NDDC to Hold Niger Delta Stakeholders Summit

Blessing Ibunge in Port Harcourt

The Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Dr. Samuel Ogbuku, has announced that the Commission would soon hold a Niger Delta stakeholders’ summit to draft and push for the development of the region using the NDDC as a vehicle.

This was as the NDDC boss has re-stated the Commission’s resolve to fast-track the development of the Niger Delta region for the good of all its peoples

Ogbuku disclosed this yesterday, during a visit by a coalition of 27 leaders representing ethnic nationalities and professional bodies in the Niger Delta region, to the NDDC management team at the Commission’s headquarters in Port Harcourt.

He explained: “When we resumed, the NDDC had no approved budget. Now the budget has been passed by the National Assembly and we are ready to hit the ground running.

“The 2024 budget will be scrutinised during our proposed Niger Delta stakeholders’ summit where development items will be prioritised. Our programmes and activities will be presented at the summit. This will give all of us a sense of belonging in the developmental strides in the Region.”

He added: “Our people have grown beyond the level of armed struggle and moved on to intellectual struggle. The Niger Delta has gone through different phases and some of our critical stakeholders were instrumental to the birth of NDDC. Leaders will come and go but the NDDC remains as a vehicle for development of the Niger Delta region.”

Ogbuku received the leaders in the company of other members of the NDDC management team, comprising the Executive Director Finance and Administration, Major General Charles Airhiavbere,(Rtd.) and the Executive Director, Projects, Mr. Charles Ogunmola, as well as and other directors of the Commission.

Earlier in his address, the President, Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), Senator Emmanuel Ibok- Essien, said as committed patriots of the Niger Delta region, PANDEF, “the apex socio-cultural group in the region, has the blessings of our leader, Chief Edwin Clark, to visit you and give our solidarity to you and the management of the NDDC.”

The coalition of leaders representing the various ethnic nationalities and professional groups in the Niger Delta region declared their unalloyed support for Ogbuku at the NDDC.

Ibok-Essien, who led the coalition commended President Bola Tinubu for retaining the Management Committee of the NDDC after the dissolution of the Governing Board of the Commission, noting that it was a step in the right direction.

Speaking further, Ibok-Essien, urged the NDDC Managing Director not to disappoint the people of the region who have high expectations about his appointment.

The leaders of Niger Delta included the President of the Movement of the Survival of Izon Ethnic Nationality, Ambassador Kennedy Tonjo-West, Barrister C Omusuku, Hon Otos Akuphel, among others.