New PRODA DG Expresses Determination To Restore Agency’s Lost Glory

Posted by Ignatius Okpara Latest Headlines, News Across Nigeria, News From The State Tuesday, June 7th, 2022

(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – Newly appointed Director General (D-G)/Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Projects Development Agency (PRODA), Engr.( Dr) Peter Ogbobe, has said he is going to do everything within his power to bring back the Organization’s lost glory.

African Examiner reports that the Research institute which is a Parastatal under the federal Ministry of Science and innovation, is at the verge of going moribund.

Speaking with Newsmen on Tuesday shortly after he was received by the Workers of the Agency at its office in Emene, Enugu, the DG, described the establishment as pride of Eastern Nigeria hence, the need to restore her lost glory and make it effective again.

Various Union members of the Agency and traditional dancers were on hand in their large numbers to welcome the new boss of the organization, who was recently appointed by president Muhammadu Buhari, as the Substantive DG for a 5 year tenure.

The Enugu State born Chinese trained Engineer who expressed dissatisfaction over the leadership crisis that had characterized PRODA over the years before his appointment, assured the Staff of his determination towards restoring peace and unity back to the Agency.

On what he will do differently as the new DG, he vowed to inculcate research culture into the mind of staff because “ as you can see, it’s seems they have lost the touch of research as they are just doing what they want to do

“Bringing back the research culture becomes necessary because if you are not into research, it will be difficult to become DG of any institute as I believe we are all potential DGs

“So we must re-orient the mind of our staff to think towards research because we need funds to build the institute and if you cannot write good research grant, you cannot attract funding

He added that “We will explore all avenue to get funding apart from the one coming from the government as we will partner with other countries to achieve this,” he said

The DG, therefore, charged the staff to convert all their petition writing skills to research skills saying “what we need now is how to move forward and make PRODA great again and not about petition writing.

Dr. Ogbobe who frowned over the alarming rate of petitions written in the part by the Staff, said “let the era of writing petition be a thing of the past as I believe that my stepping in here today will be a new beginning in the history of PRODA.

He equally cautioned them against backbiting that can lead to crisis, saying “let my assumption of duty today bring an end to all the crisis in PRODA as I assure you of bringing peace and end all war

“We must work together and support each other. I promise to be a good leader and you should be a good followers too. Don’t pull your fellow staff down, don’t destroy PRODA because it’s our home.

Ogbobe’s appointment is contained in a letter dated May 20, 2022 and signed by Prof. Ibrahim Gambari, the Chief of Staff to the President, Mohammadu Buhari, and the appointment takes effect immediately and is a non-renewable 5-year tenure.

Until his appointment, Ogbobe was the Director, Information Communication Technology (ICT) at National Board for Technology Incubation (NBTI).

He holds a PhD in Mechatronics Engineering, a Master’s degree in Mechanics/production engineering and has 29 publications to his credit in both national and international journals.

The DG is a member, Council for the regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN), Nigeria Society of Engineers (NSE) and American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) among, others.