President Muhammadu Buhari, today, held a meeting with the indigenous companies operating in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector, under the umbrella of Independent Petroleum Producers Association (IPPA). At the meeting held at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, the President directed the management of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to work more closely with members of the association to resolve the challenges facing the oil and gas sector. He also assured them of the support and protection of his administration, even as he commended their determination to increase the participation of Nigerians in the country’s oil industry. He promised to do all within his powers to address the challenges which they currently face. “We have the manpower for a more effective participation in our oil industry. We will give you all possible encouragement. You certainly won’t be ignored under my leadership.” President Buhari assured members of the association which represents about 20 Nigerian companies operating mainly on onshore fields, that his government will take appropriate actions to maintain and enhance security in their areas of operation. President Buhari said that better security will help to lower production costs, which, he said, had become unnecessarily high in the country. The association’s spokesman, Austin Avuru listed the challenges which the group is currently being facing, adding that they include security and the funding of joint ventures with the NNPC. He said that the indigenous oil producers are already making significant contributions to the development of the Nigerian economy and could do more with the support of the present administration. Meanwhile, President Buhari took briefings from the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and National Orientation which he commended for the ongoing efforts to generate more revenue through its various agencies. President Buhari, who hosted the ministry’s permanent secretary, Mrs. Nkechi Ejele, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, expressed satisfaction with what he called her “very good presentation” as he promised that his government will support the Ministry’s activities. The Permanent Secretary presented a number of proposals to the President, including the easing of visas for tourists and the establishment of a tourism development fund. [myad]
The Comptroller General of the Nigerian Customs Service, Abdullahi Dikko, has given Karu, a densely populated, but largely underdeveloped part of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, a three-storey state-of-the-art hospital facility as parting gift.
The official inauguration of the hospital is the lasting legacy he left behind after serving in the Customs for 27 years. It was commissioned today by the Kaduna state governor, Nasiru El-Rufai.
As a fitting climax to his 27-year career at the Customs, he unveiled a three-story imposing hospital build by the Nigeria Customs Service to improve the welfare of its staff and Nigerians living around the area on Tuesday, August 18.
NanmanNandap, medical director of the NCS hospital, Karu, described the hospital as a comprehensive medical facility, equipped with state-of-the-art facilities and a well-trained staff. He listed some of the features of the hospital as modern radio-diagnostic and ultrasound equipments; three modular theatres and an intensive care unit with a central gas supply system. It also has executive wards and a mortuary.
Governor El-Rufai, lauded the management skill of Abdullahi, especially his commitment to the welfare of staff.
He expressed mixed feelings on his retirement and described him as “a fine public servant.”
The out-going Custom’s boss described the new edifice as a consolidation of his welfare programme through the delivery of quality health care services to officers and their families.
“This complex will not only cater for the need of Customs officers and their families. The entire Karu community will benefit from its services and reach. From the level of sophistication of our equipment and the quality of our personnel, this facility will also serve as a reference hospital for the entire FCT community,” Abdullahi said.
It would be recalled that President Muhammadu Buhari had accepted Abdullahi’s voluntary resignation as comptroller-general of the Nigeria Customs Service with effect from Tuesday, August 18. [myad]
No fewer than 300 editors of various media organizations in the country, under the auspices of the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) are expected to gather in Yenagoa, the capital of Bayelsa state to discuss the slogan: ‘The Change We Need.”
According to the Chairman, Publicity Sub-Committee for the conference, Mustapha Isah in a statement, arrangements have been concluded by the NGE to hold its annual All Nigeria Editors Conference with the theme: “Nigeria: The Change We Need.”
Isah said that the opening ceremony of the eventwould hold on August 27, at the Banquet Hall, Government House, Yenagoa.
He said that the conference would be chaired by Mr. John Momoh, the Chief Executive Officer of Channels Television with the Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo serving as Guest of Honour even as Governor Seriake Dickson would be the chief host. [myad]
Rival armed groups in Northern Mali, today breached the peace accord which they signed with government in June this year as they clashed in Anefis town, leaving 15 fighters of the rebel group Coordination of Azawad Movement dead.
