Contractors, workers groan as NDDC elevators break down

By MIKE ODIEGWU, Port Harcourt

Contractors and workers at the 13th-floor corporate headquarters of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) located in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, are groaning over the breakdown of all the lifts installed in the building.

Investigations revealed that all the four lifts installed to facilitate movements in and out of the multi-billion naira edifice stopped working about a month ago.

An insider source, who spoke in confidence, said they started malfunctioning almost immediately they were activated on completion of the project.

“They started malfunctioning, breaking down midway and dropping incapacity. Sometimes they got only to the fifth floor then dropped to third and finally packed up.

“We kept raising the alarm to the management but the Sole Administrator, Effiong Akwa, did nothing about it until they stopped working,” she said.

The Corporate headquarters of NDDC abandoned for about 25 years was completed and commissioned by President Muhammadu Buhari on March 11, 2021.

The over N16bn edifice was constructed without furnishing as the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio, who supervised the project promised that another contract would be awarded for its furnishing.

Investigations revealed that the building had provisions for six lifts with one exclusively designed and reserved for the managing director and other executive directors.

Out of the six areas provided for the facility, four were installed while two including the one designed for the Managing Director had not been procured for installation.

The source said: “There is no plan to install the remaining two. Akwa was using one out of the four installed for the public until they packed up”.

Apart from the problem posed by the elevators, it was observed that the NDDC workers, including the directors, had been operating in open spaces.

The floors were simply large halls without required demarcation to give workers needed conducive environment to do their jobs.

Most senior workers only had desks and chairs at some corners of the halls to attend to files while other junior employees loiter the premises till the close of work.

The walls of the building were already defaced, dirty especially the staircase areas showing a lack of maintenance.

Persons, who came for various businesses especially at the last floor, where the office of Akwa is located, were seen climbing the stairs, sweating and panting.

Elderly men, women and persons were seen adopting various measures including an intermittent stoppage to climb the stairs.

“Anybody with a heart condition can die climbing these stairs”, one of the contractors, who refused to disclose his name said and begged the management to fix the facility.

But the insider source said: “It is obvious that persons, who procured these elevators, bought the inferior ones. For an edifice like this considering the kind of money spent on this project, there are some standard lifts that should have been procured to serve this building. How can four elevators stop working at the same time”.

When contacted, the acting Director, Corporate Affairs, Paul Ughakpoteni, said efforts were being made to fix the problems saying it was not up to a month since the elevators developed issues.

He said: “Whoever told you it is up to a month is not correct. There are plans to fix them. There is provision for preventive and breakdown maintenance. Don’t forget that some of this equipment came into the country and were left unused for many years.

“Having been installed, it is expected that once in a while there will be some hitches. Even in a new house, hitches occur in fittings. How do they know substandard lifts? Who set the standard? These things are equipment. Who told you they don’t have offices? Did you see people working under the tree and homeless? Do you have the plan? People should learn to be developmental.” (The Nation)