The current management at the Niger Delta Development Commission has repositioned the agency to change the development narrative of the oil producing region.
On a normal day, Samuel Ogbuku, a political scientist, gifted public administrator and the Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) cuts the picture of a man on a mission. Last Wednesday at Ode Erinje Community in Okitipupa, Ondo State, he cut the image of a man on a hurried mission: to fast track the transformation of the Niger Delta region from a backwater of development to an emerging economic power house. As Abubakar Momoh, the Minister of Niger Delta Development, who represented President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, cut the tape to commission the 132 KV power transmission line and substation to supply electricity to five local governments in the oil producing coastal belt of Ondo State, he beamed a smile of satisfaction.
His efforts in the past one and a half years to complete infrastructural projects started by the Niger Delta Development Commission were bearing fruits. The Okitipupa project, which had stalled over 15 years, is among the 92 projects the NDDC management team has completed, having met them at various stages of construction. With a price tag of N8.3 billion, the project is one of the big-ticket items whose economic impacts are transformative.
The NDDC is now on a spree, commissioning projects from virgin roads to police stations. Key among them is the 25.7 kilometre Ogbia – Nembe road built, in partnership with Shell, at a cost of N24 billion. The road opens up 14 hitherto isolated communities in Bayelsa State for development. Another road, the N10 billion Iko – Iwuochang road in the coastal belt of Akwa Ibom State links 20 communities hitherto separated by the Qua Iboe River.
At Ode Erinje, Ogbuku paid glowing tributes to President Tinubu whose renewed hope agenda has inspired the Commission’s drive. He praised the supportive Minister, the Board and the management team.
The success of NDDC in the past one year is the outcome of a focused agenda called the Rewind to Rebirth Initiative. According to Ogbuku, ‘the rewind to rebirth initiative provides the foundation of our current trajectory of transiting from transaction to transformation in the process of developing the Niger Delta region’.
Ogbuku, who shared his thoughts during a retreat for NDDC Board and management at the Four Point by Sheraton, Ikot Ekpene, Akwa Ibom State, explained that the Commission was stitching together a vibrant tapestry of development, from physical infrastructure, healthcare, education, skills development and job creation.
Leading the charge in the task of transition to an era of transformation are the Chairman of the NDDC Board, Mr. Chiedu Ebie and the Chief Executive Officer, Dr Ogbuku. Although the current Board was appointed on August 29, 2023, by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the MD/CEO had been on the saddle at the Commission’s headquarters since January 5, 2023, as a member of the previous board.
Piloting the affairs of the NDDC comes with many challenges which must be confronted with some sense of creativity. Hence, the decision by the Commission to begin to do things differently.
In charting a different course, it became imperative for the Commission to introduce new strategies anchored on transparency and accountability.
The new trajectory takes into account the vision of the NDDC, which is to create an enabling environment for the sustainable development of the Niger Delta region. The Management is also guided by the Commission’s mission, which is: “to facilitate the sustainable, even and rapid development of the Niger Delta, into a region that is socially stable, politically peaceful, economically prosperous and ecologically regenerative.”
Gradually, a new NDDC is emerging and the plan so far has been to improve on delivery of projects and services by enthroning and shoring up the transparency of the commission’s processes to ensure accountability and efficiency.
To shore up its systems, the NDDC in 2023 restructured its administrative system by going back to the 13 Directorates recognised in the NDDC Act. It was necessary to reorganise the administrative system to enhance better service delivery.
To demonstrate its commitment to due process and transparency, the Commission introduced measures to build confidence and trust among all partner sand stakeholders.
It sets up a system to establish a robust Corporate Governance structure that fosters accountability and transparency, alongside the development of clear and measurable Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to track progress towards goals.
In this regard, the Commission started building a sustainable foundation to ensure that it runs on a smooth track.
Efforts were made to ensure that NDDC has a seamless system that will enable it run in accordance with global best practices. To ensure a new institutional culture, anchored on sound ethics and good corporate governance is in place, the Commission engaged KPMG, a reputable global business consultancy, to review and strengthen its corporate governance system, as well as improve its internal processes and institutional protocols.