According to Fahad Almahmoud, secretary general of Gatia militia and member of CMA, Anefis, a stronghold of CMA which was captured by a pro-government militia after the fighting.
Eyewitnesses said several CMA vehicles were burnt and two of the group’s leaders were “taken into custody.”
Prime Minister Modibo Keita has expressed concerns about the recent upsurge in armed group clashes, saying: “the situation has considerably deteriorated after the resumption of fighting between armed groups, something that threatens the peace process.”
The United Nations Peacekeeping Mission in Mali condemned the clashes and vowed to take actions to protect the endangered civilians. [myad]
President Muhammadu Buhari has directed the Ministry of Communications Technology to work harder to fully develop the revenue-generation potential of Nigeria’s information technology sector even as he dissolved the Executive Management Team of the Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON). Speaking today after receiving a briefing from the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Dr. Tunji Olaopa, President Buhari also directed the Ministry to bring forward for his consideration and approval, all pending proposals for the development of the country’s IT sector which require the approval of the Federal Executive Council. “Where you don’t need EXCO approval and you are not in breach of the law and will not lose money, you can go ahead. Now that oil costs less and we are contending with its theft, we have to move to areas where we can realize revenue quickly,” the President said. President Buhari welcomed the plan by the Ministry to use post-offices across the country for IT and financial transactions, especially in the rural communities, saying that he was happy to hear that “we are recovering the post offices from rats and rodents.” The President also asked for a comprehensive report on the sale of the Nigerian Telecommunications Company (NITEL), and that he was concerned by the continuing protests of former NITEL employees and other Nigerians over the manner in which assets of the company were sold. The Ministry’s presentation to the President dwelled heavily on the potential of the IT sector which, Dr. Olaopa said, contributes 10 percent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), but could grow to 20 percent if some proposals by the Ministry are approved and implemented Meanwhile, the President approved the reconstitution of the management team of the corporation of the Assets Management Team, with the Group Managing Director of Enterprise Bank Limited, Ahmed Lawan Kuru as its Managing Director. Other members of the team are Kola Ayeye, Eberechukwu Uneze and Aminu Ismail as Executive Directors. The new Managing Director and his team, whose appointment took effect from today, according to a statement by senior special assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on media and publicity, Garba Shehu, started his banking career with the old Habib Bank in 1985 and rose through the ranks to become an Executive Director of Bank PHB (now Keystone Bank) in 2005. [myad]
President Muhammadu Buhari has made it clear that no amount of pressure will make him give up on the war against corruption in the country. In an address to a group of Nigerians who marched to the Presidential Villa today to pledge their full support for his administration’s anti-corruption campaign, President Buhari promised a relentless prosecution of the war against corruption, with due regard for the rule of law. The President said that all persons charged with stealing the nation’s resources will have their day in court and that, upon conviction, their ill-gotten wealth will be seized and returned to government coffers. “I believe it is time for Nigeria to change course. That is why I sought election as President and got elected. As President, I am determined that Nigeria must move away from a course of endemic corruption that was leading us to perdition. “There can be no question of our willfully allowing anyone to get away with corruption. No matter the pressure and entreaties, the anti-corruption war will continue and all accused persons will have their day in court,” the President said. Welcoming the support of the group – Nigerians March Against Corruption, President Buhari, who was represented by his Special Adviser (Media & Publicity), Mr. Femi Adesina, also reaffirmed his commitment to curbing insecurity in the country and boosting employment opportunities for Nigerians, especially the youth. He called for the continued support and solidarity of Nigerians as the present administration works to correct the wrongs of the past.
