FG Urges NDDC to Collaborate with State Govts, Adhere to Public Service Rules

*Commission completes 7,833 projects in 24 years

Ndubuisi Francis in Abuja

The Federal Government has urged the new board and management of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) to collaborate with critical stakeholders, especially the state governments, saying this was necessary to leverage opportunities in achieving the presidential deliverables.

It also admonished the commission 

to cautiously strive to enthrone a regime of strengthened institution through transparent and realistic adherence to financial regulations, public procurement acts, public service rules, and compliance with administrative guidelines.  

The Minister in charge of the Ministry of Niger Delta Development Commission (MNDD), Abubakar Momoh, gave the admonition during a management retreat of the NDDC.

The retreat with the theme ‘Renewed Hope: A New Era for Vitality, Peace and Development’ ended in Ikot Ekpene, Akwa Ibom State at the weekend.

 Momoh said: “There is a need to cautiously monitor and evaluate the performances of all contracts to ensure compliance. On our side as a ministry, we would make sure that monitoring measures are put in place to guarantee quality and ensure projects implemented stand the test of time.

“We need to do things differently with the new board so that people can see the value for money spent.”

The former lawmaker noted that in his ministry’s commitment to make a difference, it prioritised the harmonisation of all development programmes and plans into a single integrated regional development plan and a roadmap to accelerate the development of the region.

The minister stated that the retreat presented the opportunity to interrogate and prescribe solutions in “our corrective quest for sustainable development”.

“It’s a platform in which management and stakeholders come together to brainstorm, cross-pollinate ideas, and chant new way forward. It is a veritable opportunity for us to examine some of the factors that have militated against the collective and efficient operations of NDDC in the last few years and we have a lot to learn from the presence of past leaders of the organisation.

“If we must make any headway in charting the desired roadmap for sustainable development, all hands must be on deck with every courage, it deserves to tackle these factors that have constituted a clog in the wheel of the development programmes and policies in the region. In specific terms, today marks the rebirth of another era in the management of NDDC.

“To this end, I urge the new board and management of NDDC to cautiously strive to enthrone a regime of strengthened institution through transparent and realistic adherence to financial regulations, public procurement acts, public service rules, and compliance with administrative guidelines.

“Also, collaboration with critical stakeholders, especially with the state governments is necessary to leverage the opportunities in achieving the presidential deliverables.

“There is a need to cautiously monitor and evaluate the performances of all contracts to ensure compliance. On our side as a ministry, we would make sure that monitoring measures are put in place to guarantee quality and ensure projects implemented stand the test of time. We need to do things differently with the new board so that people can see the value for money spent,“ he said.

Speaking earlier, the NDDC Chairman, Mr. Chiedu Ebie, called for the adoption of strategies that would enable the introduction and establishment of coordinated development in the region. 

He stated that at the end of the retreat, there should be the awareness that “the main parameters for our assessment as board members and management staff would be dependent on the way we discharge our responsibilities and the legacies we live behind in terms of development”.

The Managing Director/CEO, NDDC, Dr. Samuel Ogbuku, in his presentation titled ‘The Journey So Far and the Road Ahead’,

noted that the commission was created by an act of Parliament 24 years ago due to the agitation for a better life in the region. 

Since then, he noted that the interventionist agency had done a lot in the provision of education, clean water, good health facilities, roads, medical outreach and training, among others, adding that even with this, a lot of people have different impressions of the commission.

Ogbuku said over the years, the NDDC had completed 7,833 projects, while 3,427 are ongoing to mitigate developmental challenges. 

However, he observed that in the course of doing this, mistakes were made resulting in many abandoned projects. 

In addressing this situation, Ogbuku advocated the ‘Triple T’ approach–Transiting from Transaction to ‘Transformation.