Part of KPMG’s mandate is to produce a Standard Operating Procedure, SOP, for the NDDC to cover all aspects of the Commission’s activities and transactions.
A NEW APPROACH TO SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
In the past 24 years, the journey of the Commission as a vehicle designed for the rapid and sustainable development of the Niger Delta region, has been contending with varied challenges.
While there have been many successes and achievements, there have also been gaps and deficiencies that need to be remedied to ensure a more efficient discharge of its mandate of sustainable regional development.
A lot is expected from the NDDC, especially with the promises of the Renewed Hope Agenda of the President Tinubu’s administration.
Since inception, the NDDC has struggled with faithfully delivering on its mandate as envisioned by the stakeholders of the region as an interventionist agency to bring about the desired peace and development through accountable and equitable allocation of resources for infrastructural development and empowerment.
To reverse the trend, President Tinubu recently pledged his full backing for the sustainable development of the Niger Delta region, vowing to support initiatives that will spur economic growth and improve living standards.
COLLABORATION WITH STAKEHOLDERS
One of the cardinal policies of President Tinubu’s administration is stakeholders’ engagement and that has apparently spurred the NDDC to step up its collaboration with various stakeholders, including the state governments to end the era of duplication of projects and boost harmony.
The Commission’s management agrees that it is important to enhance collaboration between state governors, the NDDC, and other critical stakeholders to drive development through the monitoring and execution of regional projects.
It has already started taking steps towards strengthening the relationship between the Commission and the State Governments of the Niger Delta, to make them partners and not competitors.
In quick succession, the Board and Management visited the governors of Rivers, Akwa Ibom and Ondo states, acknowledging that, “stakeholders’ engagements are critical to the Commission’s effectiveness.”
The traditional institution was not left out as the management visited the Olu of Warri, HRM Ogiame Atuwatse III, in his palace in Warri, Delta State.
The management also visited the Pere of Gbaramatu Kingdom, King Oboro Gbaruan II, at his palace in Oporoza, headquarters of Gbaramatu kingdom in Warri South West Local Government Area of Delta State.
In Bayelsa, NDDC management accompanied the Minister of Niger Delta Development, Honourable Abubakar Mommoh to interact with the Bayelsa Traditional Rulers Council, led by the Chairman of the Council, King Bubaraye Dakolo Agada IV, in their Secretariat in Yenagoa.
The management also visited the Amanyanabo of Okochiri, King Ateke Michael Tom in his palace in Okochiri, Okrika Local Government Area.
The NDDC management held an interactive session with members of the Rivers State Council of Traditional Rulers, led by the Chairman and Paramount Ruler of Emohua Kingdom, Nyeweli Ohna Sergeant Awuse, at their Council Headquarters in Port Harcourt. The stakeholders’ engagements showed that, to create a Niger Delta that is investment-friendly and capable of engendering economic prosperity, all hands must be on deck. There is a recognition that the task of achieving this goal cannot be left for the NDDC alone, but must involve all development partners, including the private sector.
The socio-economic transformation of the Niger Delta is too complex to be left for only one or two agencies of development. Obviously, undoing the damage wrought by decades of neglect and injustice requires partnership and synergy.
The NDDC Act recognizes this mandate and has defined the NDDC as a facilitator for the development process that involves a combination of all relevant stakeholders in the region.
All stakeholders must, therefore, be brought on board to tackle the challenge of rescuing the Niger Delta. It makes sense to pull all resources together to confront the injustice and inequality that have ruled the lives of the people in Nigeria’s oil basin.
Undoubtedly, the Niger Delta region deserves a lot more than it is getting now. The oil companies operating in the region created an oasis of wealth in a desert of poverty in the past, a situation that needs to change for the region to leap-frog into the modern era where the availability of basic infrastructure is taken for granted.
