It is no longer news that the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) was on Saturday, March 15, 2025, honoured with the award of Interventionist Agency of the Year 2024 by Daily Independent Newspapers, in recognition of its landmark accomplishments and transformative impact on the Niger Delta region. What is arguably news however, is that the commission is the first ever interventionist agency of government to have received a recognition of that magnitude from a renowned national Daily.
The prestigious Awards ceremony was held at the Convention Centre, Eko Hotels and Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos. Apart from the NDCC, the event celebrated individuals and organisations that have contributed to national development.
At the colourful and well attended award ceremony, stakeholders were unanimous that with the NDDC management team led by Dr. Sam Ogbuku and and the Governing Board chaired by Barrister Chiedu Ebie, and with the steady support of Mr. President and key stakeholders, the Commission will continue to fulfill its mandate and deliver sustainable development for the people of the Niger Delta Region.
The Daily Independent Newspaper award, more than anything else, underlines, and brings to the fore how teamwork, collaboration and commitment which characterizes the activities of the present board and management beautifully drive the agency’s success stories.
This author is not alone in this sentiment as critical stakeholders and other relevant observers are also in agreement that the agency’s present governing board and management enjoy seamless working relationship and are totally committed to sustainable development of the region.
Indeed, to a broad spectrum of Niger Deltans of goodwill, this writer inclusive, the NDDC as presently constituted is synonymous with peaceful coexistence among members of the board and management, infrastructural provision, stakeholders’ engagement, human capital development and socio-economic strides in the oil-bearing region.
A validation of the above could be gleaned from the refreshing and reassuring words of the Chairman of the Governing Board, Barrister Ebie, who during a recent radio programme where he featured as a guest stated that, “for us, our key achievement, first and foremost, which is what many people will take for granted, is peace and stability within the board and the commission.
“In the past, you know, NDDC was always in the news for the wrong reasons. But I’m proud and confident to say that in the one year that we’ve been there, it has been very peaceful, coexisting within the board and then, for everybody that has to do with the commission.
“Another achievement also is that we have created a very harmonious working relationship”
On a seamless interface with critical Niger Delta stakeholders, Barrister Ebie opined that pragmatic leadership made it easier, noting, “have we been able to achieve that? We sat amongst ourselves and said ‘you must engage the stakeholders, periodically. “So, about six months into our tenure, we conveyed a Niger Delta Stakeholder Summit which was held in two days in Port Harcourt. In July, we had critical stakeholder engagement ranging from the private sector to top government officials, to ethnic nationalities, and so on. We keep those engagements going.
“We’ve also engaged with the youth groups as well. I think we’ve had two such engagements with the youth group. So, in terms of stakeholder management, the day-to-day administration of the commission is led by the Managing Director/Chief Executive, Sam Ogbuku who I will say, has done an excellent job.
“We on the board, as a non-executive chairman, we superintend over the board and by extension, we supervise over the activities of management.
“So, we’ve worked to create that harmonious working relationship and at the same time, engage the stakeholders. So, that’s in terms of management and administration,” the NDDC chairman stated.
On infrastructural and human capital development, he said, “Other achievements would have to do with infrastructural development and capacity building in various areas, which I can highlight as we go along. But I will pause for now.
“There are a whole load of programs by the commission, which as we all know, is an interventionist agency. Sometimes, people tend to mistake NDDC for a tier of government. They make it seem as if NDDC is a tier of government but it’s an interventionist agency. In doing that, one of the things we will seek to achieve is to also make sure that we conduct empowerment.
“Now, the main one which we sat down and put together is Project Hope, which stands for holistic opportunities, programs and engagements. This is built around meticulously crafted programmes which include agriculture, entrepreneurship, internship, music and arts”
Barrister Ebie further said: “Now, one of the things we realized is that over time, over the 24 years of its existence, NDDC has empowered many people.
“They’ve trained a lot of people. But you find that it is very difficult for you to sit down and determine the exact numbers or even the evaluation. What has been the impact of these empowerment programmes? So, it is a bit hazardous, and a bit unified. We sat down and said we need to rejig this thing.
“We need to create something that over time, as we go along, we will be able to measure the impact and know what each person has achieved and how it has impacted their lives. Has it taken them out of the poverty bracket and thrust them up the ladder? So, we came up with Project Hope which is in three phases.”
According to Barrister Ebie, the first phase of the programme has to do with mapping and paper gathering which has so far seen about 3.2million youths registered on the platform. Phase Two, he disclosed, is on the offing.
“We also have the youth internship scheme which we sort of made public towards the second or third quarter of last year where we tried to empower 10,000 youths across the nine NDDC states.
“Of course, based on their different skills, they would earn a monthly allowance of N50,000. The world is advancing, there is technological advancement. Even your radio station here, as you can see, has benefitted from technological advancement.
“So, anything we’re doing, we have to base it along those lines. Everything is online. We register online. So, even for the youth internship scheme which would kick off in earnest, in January, we’ve now been able to gather all the data and categorise all the people into the different vocations or skill settings. These are two major empowerment programmes,” Barrister Ebie added.
Speaking on NDDC’s intervention in the education sector in the Niger Delta, he informed that “educationally, we recently launched the U-lesson tabs, which is also another initiative of the commission. We had the launch to signify the partnership between the commission and the First Lady.”
“Yet again, this borders on technology, where we will be distributing tabs to schools across the region. And we’re very particular this time around. We don’t want to give out these things to students, parents or teachers who would toss them in one corner or use them for other things.
“Now, these are tabs that have a curriculum loaded onto them. And they aid learning and teaching as well. A pilot programme was run by the manufacturers. In over one year, they were able to measure the impact it has had on the children and the fact that it significantly improved their cognitive skills and their learning abilities.
“So, the outcomes were pretty impressive, which is what we’re trying to replicate across the nine states. Of course, we have the foreign scholarship programme which is postgraduate, where we offer scholarships to 200 hundred indigenes of the region who go through a rigorous process in determining those that are becoming eligible.
“I remember, when the board just got inaugurated in November of last year, one of the very first complaints I received was from people who said we should halt the scholarship scheme and review it. But when we sat down, and we spoke with the directorate responsible for it, we reviewed the process. We found that it was indeed very detailed, very transparent and it was given to those that were deserving of it.
“Out of two hundred students that went abroad for this postgraduate scholarship program, eleven of them graduated with a distinction. It goes to show that it’s a good thing. What it does is that apart from the fact that you’re getting a postgraduate degree from a good foreign university, It also puts you on a different pedestal,” he added.
Continuing, the NDDC boss pointed out, “The effect is that it improves you and enables you to get a good job. When you return, you come and contribute your quarter to the improvement of the region. And then, eventually, we’re improving the knowledge base and empowering our people with good quality education.”
Evidently, tenacity of purpose, goal driven mindset, team spirit and selflessness are the elixirs of success Barrister Ebie’s Governing Board and Dr. Ogbuku’s Management have applied on the NDDC; elixirs that have resulted in unrivaled, unprecedented achievements in the past one year and few months of their assumption of offices.
A heartwarming and exhilarating milestone, if you ask me!