The Nigerians Against Corruption group led by Aisha Yesufu had condemned recent statements by some individuals against the President’s anti-corruption campaign. They assured the President that the vast majority of ordinary Nigerians fully supported his ongoing efforts to curb corruption and urged him not to be deterred by the antics of those who do not share his laudable vision of a fairer, more equitable, corruption-free and progressive nation. [myad]
All along, I had thought that those who are into scam, criminal activities and 419 are endowed with above average intelligence. As a matter of fact, the expectation is that a 419er should be smart enough to know and understand his or her victim or target before striking. But not in the case of this dowdy, block head and buffoon who crossed my path in the name of 419. The man; and I want to believe he is a man, first contacted me by short message service (sms) to my MTN line last Friday thus: “ATTN: Alh. Yusuf O. Usman: You are directed to scan and forward your CV/BIODATA with one recent passport photograph of your true resemblance to Office of the Secretary to the Govt of the Federation (OSGF) for Federal Appointment. Asap via this E-mail:chairman.screeningcommittee@presidency.com : Best wishes, Chief. Williams.PRESS UNIT.OSGF.+2348059828695.” The first thing that came to my mind was to dismiss the message, because for one, the composition is completely unprofessional, in the context of civil service. Somehow, another voice in me urged me to respond to the buffoon, just for the purpose of testing his level of intelligence. I therefore obliged him the information he requested, for, it cost me nothing. Indeed, before I responded, I called the so-called Chief Williams on the cellphone number he provided. He sounded real and asked me to be quick in giving the information that was requested. Not quite 30 minutes after I forwarded the information, the buffoon responded, again, in sms, with the following message: “Attn: YUSUF OZI-USMAN: The OSGF acknowledged receipt of your CV/BIO-DATA and has been forwarded to the vetting committee on federal appointment. Check your mail and Open the pdf Attachment with this security password in capital letters (OSGF1D5) fill the QUESTIONNAIRE. And return back by mail to the office of the secretary to the government of the federation asap. Please accept our congratulation on your appointment. PRESS UNIT. (OSGF).” Of course, there was no pdf sent and I did not bother to call to ask about it. In fact, my disposition was to close the chapter on this matter. I forgot about it over the weekend and concentrated on more serious businesses; many of them. But, today, Monday, August 17, the goon called me on my etisalat line more than 20 times with different information, most of which bordered on how my data had been forwarded to security and anti-corruption agencies, including ICPC, EFCC, the Police, the SSS and National Security Adviser (NSA) for vetting. In his numerous calls, the goon, speaking in a husky voice and in American imitated accent, finally opened the none sense I had been expecting: the usual 419 language -that I needed to settle all the security and anti-corruption agencies involved, with a total of N250,000.00, to fast-track my being cleared, and even congratulated me for the appointment which he never named. Since I had made up my mind from the beginning to play along with him, and since I was not the one calling him (by wasting my credit), I picked his call each time he did. He foolishly text his account details to me when I ‘joyfully’ asked him to do so and thanked him for all the efforts he had been making. His account details are: Name – Martins Ofem (not Chief Williams again), Bank – First Bank Nigeria Plc, Account No. 3074798606. He even sent the details four times to the same line from his line: 08124995957. Of course, through my patience, instead of him to play fast one on me, I have been able to get correct information on him: that his real name is Martins Ofem, along with his bank details and phone numbers. My investigation even showed that a certain Matins Ofem on Facebook, was a graduate of University of Lagos, though styled himself as self-employed, but a jobless lot. If Nigeria were to be one of these advanced countries, that buffoon would be tracked and picked by security agencies, for, he and his gang might have been swindling innocent people for a long time.
Only that this time, Martins Ofem climbed he who is more intelligence, more calculating, more patience, enough to rope him in.