REVIVING PSD FORUM
In response to the need for coordinated efforts, the NDDC set up a clearing house called the Partners for Sustainable Development (PSD) Forum. This important organ brings together representatives of federal and state governments of oil-bearing states, youth and women leaders, traditional rulers, as well as the organised private sector, civil society, the mass media and international development agencies such as the UNDP and the World Bank. Their main function is to ensure that the developmental activities and the budget process across agencies and project providers in the Niger Delta are synchronized.
The PSD Forum, which had been dormant since 2016, came alive again on August 21, 2023, when the NDDC hosted a two-day 2024 Budget of Reconstruction Conference at Ibom Icon Hotel and Golf Resort in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State. Participants at the conference, comprising key stakeholders in the Niger Delta region, emphasised the strategic importance of the PSD Forum in the activities of the NDDC, especially in the budgetary process. They observed that the body helps to check duplications and institutional suspicions in the development process, thereby reducing the incidence of working at cross purposes as well as curbing wastage of scarce resources allocated for regional development initiatives.
Aligning with the mood in the region, the stakeholders resolved that the best option for facilitating regional development was for all concerned parties to work together as partners. They urged the NDDC to organise town hall meetings and engage the various ethnic nationalities of the region before budget sessions to ensure that the document receives inputs from the people directly.
Another thing that came to the fore was the need for the Commission to strike a balance between meeting political demands and serving the people of the region by executing people-oriented projects.
In finding the right balance and making the right choices, a development strategy, such as the expired Niger Delta Regional Development Master Plan, would have come in handy. The new team must, therefore, begin the process of reviewing the road map for a comprehensive development of the Niger Delta region.
While a new comprehensive plan is awaited, the NDDC has created a template for the equitable distribution of projects among the states of the region. It has also constituted a team for monitoring and inspecting projects to ensure efficient implementation.
THE PUBLIC PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP INITIATIVE
To truly make a difference, the current Board and Management insisted on doing things differently so as to effectively drive sustainable development in the region.
Thus, it decided to embrace the Public Private Partnership, PPP, model to provide alternative sources of funding for key development projects and programmes.
Consequently, a Management Committee on Public Private Partnership was constituted by the Managing Director on January 18, 2023.
This is one initiative that demonstrates that the Commission is interested in using partnerships to drive its vision of fast tracking the development of the Niger Delta region. The PPP Committee was mandated to review all the Commission’s existing partnerships as well as explore new partnerships that will result in enduring regional projects.
The terms of reference of the PPP Committee includes: “to Identify, process and secure partnerships for development for the Commission in line with the NDDC Establishment Act.
The Committee is also expected to “identify, pursue and secure alternative sources of funding for the Commission’s projects and programmes,” as well as “ draw up and adopt projects and programmes funding templates.”
The most outstanding partnership which NDDC has entered into since inception is with respect to the construction of the Ogbia-Nembe Road.
The 27-kilometre road, which connects 14 different communities of Bayelsa State, was constructed in partnership with Shell Petroleum Development Company, SPDC.
Ordinarily, the NDDC alone wouldn’t have been able to achieve that success without the partnership with Shell.
That multi-billion flagship project illustrates the kind of challenges confronting the Niger Delta. It cuts through the mangrove swamps with many bridges and 99 culverts.
Today, the Ogbia-Nembe road is completed. This is what partnerships can achieve.
To further explore the possibilities presented by a PPP model, the Commission organised a PPP summit in April, 2023. This is part of the Commission’s strategy to reduce its reliance on International Oil Companies to raise funds for development projects.
The challenges of inadequate funding have to be addressed. It is public knowledge that inadequate funding ranks very high among the numerous factors slowing down the pace of development.
The NDDC is erecting platforms for sustainable partnerships and collaborations. In the last couple of months, the Commission started focusing on PPP as the new direction to achieve its mandate of ensuring the sustainable development of the Niger Delta region.
The PPP approach is seen as an alternative source of funding for key development projects and programmes.
From all indications, the PPP model will open a flurry of opportunities for foreign and local investors, captains of industry and multilateral agencies.
