By Our Reporter
The new Director General/Chief Executive of Projects Development Institute (PRODA), Enugu, Dr. Peter Okwudilichukwu Ogbobe, has been advised to direct his energies towards restoring the agency to the dream of the founding fathers as a research institute.
Fielding questions from the media after handing over to the new substantive CEO, the immediate past Overseeing Director General of PRODA, Dr. (Mrs.) Arit Etukudoh, said the urgent assignment for now should be to change the narrative of PRODA coming into the news over procurement matters.
“Primarily,” she said, “PRODA is a research institute and not a procurement agency. In recent years, PRODA has been more in the news over procurement and contract issues than even the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP).
Congratulating Dr. Ogbobe on his appointment, she said his emergence had put an end to a relay race that saw four chief executive officers, including herself, in acting capacity and urged him to make good of the excitement of the staff in welcoming him with fanfare.
Etukudoh, an expert in the research and production of ceramics, one of the mandate lines of PRODA, thanked the Governing Board of the institute for the cooperation she received while on the saddle and for recommending to the President a Chief Executive that is acceptable to all stakeholders, even as she pleaded with the Management and staff of the research institute to cooperate with him.
She said it was a worthwhile experience piloting the affairs of the premier research institute, even if for a short period of time, thanking President Muhammadu Buhari for counting her worthy.
The Akwa Ibom-born mother of five said her 31 years of experience at PRODA had prepared her adequately not only for the institute but also for any other national assignment that may be thrust on her
Her appointment as Overseeing Director General in January this year by the then Hon. Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, was a stop gap between the removal of Dr. Fabian Okonkwo and the appointment of a substantive Chief Executive as ordered by the supervising ministry.
Her brief tenure, according to stakeholders, restored peace to PRODA, which had been engulfed in mudslinging and management crises for over two years.
