TheCable

The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) says it is making efforts to complete all ongoing projects in universities and polytechnics across the Niger Delta region.

Victor Ndoma-Egba, chairman of the commission’s governing board, said this when Zana Akpagu, vice- chancellor of the University of Calabar (UNICAL), visited NDDC headquarters in Port Harcourt, Rivers state, on Friday.

Ndoma-Egba said the main resource of any society could be found in its youth, not the natural resources or minerals.

He said for this reason, the youth 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,” he said.

“We are concerned that our youth 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 chairman also assured UNICAL VC that the faculty of law building, which is under construction, would not only be completed but also furnished.

Akpagu thanked the commission for its interventions in his university and all other universities in the Niger Delta.

He appealed to the commission to construct an ultra-modern medical center, noting that since the inception of the university in 1975, the centre had been operating from a four-room apartment.

Akpagu said the facility had become grossly inadequate with the current population of 46,000 students.

He also pleaded with the commission for a massive expansion, saying UNICAL is the only second generation university without an engineering faculty.