NDDC asks Niger Delta communities to safeguard public infrastructure
The Niger Delta Development Commission has urged traditional rulers, community leaders, youth groups and residents to take collective responsibility for protecting government-funded infrastructure. Managing Director Samuel Ogbuku said vandalism diverts money from new projects to repairs, while the commission called for public awareness, local ownership and prompt reporting of suspicious activity.
The Niger Delta Development Commission has urged communities across the region to help protect public infrastructure and report vandalism or theft to the authorities. NDDC Managing Director Samuel Ogbuku made the appeal at a Stakeholders’ Forum on Public Infrastructure and Vandalism Prevention in Port Harcourt, Rivers State. His remarks were contained in a statement issued by the commission’s Director of Corporate Affairs, Sealed Thompson-Wakama.
Ogbuku, who was represented at the event by the Director of Administration and Human Resources, Kelechi Nwelue, said government had a responsibility to provide basic amenities, but communities also had a duty to protect them after construction. He said damage to public facilities diverted funds intended for new projects towards repairs. In his view, that reduced the pace of infrastructure development and harmed the communities the facilities were meant to serve.
The managing director urged residents, traditional institutions, community leaders and youth groups to regard roads, bridges, electricity facilities, water projects, schools and health centres as community assets rather than government property. He also called for public education to make vandalism socially unacceptable. Ogbuku linked development and security, saying stronger development could support security while security helped protect development.
He urged stakeholders to take ownership of projects and promptly report suspicious activities. NDDC Director of Community and Rural Development Theophilus Alagoa said vandals were destroying government facilities without communities taking responsibility. He described vandalism, theft and deliberate destruction as serious crimes and acts of economic sabotage.
Alagoa said such acts caused the loss of public resources, undermined essential services and increased the cost of maintaining or replacing facilities. Event facilitator Ibiyekaribo Inko-Tariah said the programme was organised to help safeguard government-funded projects and keep critical infrastructure serving local communities.
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