NDDC PLEDGES SUPPORT FOR TERTIARY INSTITUTIONS IN NIGER DELTA

PORT HARCOURT, Rivers, Nigeria – The Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, has stated its resolve to support the development of infrastructure in universities and polytechnics across the Niger Delta.

The Chairman of the NDDC Governing Board, Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba, SAN, stated this during a courtesy visit by the Vice Chancellor (VC) of University of Calabar, UNICAL, Cross River State, Prof. Zana Itiunbe Akpagu, at the Commission’s headquarters… in Port Harcourt.

Senator Ndoma-Egba said that the main resource of any society could be found in its youths and not the natural resources or minerals. For this reason, he said, the youths must be skilled, motivated, educated and empowered.

“If the youths are not properly educated, skilled or motivated, rather than be a blessing to the society, they become a curse. We are concerned that our youths must remain a resource and not a curse to our region. That is why we are partnering with universities and higher institutions in the Niger Delta region to educate and produce some of the best minds the country will have to offer,” the NDDC board helmsman remarked.

He added that the NDDC was making efforts to ensure that all ongoing projects in the universities in the Niger Delta states were completed, especially in the University of Calabar being one of the oldest universities in the South-South.

Ndoma-Egba assured the UNICAL VC that the Faculty of Law building, which was ongoing, would not only be completed, but would also be furnished, and would stand out as one of the best Faculties in the country.

Earlier in his remarks, Prof. Akpagu thanked the Commission for all its interventions in UNICAL and all other institutions of higher learning in the Niger Delta region.

He pleaded with the interventionist agency to assist UNICAL in its building of an Ultra Modem Medical Center, noting that since the inception of the university in 1975, the Centre had operated from a 4-room apartment. He added that with the current population of 46,000 students, the facility had become grossly inadequate.

Prof. Akpagu further appealed to the Commission for a massive expansion, stating that UNICAL was the only Second Generation University without an Engineering Faculty.

He equally pleaded with the agency for the provision of a Proper Senate building, stressing that the current one was built to accommodate five (5) Senate members, but the School, according to him, had grown and currently had four hundred and fifty (450) Senate members.