President Muhammadu Buhari has blamed past leaders whose economic policies have led to the lose of jobs by over 3000,000 workers in textile industry, just one sector in the nation’s economy. President Buhari made this observation today at a meeting, in the Presidential Villa, Abuja, with Executive Members of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), The President lamented that the textile industry that employed about 320,000 people in the past only parades about 30,000 now, adding: “it shows the carelessness of past governments, if almost 300,000 people lose jobs in a single sector. “We have a clear idea of how we can stimulate employment and we will work very hard to do so,” President Buhari said even as he made it clear that what it would take to create more jobs for Nigerians, he would do it. “We are in difficult times economically, but we’ll continue to do our best for manufacturing to pick up. We must begin to behave as if we have no oil at all. “We will gladly have policy somersaults, if it will mean more jobs, particularly for youths. I campaigned on three major planks. To effectively secure our country, provide employment through revamping the economy, and wage a relentless war against corruption. I intend to keep faith with these promises,” the President said. He directed the Ministries of Industries, Trade and Investment as well as Finance and the Central Bank and other relevant government agencies to evolve, before next year’s budget, new policies to boost domestic manufacturing. The MAN President, Dr. Frank Udemba Jacobs had appealed for a review of policies that stifle the manufacturing sector, noting that the importance of a robust manufacturing sector for the general well-being of the economy cannot be over-emphasized. [myad]
President Muhammadu Buhari has announced his government’s plan to employ at least an extra 10,000 police officers and establish a properly trained and equipped Federal Anti-Terrorism Multi-Agency Task Force that will effectively address the challenge of future insurgency in a sustainable manner. The President, who seemed to have looked beyond the era of Boko Haram insurgency in the country challenged parents, teachers, community and other leaders to key into the government’s determination to confront the security challenges facing the country, saying the fight against insurgency “is a bottom to top operation.” Buhari who spoke today at a one-day National Security Summit, organised by the Nigeria Police Force in Abuja said that his government is making efforts to enhance the operational capacity of officers of the Nigeria Police through a tailor-made training programme that will give them the right civil orientation in their roles as guardians of the constitution. “In order to further strengthen the security of the public space, consideration is being given to the expansion of the CCTV Monitoring System across major cities and towns in the country, while the police accountability mechanism will be strengthened.” President Buhari made it clear that effective policing of a society is dependent on the level of security consciousness of the citizens and the strength of the understanding that exists between the Policing Agencies and the community. “This explains why it is generally acknowledged that no Police Force in the world, no matter how well motivated, equipped or trained can successfully operate without the acceptance and support of the various communities.” The President argued that the need for community input to policing and crime management in Nigeria has even become more imperative considering the current national security challenges in which kidnapping, armed robbery, murder, transnational crimes, terrorism and other organized crimes have evolved to threaten the national values and over-all progress as a nation. He believed that unemployment, illiteracy, radicalization, negative peer group influence, substance abuse and erosion of family and moral values are social factors that underline criminal tendencies, even as he said that it is in acknowledgement of this that he had defined youth employment as one of the cardinal objectives of his administration. The President assured that his administration will encourage States to look at State-level Community inter-acting with police under a model that will integrate members of the community to policing functions at the grassroots level. “It is my high expectation that this National Security Summit will develop pathways for the attainment of this policy focus of the new administration.” Buhari commended the leadership of the Nigeria Police Force for appreciating the yearning of members of the public by ordering the dismantling of police road blocks which have consistently constituted a dark side of policing and object of discord between the police and the citizens of this country. “The initiatives of the Inspector-General of Police to also introduce the ‘Safer Highway Motorised Patrol’ Scheme and deploy 555 Patrol Vehicles along all major highways to fill the void created by the enforcement of the order dismantling road blocks is also acknowledged as a proactive action meant to reassure citizens of their safety and security. “In addition, I also note the commitment of the Force leadership to uphold and enforce Chapter IV of the constitution and commit officers of the Force to the adherence to all United Nations and African Union Charters and other regional global instruments on Human Rights while also introducing Alternative Dispute Resolution procedures to policing functions. Furthermore it is the policy thrust of the Inspector-General of Police which discourages pre-trial detention of citizens while encouraging the practice of intelligence-led crime detection.” The President noted that these initiatives, if properly implemented, will address those factors that threaten public confidence in the Police and hence, create good grounds for the practice of community-led policing to flourish. I am tasking the police not only to “say” but to “do” as we are promising to Nigerians.” He gave assurance that his administration will bequeath to this nation a reformed, re-oriented, well trained, well-equipped and highly motivated Police Force, saying however that this dream can only be attained with the support of the citizens. “This remains a sacred civic responsibility which all citizens owe this country, especially at this time that we are re-energising our counterterrorism initiatives and working very hard to protect the citizens from crime and guarantee the safety and security of all Nigerians.”
