Coronavirus scare: NDDC headquarters shuts down after executive director’s death

Following the death of Chief Ibanga Etang, the Executive Director of Finance and Administration, the Niger Delta Development Commission has shut down its headquarters in Port-Harcourt for two weeks.

Etang reportedly died at 2 am on Thursday, May 28, 2020, after a brief illness. He was said to have died at the Rivers State University Teaching in Port Harcourt, where he was admitted for treatment.

According to TheCable, there are fears that he might have contracted coronavirus.

However, hours after Etang’s death, a memo signed by Silas Anyawu on behalf of the management of the NDDC stated that the commission would be shut down for two weeks from Thursday, May 28, 2020.

Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) ece-auto-gen

The memo reads, “I am directed to inform all staff that management has approved that the commission be shut down for two weeks from today 28 May 2020.

“Consequently, all activities in the commission including ongoing matters are hereby shut down for the time being.

“Members of staff are to ensure that all electrical appliances in their offices are switched off before leaving the premises.

“The head security is by this memo directed to work out modalities to ensure the safety and security of the commission while director, the 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 directive from Management.”

The news of Etang’s death came amid the forensic audit of the NDDC’s activities as ordered by President Muhammadu Buhari.

The President had in October 2019, ordered the commission’s activities from 2001 to 2019 be probed.