The Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, on Friday distributed relief materials to flood victims in eight Local Government Areas of Rivers State, as part of its efforts to cushion the effects of flooding on the people of the state.
Daily Champion reports that twenty four truckloads of items such as mattresses, bags of rice, beans, yams, noodles, beverages, cartons of water, fishing nets and other sundry items, totaling 47 different household items in each truck were distributed to the flood victims with 3 trucks given to each LGA.
The Rivers State Representative on the NDDC Board, Chief Tony Okocha flagged off the distribution of the palliatives to the 8 LGAs; Abua/Odual, Ahoada East, Ahoada West, Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni, Andoni, Asari Toru, Tai and Gokana local government areas at the Port Harcourt Club, Old GRA, Port Harcourt at the weekend.
Speaking during the event, the Rivers NDDC Rep., Tony Okocha, said the gesture by commission was aimed at alleviating the sufferings of the flood victims in the state as well as projecting the “Renewed Hope Agenda” of President Bola Tinubu.
“Today I stand on behalf of the Chairman of the Board of NDDC and the Managing Director, who is in charge of the day to day running of the affairs of the NDDC, we are saying to you that it is our resolve that Rivers State and NDDC would have a new leaf as we seat and superintendent over your affairs in the commission.
“We are there to defend, protect and project the renewed hope agenda as mantra upon which Mr President Bola Armed Tinubu ascended to office. The renewed hope agenda is of course a contemplation and
“Today is one of those demonstrations of the President’s responsiveness to the people of Nigeria, particularly to empathise with our people who suffered devastations rising from environmental factors, we call it flood victims, through the NDDC.
“Today, the president through NDDC had assembled palliatives materials that would benefit and be of use to those of our brothers who suffered devastations for what they didn’t know about. We’re all aware that flood issues are environmental issues.
“We have assembled materials relative to what is happening incidental to their problems and ancillary to solutions and those are around edibles, food items and for people who have been displaced and they don’t have anywhere to sleep, we have mattresses foams and various other items in trucks for the people.
“As the items are in quantities, I can assure you that there is no white elephant property that is in that, all you see there are things that our displaced brothers and sisters will benefit from.
“So on behalf of my Chairman, on behalf of my Director and on behalf of the NDDC, we are very happy to make this presentation to you today and to tell our brothers and sisters who would benefit from this that this is the little that we can afford, we can do better sometime someday.”
Okocha reassured the people of the state that the present NDDC Board, from the Chairman, Barr. Chiedu Ebie, the MD, Dr. Samuel Ogbuku, and other members of the Board, has resolved to change the negative narratives in the commission before they came onboard.
He said, “As a board, we have decided that we’re going to change the hitherto negative narrative that is akin to the NDDC before now. Those negative trajectories pointed to the fact that NDDC was merely a cash cow, some said NDDC is a lame dog, not able to churn out or produce the essence for which it was established. Some said NDDC is a conduit pipe connected by some individuals to siphon funds and criminally enrich themselves and all of those. So the story has been anything about the NDDC, people would say leave us out.
“That is the reason why when this Board headed by Barr. Chiedu Ebie and with Dr. Samuel Ogbuku as the Managing Director was set up, we on our own sat down and decided amongst others that we will change that trajectory from negative to positive.
“In other words, we have said to ourselves that NDDC was created in 2000 vie an act of parliament for two reasons, one is to fight poverty in the Niger Delta region and the other reason is to fight underdevelopment in the Niger Delta region though as an interventionist agency and to do that, we would depart away from the hitherto head smithing arguments, depart away from the internal altercations that has led to internal squabbles and for which the appointing officers will decide after two or three months to dissolve the board and set up a new one,” he said.
Okocha, while handing over the relief materials to the representatives of each of the LGAs, for onward movement to their respective LGAs, urged them to distribute the materials judiciously to ensure that the flood victims had something to fall back on after their losses.