Meanwhile, President Buhari has assured that the resettlement and comfort of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) will remain a top priority of his government.
Speaking after a briefing by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development, Dr. Ezekiel Oyebola Oyemomi, President Buhari said that the well-being of about 1.5 million people displaced by the insurgency in the North-East must always be uppermost in the minds of those in government. The President, therefore, directed the ministry to always be mindful of the pathetic circumstances of the IDPs, and factor them into proposals for next year’s Budget. “You must help to improve their situation,” the President told the Permanent Secretary and his team of officials.
Dr. Oyemomi briefed President Buhari on the activities of his Ministry as well as the Ministry’s successes and the challenges.
He asked for improved funding for the Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development in the 2016 budget. [myad]
The recent controversial 2008 – 2012 report of the Auditor General of the Federation (AGF) on the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) has thrown up questions of procedure, propriety and due diligence in the overall conduct of the AGF in the matter. Did the AGF follow the normal procedure in the audit process, whereby queries, if any, are first presented to the relevant organization and responses received before a final report? Is the AGF aware that the NDDC does not write cheques and give same to contractors, but that everything to do with payments is between duly certified contractors and the banks, which must verify the specific details of extent of work before payments? Is it true that banks only make payments after the respective contractors have met the specific and specified requirements for every tranch of payment and that it is the banks, not the NDDC, that must see to this even in their own interest as responsible corporate citizens? Did the Office of the AGF even take the trouble to ascertain the paradigms governing many of the issues it chose to comment upon, and without recourse to those who could have explained the issues? Fortunately, the Director of Finance and Accounts of the NDDC has put a couple of things in proper perspective. Until this audit report of questionable credibility, all news about the Commission was always either about the new approaches of its current leadership to ensure probity, or the commissioning of hitherto abandoned projects. The new school hostels in eight universities was one such intervention that made recently took over the media space, in addition to the completion of projects suspended by previous leadership. Road networks rehabilitation and completion in several states have been going hand in hand with employment creation and youth empowerment programmes. There are legacy projects, the Partnership for Sustainable Development (PSD) Forum – and much more – under the current leadership. That is why Nigerians must be careful, especially since mischief-makers may use the misinformation and half truths of the audit report to undermine the very impressive strides and reputation of the current focused and hard working NDDDC leadership team. The fact that the Report in question covers the period 2008 – 2012 and the reading public must make a distinction between the endemic problems of the NDDC long before its current management, and the performance of this current leadership. In fact the Auditor`s Report is perhaps the best proof that all had not been well with the Commission, until very recently. The period under review by the AGF (2008-2012) recorded a total of almost half a dozen chief executives. This epidemic of Acting Managing Directors and substantive Managing Directors gave the NDDC a total of five Chief Executives between 2008 and 2013, when the current Managing Director assumed office. Timi Alaibe was in charge from 2007, until 2009 when P. Z. Aginighan took over. Aginighamwas Acting MD from April to August, 2009,, when he was replaced by Chibuzo Ugwoha. The latter held forth from August 2009 to September 2011. Then came Mrs OsatohamwenIyasere-Arenyeka as Acting MD from September 2011 to November of the same year. Dr Chris Oboh was MD from November 2011 to September 2013, when Mrs. Christy Atako took over. The incumbent Managing Director, Bassey Dan-Abia, took over in December 2013 and has a four year tenure that will end in 2017. We would only be further destabilizing the place if energies are now focused on management change, rather than services delivery, which the current team is doing so well and recording remarkable achievements within the last 18 months. As I write, some people are busy right now spreading the falsehood that it was only the Board of the NDDC that was dissolved by the Federal Government. This is incorrect. The decision of the Federal Government to dissolve the Boards of parastatals and agencies affected all Boards. Besides, the Board of an organization is not the same as its management. It is also important to note that the government decision is not a condemnation of the NDDC Board, or any Board for that matter, but an action deemed necessary by the current political dispensation. It is not new. It is also not peculiar to the Government of President Buhari, as a cursory look at our political history from independence shows that this is part of the national political process in other nations