Staff of the Niger Delta Development Commission have been told to away from the commission’s building for 14 days, after the death of the Acting Director of Finance & Administration Ibanga Bassey Etang on the morning of Thursday, May 28, 2020.
The directive was given after the commission shut its headquarters and ceased operations.
Etang is said to have passed away at the Braithwaite Memorial Hospital in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, after falling ill and, according to sources, his body was moved to a holding area within the hospital’s premises where his blood sample is expected to be taken for COVID-19 test.
The document signed by Silas Anyanwu on behalf of the NDDC management read: “I am directed to inform all staff that the management has approved that the commission be shut down for two weeks from today May 28, 2020.
“Consequently, all activities in the commission, including ongoing matters are hereby shut down for the time being.
“The head of security is by this memo directed to work out modalities to ensure the safety and security of the commission, while Director, Administration, is requested to fumigate and decontaminate the entire offices and premises in the headquarters during the period.
“Meanwhile, staff are enjoined to go into self-isolation for two weeks as they await further directives from the management.”
Etang’s death came in the midst of the Forensic Audit of the NDDC ordered by President Muhammadu Buhari and the probe of the agency’s finances by the National Assembly.
The NDDC has, in recent times, been enmeshed in corruption scandal with individuals and groups accusing the Interim Management Committee of embezzling funds meant for developmental projects through various means.
