Ondo State Governor, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, has urged the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) to partner with the state for the purpose of diversification of the economy.

Governor Akeredolu said there are many sectors the NDDC could invest in the state and stopped reliance on oil revenue.

The Ondo Governor spoke when the NDDC management committee led by its interim Administrator and Chief Executive Officer, Effiong Akwa, paid him a courtesy visit.

Governor Akeredolu listed bitumen exploitation, gemstones, cassava, tourism, as areas the NDDC could enter into partnership with the state.

He urged the NDDC management to complete abandoned road projects in the State as well as praised them for executing electricity project in Okitipupa, Ondo South senatorial district.

Effiong Akwa while making his speech said that his visit to the Niger Delta states was to rebuild the relationship with stakeholders and ensure no duplication of projects.

He stated that past practice where the Commission undertook projects and programmes in the states, without first building a working coalition with the states governments with a view to integrating plans, policies, projects and programmes into the state government’s overall master plan, would no longer hold. 

He further stresses that to build the Niger Delta is to build ourselves. To make it a better place is to give our people a better place. And that is what we are determined to do.