Handover Hostel To Us, UNIPORT VC Urges NDDC

The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT), Professor Ndowa Lale, has called on the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), to quickly complete and hand over the 522 bed-space hostel, which the commission built for institutions in the Niger Delta.
Lale made the call when he led a team of the university’s officials to pay a courtesy visit to the NDDC acting managing director, Mrs. Ibim Semenitari, at the commission’s headquarters in Port Harcourt.
Already, the commission has handed over seven of the completed prototype hostels to the University of Benin; Imo State University; Federal University of Science and Technology, Owerri; Delta State University, Abraka; University of Uyo Teaching Hospital; University of Science and Technology, Port Harcourt and the Michael Okpara University of Agriculture in Umudike, Abia State.
He stated that the hostel would help in addressing urgent accommodation challenges in the university, some of which, he said, were raised by the students in a recent protest. He said that in addition to the complaints about fees in the university, the students also complained about inadequate accommodation.
The UNIPORT VC said, “If we can get 800 students who are currently living off campus to live in the hostel, it will do us a lot of good. We, therefore, appeal to the NDDC to complete and hand over the hostel to us as soon as possible.”
Lale noted that UNIPORT had over the years had some degree of partnership with the NDDC, even though the partnership tilted towards a flow from the NDDC to the university.
He reminded the NDDC boss that the commission had earlier promised to build staff houses and internal roads for the university. He equally asked for assistance in providing the university with a convocation building and a standard bookshop.
Responding, the NDDC acting managing director, Semenitari promised to expedite work on the project, observing that the contractor still had to correct some defects pointed out in the course of inspections. She regretted that the contractor did not live up to the expectations of the NDDC.
She said, “The hostel at UNIPORT was one of the first places I visited when I assumed office at NDDC. It was a very sad visit for me. It was actually a shock therapy for me. Perhaps, I needed to get that shock to see the extent of the problems that exists in the commission.