MOU WITH NLNG
One of the positive fall-outs of the PPP initiative is the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, between the NDDC and the Nigeria Liquified Natural Gas Limited, NLNG. They agreed to collaborate on diverse fronts in the delivery of sustainable development projects.
The MOU will enable the two organisations to collaborate to empower communities in the region, promote local content and capacity development, and work with stakeholders along the value chain to deliver sustainable development projects effectively.
According to the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of NLNG, Dr. Philip Mshelbila, “our dedication to the sustainable development of our host communities in health, education, economic development, and infrastructural development remains unwavering. We understand that our success is linked to the well-being and prosperity of the communities in which we operate. Therefore, investing in projects and initiatives that empower these communities, promote social inclusion, and foster economic growth is an ethical responsibility.”
Similarly, the World Health Organisation, WHO, is also partnering with NDDC to implement a Health Insurance Project, as well as other health programmes that will benefit the people of the Niger Delta region. In the same vein, the United States Agency for International Development, USAID, is being engaged in the area of youth development.
ENGAGEMENT WITH OPTS
The NDDC took the centre stage at the 2023 meeting of the Oil Producers Trade Section, OPTS, of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Lagos.
Among key players in the oil industry present at the occasion were the Managing Director of Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited, SPDC, Mr. Osagie Okunbor; the MD of NDDC, Dr. Samuel Ogbuku and the Managing Director of TOTAL E&P Nigeria Limited, Mr. Mike Sangster. The Management recognises that the OPTS, which embodies the IOCs, is a critical stakeholder of the NDDC, that is second only to the people of the region.
Obviously, the NDDC alone cannot handle the task of developing the Niger Delta region. The Commission needs the support of all stakeholders to achieve the goal of developing the region. NDDC funds alone cannot fully develop the region. It needs the partnership of IOCs to achieve this.
ENGAGEMENT WITH NNPC
The Executive Management of NDDC visited another critical stakeholder, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company, NNPC, Limited in Abuja to propose a partnership for speedy development of the Niger Delta. The team met with the Group Managing Director of NNPC Limited, Mr. Mele Kyari. The NDDC’S partnership overture to the NNPC comes on the heels of similar moves to get the cooperation of the Shell Petroleum Development Company of
Nigeria Limited, Tony Elumelu Foundation, and other partners.
PARTNERSHIP FOR TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER
To further advance the course of partnership, the NDDC agreed to partner with the Presidential Implementation Committee on Technology Transfer to build the capacity of the Niger Delta people in agriculture and other sustainable development programmes.
Chairman of the Presidential Committee, Dr. Dahiru Muhammed, observed that the Committee’s programmes were centered around agriculture and capacity building.
The Presidential Committee says that through its training and capacity building programmes , it can help the Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) in the Niger Delta region with transfer of technology and funding. The Presidential Implementation Committee for Technology Transfer aims at complementing Nigeria’s national development agenda in addition to acting as a catalyst for economic diversification program which aims at taking us off the dependence on Oil.
PROJECT COMMISSIONING AND INSPECTIONS
In terms of infrastructure, in the past 24 years NDDC has executed about 7,483 projects. Out of these completed projects, about 3,357 are roads and bridges, about 611 are renewable energy projects, while 3,427 are still ongoing.
The NDDC under the stewardship of the current Board has witnessed the completion and commissioning of so many projects, including the Oruma rigid pavement Road with street lights in Ogbia Local Government Area of Bayelsa State.
The road will complement a regional road in the area, the 23.5-kilometre Otuasega-Obedum-Emelego Road and bridges, connecting Bayelsa and Rivers communities, being constructed by the NDDC.
Also, in Bayelsa, the Commission inaugurated a 1.5-kilometre internal road it constructed at the Niger Delta University, Amassoma, Bayelsa State, as part of the efforts to build the capacity of universities in the Niger Delta region.
After the commissioning, the NDDC team also inspected the on-going hostel project at the university. Another project commissioned by the NDDC management is the 4-kilometre Yenagoa Internal Road in Etegwe-Agudama- Epie, Yenagoa Local Government Area of Bayelsa State.
