The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) at a seminar held at Aba, Abia State for youths drawn from communities in its ( NDDC) areas of operation in the state, sought partnership and cooperation of the communities to enable it fight vandalism of the projects sited or being executed in their areas.
Speaking during the seminar tagged ” Capacity Building Engagement: Community Ownership and Protection of NDDC Projects for Niger Delta Stakeholders“, the Abia State NDDC director, Dr. Anderson Ukeh, lamented that some of their projects in some areas or communities were vandalised.
He therefore stressed the need for the communities to do the needfuls that can address this project vandalism in their areas, stating that it was this ( vandalism acts ) that informed the holding of the seminar to find the solution.
Ukeh revealed it was as a result of the spate of vandalism of NDDC Projects across its operations that made the NDDC Managing Director, Dr. Samuel Ogbuku to approve the seminar for some youths drawn from the communities where NDDC has projects.
He urged the participants to return to their communities after the seminar, and do the needful that would check future projects vandalism, including disseminating the appropriate messages on the protection of NDDC Projects.
He said ” it is quite unfortunate that many of the NDDC projects scattered in the various communities have been vandalized. In most cases, the people don’t see these projects as theirs, but believe they are Government or NDDC projects, to which anything can happen”.
According to the State NDDC Director ( Dr Ukeh ) , it was to educate the people on the need to see such projects in their communities as theirs that made the NDDC Management to approve and direct that this sensitization programme be organized.”
Urging the participants further he charged “if you see anybody vandalizing NDDC projects in your area, and you report the person to our office we will handle it effectively.”
Noting however that Abia State has been relatively peaceful, Dr Ukeh still tasked the participants to double efforts in safeguarding NDDC projects in their communities.
The Programne facilitator Mr Stanley Okereke said that henceforth, the participants and others would become the eyes of NDDC projects in their areas, having been selected for this, based on the their track records.
Maintaining that the NDDC projects in the various communities ought and must be protected for sustainable development of the NDDC region, Okereke argued that communities would grow if infrastructures put in place in their areas are not vandalized or destroyed.
And that since the NDDC officials will not be everywhere all the time to guard and protect the protects sited in the various communities, this informed the holding of this seminar.
According to Okereke, the NDDC no longer sites projects in an area for just siting them, revealing that the present approach is to consult with stakeholders of the community to know the project that they really desire, before siting it.
“NDDC is now embracing the “bottom-top” approach where stakeholders of a community are consulted first to know their need before the project is sited.”
Participants who in turns lauded the NDDC for organizing the meeting/ interaction, opined that NDDC projects could be protected through stakeholders inclusiveness during their execution.
They therefore urged NDDC to undertake people or community-oriented projects, and de-emphasize political patronage in siting them.
