President Muhammadu Buhari has given the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs and Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) a matching order to complete all ongoing projects in the Niger Delta.
The directive, according to the NDDC Interim Administrator, Mike Akwa, was conveyed to the commission by the Niger Delta Affairs Minister, Godswill Akpabio.
Akwa spoke when he visited the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Uyo (UNIUYO), Nyakudo Ndaeyo, in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State.
Akwa, in a statement yesterday by the Director, NDDC’s Corporate Affairs, Dr. Ibitoye Abosede, also said the 1,000-bed hostel at the permanent site of the UNIUYO would be completed and inaugurated in the next two weeks.
He explained that the NDDC’s commitment to the completion of the hostel project was in line with the presidential directive.
Akwa said: “The 1,000-bed students hostel being built will be a first of its kind in the region. It will have 500-bed spaces for male undergraduates and 500-bed spaces for female undergraduates and will include recreational spaces as well.”
The NDDC boss observed that in an era of COVID-19 pandemic, it was necessary to assist universities to properly and comfortably accommodate students in order to ensure sufficient provision for social distancing in the hostels.
He assured that NDDC would assist universities in the Niger Delta to ensure that their students had their studies in comfort.
”We are committed to doing whatever has to be done within our capacity to ensure that we add value to the educational system in the Niger Delta”, he said, adding that the project had reached 95 percent completion.
In his remarks, the Vice-Chancellor of UNIUYO, Prof. Nyaudoh Ndaeyo, thanked the NDDC for assisting the university to ease the pressure of accommodation by building the hostel.
He said: “We need to pull out our students from the surrounding villages where they currently reside and host them in a conducive environment fit for learning.”