In Abia State, NDDC inaugurated an Acquaculture Training centre in Elugwu-Umuntu community, Olokoro in Umuahia South Local Government Area, as part of its efforts to boost agriculture in the Niger Delta region. The center will also address the challenges of unemployment by offering relevant trainings in aquaculture.
Also in Abia State, communities in Arochukwu town expressed appreciation to the NDDC over the ongoing emergency repairs of failed sections of Atani-Amuvi-Amankwu Road and the 8-kilometre Atani Phase II Road in Arochukwu Local Government Area.
Leaders of the communities expressed their joy when the NDDC Executive Director, Projects, Sir Victor Antai, led a team of the Commission’s directors and engineers to inspect the roads, with concrete drains and solar powered street lights.
Speaking on behalf of Ugbo community in Arochukwu, Eze John Ogbonnaya Okoro, gave plaudits to the NDDC, stating: “This road you are seeing today was more like a track road, mostly marshy and undulating, before the NDDC intervened. Vehicles couldn’t come into our villages through this road. But today in our life time, through NDDC we now have a smooth and asphalted road.
Another project in Abia State that has been commissioned is the 9-kilometre Obehie/Oke-Ikpe Road in Ukwa West Dign Local Government Area. Several communities in the area would benefit from the project, which links Abia and Akwa Ibom States.
In Akwa Ibom State, the Commission inspected the 21-kilometre Okossi-Mfokpo Eyokan Ubodung-Etebi Road and bridges, in Okossi, Urue-Offong/Oruko Local Government Area.
The road traverses three Local Government Areas, namely; Urue-Offong/Oruko, Okobo and Esit Eket in Akwa Ibom State.
In Rivers State, the Management team also inspected the 3.65-kilometre Okrika-Borokiri RÂ Â with three bridges connecting Kolabi, Abotoru and Okpoka creeks to Port Harcourt.
Affirming commitment to complete all on-going projects in the Niger Delta
region, the Commission inspected the 6-kilometre Obuama Internal Roads in Harry’s Town, Degema Local Government Area of Rivers State.
MAJOR INFRASTRUCTURAL PROJECTS
The 25.7-kilometre Ogbia-Nembe Road, in Bayelsa State, a partnership between the NDDC and Shell Petroleum Development Company, SPDC, has long been completed.
The N24 billion flagship project illustrates the kind of challenges confronting the Niger Delta. It cuts through the mangrove swamps with many bridges and 99 culverts, opening up 14 communities on its stretch to economic activities and modern development.
For the people living in over 2,000 communities spread across five local government areas of Ondo State, NDDC has given them hope of “seeing the light.” The Commission has completed the 132/33kv sub-station in Okitipupa.
The project will serve five local government areas in the oil production belt of Ondo State. An elated Governor of Ondo State, Hon. Lucky Ayedetiwa, thanked the NDDC for ensuring the completion of the project. He said: “I appreciate the NDDC under the watch of Ogbuku. This is a new era in the Commission and our people in the five local government areas in the southern part of the state will forever be grateful to the NDDC for making efforts to give us light.
Indeed, Ayedetiwa is not alone in eulogizing the NDDC. In all its engagements around the region, there is a sweltering of support from stakeholders long desirous of an NDDC that works towards facilitating regional sustainable development.
The achievements of the NDDC has also attracted testimonials from eminent Niger Delta stakeholders. From the Ijaw National leader, Chief Timi Alaibe, to Akwa Ibom State Governor, Pastor Eno Umo and Rivers State Governor, Sir Siminalayi Fubara, the stakeholders lined up behind the NDDC to strengthen its hands in the arduous task of fast-tracking development of Nigeria’s oil-rich region.
The Akwa Ibom State Governor noted that partnership between the NDDC and the state governments in the region was a necessity, adding: “We need to collaborate and not compete.
“I am glad that you have started a stakeholders’ engagement and I urge you to meet all the governors of the nine Niger Delta states.”
