NDDC, a blessing to higher education - VC

The Vice Chancellor of the Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike in Abia State, Professor Hillary Edeoga, has commended the efforts of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, in providing basic infrastructure for universities and polytechnics in the Niger Delta region.

The Vice Chancellor spoke on Wednesday, when the acting Managing Director of the NDDC, Dr. Christy Atako and her delegation paid him a courtesy visit in his office before proceeding to inspect the hostel being built by the commission for the university.

He urged other development agencies to emulate the NDDC and join in the collective effort to upgrade facilities in the tertiary institutions in the country. 'If other agencies have been contributing their own quota, the problem of incessant strikes in our universities would have been curtailed,' he said.

Dr. Atako assured the Vice Chancellor that the NDDC would make sure that it handed over a high quality hostle to the university in no distant time.

She noted that 'education is the bedrock of any development. There is no economy that can develop without the education sector'.

She said that it was because of the priority the NDDC placed on education that it recently distributed 880 computers and printers to polytechnics and colleges of education in the Niger Delta, to complement the 18 prototype hostels being built in the universities and polytechnics.

According to her, the efforts of the NDDC did not end with providing educational infrastructure, as the commission was also giving post-graduate scholarships in science disciplines for the indigenes of the Niger Delta.

Dr Atako inspected the 176-room NDDC hostel, which has almost been completed at the university, and charged the contractor not to compromise on quality as the students deserved to live in good accommodation. 'I insist that our contractors must adhere strictly to standards because for us in NDDC there is no compromise on quality,' she said.

The NDDC boss also inspected the completed Umuorie, Solar electrification project and the 2.9 kilometre internal road network in Ukwa/West Local Government Area of Abia State. She commended the contractors for doing a good job and expressed delight that the two projects were ready for commissioning and hand over to the Umuorie community.