NDDC MD Urges Directors to Shun Tribalism, Nepotism, Political Tendencies

Ndubuisi Francis in Abuja 

The acting Managing Director of Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Dr. Samuel Ogbuku has admonished the directors of the Commission to avoid tribalistic, nepotic, political and other negative tendencies capable of derailing the vision of the new management to deliver and positively change the narrative in the Niger Delta region.

Ogbuku gave the admonition during his closing remarks in Abuja, Wednesday at the end of a two-week workshop on strategic management and leadership for directors of the agency organised by the Administrative Staff College of Nigeria (ASCON).

He stressed that his expectation was to see directors who understand that they were career civil servants, and aspiring to get to their peak as professionals, not those who want to be nepotic or tribalistic.

According to him, nepotism does not compliment but is alien to administration, adding that administration was all about excellence.

“So, since administration is about excellence, you must speak the language of administration, and in speaking the language of administration,  you must act the language of administration.

“So, when you speak and act the language of administration, those antibodies to administration must never be in you; meaning that you purge yourselves of anything that negates administration.”

He commended the directors of the Commission for their exemplary conduct in the course of the training as testified by the Director General of ASCON, Mrs. Cecilia Gayya.

According to him, the whole idea of sending them for the training was to ensure they take the administrative knowledge acquired back to the agency in order to make a difference in the Commission for the overall benefit of the region.

“The whole idea of sending you for this programme is to ensure you bring back your experience back, improve the administration and ensure that things are done differently.

“The new directors need to understand your roles, you need to understand your boundaries, they need to understand their strengths. They need to understand when to use them and when not to.

“They need to understand that they are public servants and not civil servants. So, these are some of the things we thought you ought to be equipped with to know,” he said.

Ogbuku urged them to understand that they were not politicians and should therefore not dabble into political activities in order not to destabilise the Commission.

He noted that there had been instances in the past where staff of the NDDC were enmeshed in political antics.

Ogbuku stated that by virtue of their training and induction by ASCON,  the directors should not only avail NDDC of their experience but become worthy ambassadors of ASCON.

ASCON, he added, was a reputable institution that trained many senior citizens of the country and officials of  top organisations, adding that the directors were fortunate to be among the beneficiaries of the top-notch knowledge imparted by the college.

Ogbuku advised the directors that in their conduct and actions, they  should understand their roles, and  know their boundaries, stressing that what mattered was not the duration of the training.

According to him, what mattered most was that they were taught by experienced people, expressing the belief that the directors would see some of the teachers as role models as well as mentors. 

He stressed that one of the things lacking in the public service was the paucity of public mentor for servants.

Ogbuku noted that directors should be wary of their actions, adding that some of their actions could mislead their subordinates who are looking up to them as role models.

He observed “that some of us as directors are too quick to query our juniors,” admonishing that sometimes the directors must learn to talk to them instead of applying sanctions or queries.

According to him, admonition sometimes changes the mind more than punishment, urging them not to use power arbitrarily to punish their subordinates.

He urged them to pass the knowledge acquired at the ASCON training back to others.

“We are supposed to be training and retraining our staff. This is just the beginning,” he said, urging the directors to replicate the knowledge back to others in the NDDC on their roles and to make understand what was expected of them.

” We want to do things differently. We want to improve on our services. We want to take up challenges. We want to start with the staff first to ensure that all the staff are properly trained and they understand their roles,” he said. 

Further underscoring the necessity of the training, he disclosed that some of the trainees confessed that they learnt entirely new things which they were lacking.

Those lapses, he stated, may have informed the way certain things were done at the NDDC in the past, with poor outcomes.

The acting NDDC boss expressed the hope that by the time the directors would resume next week, he would be seeing a rejuvenated staff strength  directors  who will understand their boundaries and not directors warming up to be acting CEOs of the Commission.

In her closing address, the Director General of ASCON, Mrs. Cecilia Gayya noted that the programme  was carefully designed and implemented to provide  the needed knowledge, skills and capacity to adequately and promptly dischargetheir esponsibilities and thus, make meaningful contributions towards the attainment of the mission and vision of the NDDC.  

“The conscientiousness with which you participated on this programme for the past two weeks is a testimony of your preparedness for the challenges ahead and thus gives us hope that this training will impact positively on your performance, especially as you rise higher in the strategic realm of the management of the Commission.

“Distinguished graduating participants, with the report of hard work, commitment to the training and thus your successful completion of this programme, I have the honour to, on behalf of the Management and Staff of ASCON, welcome you and induct you into our distinguished and prestigious Alumni as “ASCONIANS.  

“May I use this opportunity to implore you to contribute your quota to the growth and development of the NDDC and by extension, Nigeria by leveraging on all that you have learnt from this training,” she said