LIGHTING UP NIGER DELTA AND FIGHTING CRIME
In a groundbreaking initiative, the NDDC is lighting up the nights in communities across the nine states of the Niger Delta, casting a radiant glow of change on communities previously covered in darkness. The heart of this transformation lies in solar-powered street lights, a beacon of progress that is revolutionising the way people live and work, with ripple effects that extend far beyond the streets they illuminate.
The light up Niger Delta project with solar-powered street lights is part of measures to fight criminality, boost socioeconomic activities and enhance peace in the region.
The campaign is important, especially as it relates to security in Nigeria’s oil-rich region.
The positive impact of the “Light Up the Niger Delta” campaign, can be seen as it has reduced crime in the various communities and enhanced commercial activities in the areas.
It is necessary to create the right environment for our people to live in peace by reducing criminal activities in our communities, because most of these communities have become hideouts for criminals who operate under the cover of darkness.
According to the NDDC boss, “We decided to adopt the clean energy approach which not only provides light but helps in the fight to mitigate the effects of climate change on our environment. I can assure you that the incidence of crime has reduced in most of these communities.”
So far, many communities across the Niger Delta region have benefitted from the solar-powered street light projects, which the Commission is pursuing with vigour.
NEW YOUTH DEVELOPMENT SCHEME
As par t of the strategies to bring sustainable change, the Commission developed a new concept of working with the Niger Delta Chamber of Commerce in the training of youths and young entrepreneurs in the Niger Delta region.
The plan is to collaborate with the Niger Delta Chamber of Commerce to support Small and Medium Enterprises in the Niger Delta region.
The new scheme revolves around a Niger Delta Chamber of Commerce that will strengthen young entrepreneurs in the region. The goal is to stop a situation where youths will be at home and be receiving stipends. Hence, the Commission is changing its Youth Volunteer programme to Youth Internship Programmes where youths will be attached to organisations for one year to learn skills.
The Chamber of Commerce will help to make the programme sustainable. It will focus on empowering young entrepreneurs because government cannot employ everybody.
It is envisaged that the Youth Internship programme will discourage sedentary lifestyles among the youths of the Niger Delta region.
CAPACITY BUILDING FOR YOUTHS
In 2023, the NDDC introduced a youth development and empowerment scheme designed to create a comprehensive resource database of the youth population of the Niger Delta region. The scheme known as Holistic Opportunities, Projects and Engagement, HOPE, is meant to provide a platform to empower youths of the region on sustainable basis.
Project HOPE marks a turning point in youth development and empowerment because it is holistic and designed for sustainability. Things can only be sustainable when they are data-driven. The project would create a database for youths, women, and entrepreneurs. This will enable development agencies to see clearly what the youths want.
The new initiative, which is coming after many years of unplanned and mismanaged projects execution in the region, will focus on the needs of the youths, their qualifications, skills, passion, interests, and employment status. Youths in the Niger Delta are expected to register on the database to benefit from jobs to be created in the areas of agro-allied production, technology, among others.
The scheme is meant to empower the youths with legitimate means of livelihood, in line with their educational qualifications and skills, the database will provide a parameters for employment generation, youth empowerment and capacity development in the region.
The project HOPE has helped the Commission to develop a comprehensive digital repository, comprising important information about the youths of the Niger Delta region; including their qualifications, skills, interests, needs, and current employment status. This database will serve as a plank for data-driven planning, enabling the formulation of impactful policies and programmes.
SKILLS ACQUISITION PROGRAMME
Skills acquisition and human capital development are some of the key areas the Federal Government is paying special attention to in order to engage the youths and help to improve the lives of people in the Niger-delta region by helping them develop sustainable entrepreneurial skills. Entrepreneurial, vocational and leadership value enhancement is the key to unlock the potentials and possibilities available to the youths in the Niger Delta region and this justifies the importance which the NDDC attaches to industrial development and human capacity building.
