APC Chieftain and former News Agency of Nigeria boss, Olorogun Ima Niboro, has expressed confidence in the ability the newly appointed Chief Executive of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, Chief Bernard Okumagba, to turn around the fortunes of ailing Commision.
Niboro while fielding questions from reporters in Abuja, stated that Okumagba had the experience and pedigree to turn the NDDC from the sick, shambling giant it has become, and place it on a path of steady and sustainable progress.
He hailed President Muhammadu Buhari for the choice of Okumagba, as well as of Prophet Jones Erue, who emerged the Delta representative on the board.
“Both are excellent men whom I have known for many years. They are focused and far thinking individuals. They have the requisite experience to, along with other members of the board, re-engineer NDDC to achieve its founding goals for the benefit of the Niger Delta”.
Niboro pointed out that the commission had, in the recent past, been plagued by in-fighting of humongous dimensions. “Key actors, maybe due to insufficient public service experience, couldn’t agree on simple processes and procedures. They tore at one another while the establishment floundered. They worked assiduously against each other, and eventually, the interests of the Niger Delta region. While all this was happening, Abuja, rather than Port-Harcourt, became their city of choice, since the battles were brought over to the Nation’s capital, to the desks and offices of their patrons and sponsors“.
He expressed hope that given the public service experience of key actors on the incoming board, they would be able to avoid the internecine warfare that characterized the previous board, and reposition NDDC as the Niger Delta’s premier development agency as it was intended to be.