of the world. The Federal Government must not be misled into overlooking the fact that the last two years of the Commission`s life has been the most eventful, in terms of positive impact and a structured reversal of the hitherto prevailing bad reputation of the organization. That is why the ongoing, and clearly sponsored, attempts to smear the NDDC as an institution, and impugn the integrity of its management, should be seen for the campaign of calumny that it is. Is it not a matter of public record that the first step taken by the current management after its inauguration was to notify all stakeholders that it needed a calm reassessment of all that had been going on in the NDDC, with a view to ascertaining the number and spread of uncompleted projects? The emphasis has been on completing outstanding projects with measurable impact on the lives of the people, rather than starting new ones. The Dan-Abia team, on inauguration, proceeded on a well-organised retreat and came out with enough information on what had gone wrong and what it needed to do in order to straighten things out. The new helmsman began by taking sure, steady and measured steps. The steps were also in the right direction. Being a brilliant, well exposed and experienced hand in his own right, the current MD`s previous stints in various capacities gave him a certain managerial advantage. That is perhaps why he gave himself the historical role of redefining the profile, reputation and trajectory of this agency of government, while remaining faithful to its raison d`etre. This commitment to real goals of the Commission has made the new NDDC MD’s approach a major beacon of hope for communities long frustrated by still-born projects that were abandoned by previous managements. Instead of taking off on a tangent with emphasis on new contracts Dan-Abia chose to face real issues. Over time, since assumption of office, the new management has been solving the problems it identified after that initial four-day retreat, the communiqué of which noted “… weaknesses in management systems and procedures, corruption, defects in the organisational structure, disconnect between staff performance and reward system, weak interface between head office and state offices, poor corporate communication culture and in-fighting within the commission”. This truth, which the current leadership discovered and is dealing with, is what a lot of people connected with the agency over the years have done everything to deny. The effect of the denial is that all attempts at revamping the NDDC and giving it a new lease of life always failed, because they all began with a denial of the problems. Now that the problems have been properly identified and real work has begun, with the visible increase in the number of ongoing and completed projects across all the NDDC states, the Federal Government under Buhari should simply know that those who wish to destabilize the NDDC, under the mistaken impression that it is a place for free booty, should be made to look elsewhere for such booty and leave the hard working leadership of the Commission alone. [myad]
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NDDC Auditor`s Report: Matters Arising, By Dauda Bala
The recent controversial 2008 – 2012 report of the Auditor General of the Federation (AGF) on the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) has thrown up questions of procedure, propriety and due diligence in the overall conduct of the AGF in the matter. Did the AGF follow the normal procedure in the audit process, whereby queries, if any, are first presented to the relevant organization and responses received before a final report? Is the AGF aware that the NDDC does not write cheques and give same to contractors, but that everything to do with payments is between duly certified contractors and the banks, which must verify the specific details of extent of work before payments? Is it true that banks only make payments after the respective contractors have met the specific and specified requirements for every tranch of payment and that it is the banks, not the NDDC, that must see to this even in their own interest as responsible corporate citizens?
Did the Office of the AGF even take the trouble to ascertain the paradigms governing many of the issues it chose to comment upon, and without recourse to those who could have explained the issues?
Fortunately, the Director of Finance and Accounts of the NDDC has put a couple of things in proper perspective.
Until this audit report of questionable credibility, all news about the Commission was always either about the new approaches of its current leadership to ensure probity, or the commissioning of hitherto abandoned projects. The new school hostels in eight universities was one such intervention that made recently took over the media space, in addition to the completion of projects suspended by previous leadership. Road networks rehabilitation and completion in several states have been going hand in hand with employment creation and youth empowerment programmes.
There are legacy projects, the Partnership for Sustainable Development (PSD) Forum – and much more – under the current leadership. That is why Nigerians must be careful, especially since mischief-makers may use the misinformation and half truths of the audit report to undermine the very impressive strides and reputation of the current focused and hard working NDDDC leadership team.
