Sometimes this year, …, to be exact, the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), took the bull by its horns by disclosing its plans to link the Niger Delta area up with railway line.
A commendable gesture that was greeted with a thunderous applause by Nigerians and residents of the Niger Delta area in particular.
It was a long awaited initiative from the commission that is charged with the development of the region that has provided more than half of the revenue that is the mainstay of the country until the arrival of the digital economy but whose development has been arrested by successive Nigerian governments.
The announcement was made in Lagos during the MoU signing ceremony by the Managing Director of the commission, …,
But hardly hadly had the ovation that greeted the announcement died down than the chairman of the board of the commission, Ms. Lauretta Onochie, fired a press release, distancing herself, the entire board of the commission from the MoU. She not only did this, but in strong word words word like …..
An indication that the house of NDDC is divided, that both the board and management are working at cross purposes for the management to arrived at the decision to embark on such project without the knowledge of the board and probably the supervising ministry.
She ended up reminding Nigerians that NDDC is on on its familiar corrupt habit, which she said is, a habit that dies hard.
While she was saying all these, the managing director whose revelation trigger off the buhahaha reminded mute or at best released a weak reply titiled …. and except the intervention of a Federal High Court sitting in …. that in its judgement told Onochie that she is not an executive chairman by the Act that established NDDC years ago and reminded her of her work load.
As these two elephants the masses that would have been the ultimate beneficiaries of the rail project continues to suffer.