The objective is to get the youths to acquire meaningful and self-sustaining skills that would improve their lives, support their families and communities and thus reduce crime in the Niger Delta region. In January 2024, no less than 200 youths across the Niger Delta region were trained in welding and fabrication, in recognition of the importance of the skills in the engineering sector, especially in oil and gas, construction and manufacturing.
The NDDC boss said that the goal of the training was to equip the participants with the skills and knowledge needed to excel in the field to create new opportunities and possibilities for the youths.
The graduation ceremony was held simultaneously in four centres where the training was conducted; namely: Port Harcourt, Rivers State; Eket, Akwa Ibom State; Warri, Delta State and Benin, Edo State. The 200 graduands are drawn from the nine states covered by the NDDC.
The Commission donated welding equipment, comprising welding machine, grinding machine, tool box and a cash grant of N100,000 to support the trainees.
2024 BUDGET COMMITTEE
Again, to achieve maximum efficiency, the NDDC is moving away from the usual annual budgets and quickly adopting a functional plan for the region. This has become necessary because the Niger Delta Regional Development Master Plan, which was launched in 2007, remained largely unimplemented before it expired in 2022.
The NDDC management inaugurated the Commission’s 2024 Budget Committee to proactively prepare its 2024 budget through engagements with stakeholders.
The Committee was charged to identify the vision of the NDDC as an interventionist agency in order to prioritise the allocation of available resources.
The Commission wants a budget that can be implemented; a budget that will capture the present realities. The committee is expected to balance funding of new projects, funding of ongoing projects, as well as debt financing in order to get the buy-in of stakeholders.
The Committee is also to actively engage with the stakeholders in their activities. The Management insists on a clear vision for the budge This way, there will be proper guidelines in implementing the budget and it will not be tempered with when it gets to the National Assembly. To achieve this, the NDDC must have a stakeholder’s conference to reach an agreement.
The 2024 NDDC budget will be an inclusive budget that largely accommodates the interests of stakeholders in the Niger Delta region.
Stakeholders will have an opportunity to tell the NDDC the kind of projects they want in their areas of operations, so that they can be included in the budget. That is the plan for the NDDC budget for 2024. Henceforth, NDDC will capture every stakeholder in its budget; state governments, the IOCs, traditional institutions, everybody should be included in it. It will be an all-inclusive budget of the people of the Niger Delta.
FOREIGN SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAMME
To further build the capacity of Niger Delta youths, the NDDC presented award letters to 189 successful candidates for its 2023/2024 Foreign Post-Graduate Scholarship Programme. The scholarship scheme is an important component of the Commission’s hum an capital development programme because education is the most powerful weapon for changing the fortunes of the Niger Delta region.
The NDDC has sustained the Foreign Post Graduate Scholarship Programme which it started in 2010. So far, 1,884 students have benefited from the programme that seeks to build capacity and fill the manpower gap in the oil and gas sector.
Through the programme, thousands of indigent Niger Delta graduates have been given the opportunity to study in foreign universities. The programme has been described as a strategic intervention for the training of quality manpower to ensure the sustainable development of the Niger Delta region.
The scholarship scheme aims at preparing a new set of scientists from Niger Delta region, especially with the inclusion of Artificial Intelligence as one of the areas of study.
Through the programme, the NDDC has been sending out people who are willing to come back to develop the Niger Delta region.
Obviously, there is need to position young graduates from the region to compete globally in various professional fields. Before now, the oil and gas industry had discriminated against the fresh graduates from the region, whom they dismissed as not possessing requisite qualifications.
PARTNERING WITH UNIVERSITIES ON RESEARCH
The Commission has engaged the Vice Chancellors of four universities in the Niger Delta region and the dominant issue on the table was how to begin partnerships that will encourage research to help in finding solutions to some of the problems bedevilling the society.
Meetings were held at various times with a delegation from the Rivers State University, led by the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Nlerum Okogbule; the Vice Chancellor of the Niger Delta University, Amassoma, Bayelsa State, Professor Samuel Edoumiekumo; a delegation from the Ignatius Ajuru University of Education led by the Vice Chancellor, Professor Okechukwu Onuchukwu and the Governing Council of the University of Port Harcourt led by the Vice Chancellor, Professor Georgewill Owunari.
