By Francis Sadhere
As part of his desire to hit the ground running to develop the institution, the new Vice Chancellor of Delta State University, (DELSU) Abraka, Prof. Victor Peretemode recently paid a courtesy visit to the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), appealing for assistance in the provision of basic facilities and utilities.
Prof. Peretemode who was the pioneer Delta State Representative on the Board of NDDC listed needs of DELSU to include roads, hostels, water, among others, saying that Government alone cannot provide the needs of the institution.
“NNDC has done a lot in this region and we hope that it will continue to do more. If you recall sometime last year, NNDC came to this university to commission a project and we are very proud of that project. We all know that Delta State already has one university that is located in Abraka which is not a local government headquarters. As a commission, we are in partner with all the universities both local and international. And we are also in partnership with other local and international agencies. We all have students from all states in this country,” said Prof. Peretemode.
He said: “NDDC was brought to help bring about development to the neglected areas of the Niger Delta region. Since then NDDC has brought about the improvement of the environment and the lives of the people in the region. It has brought about social, human capital and infrastructural development to the region too and I am very proud. I just pray that we should continue to pray for the management of the board to keep doing what they are doing to move the region forward.”
“We cannot leave everything for the state government. Funding of a university is not a small matter. If we leave everything for the state government alone, then the university will not grow. We have to appeal to national and international agencies to come to the aid of the university. We also expect the university community to assist us. There are some ongoing projects that the commission is doing that are yet to be completed. We appeal to them to complete them and hand them over to us for proper use. We know they are going to complete them 100 hundred percent. I want to use this opportunity to appeal to appeal for the completion of these projects. We are very happy that the structures have been completed, Prof. Peretemode said.
The VC added that: “When I was in NDDC we have specialized research. I want to recall that sometimes ago, NDDC commissioned three roads in the university. We are appealing to NDDC to complete those roads. We do not expect the state government to come and maintain the roads for us. So that is why we are appealing to NDDC to come to our aid. There is a link road that has direct access to the university that is so bad and the community is very sad about it because it makes it difficult for their children to come to the university. That road is very risky. We also need good internal roads in the university. NNDC has tried in terms of roads for the university. Your contributions to the university have continued to improve the university. We need a very good big borehole that will serve the university community just like we have in other universities. We are tired of these small boreholes that we have here and there.”
On a courtesy visit to the Delta State representative on the Board of NDDC, Chief (Sir) Tom Amioku in his office in Warri, the VC appealed to NDDC to come to the aid of DELSU in the provision of basic facilities and utilities.
Responding, the Delta State NDDC representative, Chief Amioku said: “We want to congratulate you on your appointment as the VC. We are happy with all of you because our relationship with you is a continuous relationship. Apart from that the university is related to all of us. Some of us did our first degree in the university and some of our children are there too. We have a lot of our people that are staff in the university. So the relationship is permanent. You have made a lot of requests.”
He added that: “The commission has done a lot of projects in the university and some of them were done through you. We commend you for this because you did not do them for yourself but for the future. The university will continue to serve Delta State even when you are gone. Any mark you have left in the university, you have left it for prosperity. You talked about furnishing of the hostels we built for the institution; we have noted that and we are working on it. We are also happy to see that you mentioned security which is a very vital ingredient in a university. The management will look at the completion of all the projects. Something is going to be done to see to that. We have taken note of all the road networks that you have mentioned. Remember that NDDC is an intervention agency.”
