‘Real enemies of the Niger Delta’ are also within

The forensic audit may be out (in some hands) and the real enemies of the Niger Delta are now known to a few persons including the newly appointed Interim Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission, an engineer and author, Emmanuel Audu-Ohwavborua.

The new MD had prophetically written a book he titled ‘The Real Enemies of the Niger Delta’, only for him to enter into a position that has allowed him to peep into the secrets of the looting of the oil region. Evidence that he has come face to face with the list of enemies of the region is the cancellation of 1,301 contracts that had remained unexecuted over the decades. The action is said to be part of the implementation of the forensic audit report which has mentioned about N6 trillion wasted in the Commission.

The MD used the opportunity of the Staff Work Ethics/Organisational Behaviour Advocacy Programme at the NDDC headquarters to harp on the real enemies of the oil region and urged the workers not to collude with them. The problem could be that some of those ‘real enemies may have influenced employment of some of the workers’.

Hear the new MD, according to Ibitoye Abosede (Ph.D), the Director, Corporate Affairs: “I identified amongst others, indigenes of the Niger Delta region as one category of enemies. I also identified those with power and influence; those that find themselves in the corridors of power, in government offices; some indigenes of the region who find themselves in positions of influence, but refused to put the region’s interest first.

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“Those who collude with foreign and local investors, to short-change the region, to deprive the region of its full and legitimate benefits, are real enemies of the region.”

With this definition by the new MD, one wonders how many staff members are left out.

MD added that achieving the goals of any organisation was tied to the efficiency of the organisation’s workforce, noting: “We know the right thing, the question is, do we do the right thing? Working without measuring performance is motion without movement.”

He stated: “Management scientists say the attainment of an organization’s goals is highly dependent on the work behaviour of its employees.

In his presentation, the Chairman National Salaries, Income and Wages Commission, Ekpo Nta, a Guest Speaker at programme, noted that proper recruitment was key to an organisation’s success.