The fact that the Report in question covers the period 2008 – 2012 and the reading public must make a distinction between the endemic problems of the NDDC long before its current management, and the performance of this current leadership. In fact the Auditor`s Report is perhaps the best proof that all had not been well with the Commission, until very recently.
The period under review by the AGF (2008-2012) recorded a total of almost half a dozen chief executives. This epidemic of Acting Managing Directors and substantive Managing Directors gave the NDDC a total of five Chief Executives between 2008 and 2013, when the current Managing Director assumed office. Timi Alaibe was in charge from 2007, until 2009 when P. Z. Aginighan took over. Aginighamwas Acting MD from April to August, 2009,, when he was replaced by Chibuzo Ugwoha. The latter held forth from August 2009 to September 2011. Then came Mrs OsatohamwenIyasere-Arenyeka as Acting MD from September 2011 to November of the same year. Dr Chris Oboh was MD from November 2011 to September 2013, when Mrs. Christy Atako took over. The incumbent Managing Director, Bassey Dan-Abia, took over in December 2013 and has a four year tenure that will end in 2017.
We would only be further destabilizing the place if energies are now focused on management change, rather than services delivery, which the current team is doing so well and recording remarkable achievements within the last 18 months. As I write, some people are busy right now spreading the falsehood that it was only the Board of the NDDC that was dissolved by the Federal Government. This is incorrect. The decision of the Federal Government to dissolve the Boards of parastatals and agencies affected all Boards. Besides, the Board of an organization is not the same as its management. It is also important to note that the government decision is not a condemnation of the NDDC Board, or any Board for that matter, but an action deemed necessary by the current political dispensation. It is not new. It is also not peculiar to the Government of President Buhari, as a cursory look at our political history from independence shows that this is part of the national political process in other nations of the world.
The Federal Government must not be misled into overlooking the fact that the last two years of the Commission`s life has been the most eventful, in terms of positive impact and a structured reversal of the hitherto prevailing bad reputation of the organization. That is why the ongoing, and clearly sponsored, attempts to smear the NDDC as an institution, and impugn the integrity of its management, should be seen for the campaign of calumny that it is.
Is it not a matter of public record that the first step taken by the current management after its inauguration was to notify all stakeholders that it needed a calm reassessment of all that had been going on in the NDDC, with a view to ascertaining the number and spread of uncompleted projects? The emphasis has been on completing outstanding projects with measurable impact on the lives of the people, rather than starting new ones. The Dan-Abia team, on inauguration, proceeded on a well-organised retreat and came out with enough information on what had gone wrong and what it needed to do in order to straighten things out. The new helmsman began by taking sure, steady and measured steps. The steps were also in the right direction.
Being a brilliant, well exposed and experienced hand in his own right, the current MD`s previous stints in various capacities gave him a certain managerial advantage. That is perhaps why he gave himself the historical role of redefining the profile, reputation and trajectory of this agency of government, while remaining faithful to its raison d`etre. This commitment to real goals of the Commission has made the new NDDC MD’s approach a major beacon of hope for communities long frustrated by still-born projects that were abandoned by previous managements. Instead of taking off on a tangent with emphasis on new contracts Dan-Abia chose to face real issues. Over time, since assumption of office, the new management has been solving the problems it identified after that initial four-day retreat, the communiqué of which noted “… weaknesses in management systems and procedures, corruption, defects in the organisational structure, disconnect between staff
performance and reward system, weak interface between head office and state offices, poor corporate communication culture and in-fighting within the commission”.
This truth, which the current leadership discovered and is dealing with, is what a lot of people connected with the agency over the years have done everything to deny. The effect of the denial is that all attempts at revamping the NDDC and giving it a new lease of life always failed, because they all began with a denial of the problems. Now that the problems have been properly identified and real work has begun, with the visible increase in the number of ongoing and completed projects across all the NDDC states, the Federal Government under Buhari should simply know that those who wish to destabilize the NDDC, under the mistaken impression that it is a place for free booty, should be made to look elsewhere for such booty and leave the hard working leadership of the Commission alone. [myad]