sabotage.”
Enyia was said to be shocked that the warehouses had medical and life-saving facilities, medicals and related materials, waste disposal trucks, outboard engines, electricity transformers, agricultural implement, including tractors, vehicles, stationery and several printed copies of the Niger Delta development master plan, meant for the region but allowed by past management of the commission to rot away.
In particular, the acting MD saw drugs meant for distribution to the nine mandate states of the commission which were hoarded until their dates of expiry. She saw waste disposal trucks meant for the states but were left to rot and become unserviceable as well as stationery meant for office use and other expensive equipment.
In immediate response to the discovery, she ordered for the immediate distribution all materials still valid as well as equipment serviceable, to the states. She ordered day-to-day briefs from the responsible directorates, just as some have called for disciplinary action on directors that may be liable in the disgusting discovery.
Meanwhile, the NDDC said it was set to distribute 32 waste disposal trucks and 64 waste bins to the ministries of environment in the nine Niger Delta states to help in the campaign for a clean and healthy environment.
Speaking after inspecting three warehouses belonging to the NDDC in Port Harcourt on last week, the acting MD directed the immediate distribution of the utility vehicles as well as 16 modular cold chains for the storage of vaccines.
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The acting MD assured that the management would take the necessary steps to facilitate the distribution of equipment and tools to the relevant government agencies and institutions in the region.
Enyia said that the inspection would help the management to make informed decisions that would reposition the interventionist agency to increase the tempo of its activities in providing sustainable development.
“The items we saw at the warehouses will be distributed immediately. Henceforth, before any procurement , we wi l l make sure that the end users are fully involved to eliminate the problem of prolonged storage.
“I believe that as we begin to pay more attention to monitoring and inspection of on-going projects, as well as commissioning completed ones, Nigerians, especially the people of the Niger Delta region, will appreciate what the funds released to the NDDC were being used for,” she said.