Partnering with universities in academic research will make it possible to produce life-saving vaccines, as well as finding lasting solutions for medical and social problems.
The NDDC acknowledges the contributions of universities in manpower   development and the overall development of the Niger Delta region, hence the need to enhance the capacity of universities in the region.
MEETING WITH CONTRACTORS
The NDDC management met with contractors working for the Commission and called for cooperation from them to resolve issues around the burgeoning debt profile of the Commission.
The management urged the contractors to see their relationship as that between partners in development. As contractors are partners in the development of the Niger Delta region,there is need for cooperation to find a way out of a difficult situation.
To find a solution, the NDDC leadership says it is willing to accept solutions that will lead to the reduction of the Commission’s debt profile.
As part of the measures taken to address the challenges posed by a huge debt profile, the Commission put a hold on payment of disilting contracts to enable it settle other more pressing and urgent commitments.
Accordingly, the Commission decided to review the desilting contracts before making payments.
In the a bid to sanitise its operations, the NDDC declared as illegal, the payment of percentages on contract sums and all forms of financial inducements to middlemen who claim to be fronting for the Commission’s officials.
The NDDC contractors were warned to resist the temptation of falling victims to persons who claim to be agents of the Executive Directors and Directors of the Commission that facilitate payments based on monetary inducements.
STAFF WELFARE
In one of the interactive sessions between the Executive Management and staff of the Commission, it was clearly spelt out that the mission of the Board is not to criticize what has taken place in the past, but to make things work and build a cordial relationship between management and staff.
Since the Board took over, staff welfare and entitlements have remained a priority for management. Interestingly, Staff Promotion Exams which had been delayed, were approved and the promotions were eventually implemented. The annual health checkup of staff has been reviewed and checkups can now be done in any approved hospital in the Niger Delta, region.
The management carried out internal reorganisation of all Directorates and brought back the original structure recognised by the NDDC Establishment Act which provides for 13 Directorates.
The Board has also approved the staff conditions of service which has been expected for over a decade.
PEACEFUL NIGER DELTA
Among several legacies President Tinubu inherited from his predecessor is a largely peaceful Niger Delta region, eagerly expecting deliverables from extensive reforms carried out on the NDDC and its supervising Ministry, the Ministry of Niger Delta Development.
Just as the preceding administration took decisive steps to implement reforms in the NDDC and appointed competent technocrats to bring about what is today celebrated as a new dawn for the growth and progress of the region, President Tinubu re-enforced that by appointing some of the best hands in the region.
He stated from the onset of his administration that he will always favour competence over religious or political considerations, insisting that if Nigeria must move forward then it needs a government of national competence run by seasoned professionals.
The members of the NDDC Board appointed by President Tinubu fits the bill and their performance, has among other things, sustained the peace in the Niger Delta region.
The security agencies operating in the region, have expressed satisfaction with the assistance and cooperation they are getting from NDDC.
Both the General Officer Commanding, 6 Division of the Nigerian Army, Major General Jamal Abdulsalam and the Commander of Nigerian Navy Ship, NNS, Pathfinder, Commodore Desmond Okechukwu Igbo, gave kudos to NDDC when they visited the Commission’s headquarters at different times.
The NDDC boss stressed the need for collaboration to ensure that the Niger Delta region remained peaceful, noting that development could only take place in an atmosphere of peace and security.
He declared: “Development and security are intertwined because without security there will be no development and where there is security and development there will be prosperity. For the Niger Delta to be peaceful, we need both development and security. Incidentally, the foundation for development is security, hence there is need for collaboration between the NDDC and security agencies.”
BETTER DAYS AHEAD
The NDDC team is ramping up efforts to commission and put to use many more projects. Also, as the various programmes in education, health and youth development are executed, the development narrative of the Niger Delta region will change for the better.
