NDDC Not a Failed Agency, Says Ogbuku

 Blessing Ibunge in Port Harcourt

The Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Dr. Samuel Ogbuku, has explained that the commission is not completely a failure.

Ogbuku, who noted that funding had been a challenge for the commission, and this has made it imperative to think out of the box to provide solutions, said the agency would achieve its mandate despite the challenges.

Speaking during an interactive meeting with Women Leaders of Ethnic Nationalities and key stakeholders in the Niger Delta region at the NDDC headquarters in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, yesterday, Ogbuku said mistakes may have been made in the past years, but there is a need for collaboration to move the region forward.

He, however, urged Niger Deltans to desist from casting aspersions on NDDC, as such action belittles the commission and the Niger Delta region in the eyes of the international community, thus reducing the chances of building fruitful collaborations with
them.

Addressing the women, the NDDC boss pledged to initiate projects and programmes to develop the capacity of women and youths in the Niger Delta region, adding that the agency was focused on building strategic partnerships with the women and youths of the region.

He said: “The women form the core of our development programmes. We have met and spoken with the youths. We are planning to meet with the women.”

He informed the women leaders that the NDDC would reach out to them as critical stakeholders in the Niger Delta region as part of the commission’s programme to engage with all stakeholders in the formulation of the commission’s overall strategies for the development of the region.

According to him, “Not until we give all our leaders, political, traditional, youths, women and other leaders in the Niger Delta that platform and opportunity to discuss what our future should be, we may not understand the direction that our people want to go.”

Ogbuku observed that after the recent ‘Partners for Sustainable Development Forum NDDC 2024 Budget of Reconstruction Conference’ in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, the women leaders felt neglected and left out in the commission’s activities.

He remarked that the non-participation of women groups in the summit was not deliberate, stating that henceforth, such oversight will be avoided.

The NDDC boss said further: “We will soon hold a Niger Delta Stakeholders’ Summit, and the women must be a part of it. We need to provide a platform for all our stakeholders to contribute ideas for the development of the Niger Delta region. The stakeholders’ summit will leverage the 2023 Budget. Once it is signed, we should be able to agree on the areas of priorities based on our current realities.

“We have met with the youths and this yielded good ideas such as the Holistic Opportunity Projects of Engagement (HOPE). We will meet with the women as well. We will sit with the women’s groups to articulate their needs and the things that will bring an all-round development.

“We have entered an agreement with KPMG to clean up our internal processes and encourage our partners. Just last week, we met with the development agencies of France and Germany to facilitate training and create jobs for our youths and women, especially in the area of farming.”

The Niger Delta Women Leader and activist, Lady Ankio Briggs, commended the leadership of the NDDC for seeking alternative sources of funding for the commission’s projects through its PPP programme, noting that the NDDC’s initiative will help to correct the inconsistencies in the Niger Delta region caused by underdevelopment.

Briggs also lamented that NDDC was owed huge sums, running into trillions of naira, which was slowing down the pace of development, adding that the commission cannot function effectively in the face of debts.