The Niger Delta Development Commission has been in the eye of the storm for some time now. It is generally perceived with misgivings as being more of a curse than a blessing to the people of the Niger Delta region. The intervention agency, created by the Olusegun Obasanjo administration in 2000, is meant to address the infrastructure deficit in the region which contributes 90 per cent to the nation’s foreign exchange earnings.
The creation of the agency came as a huge relief to oil-producing communities, coming on the heel of the age-long marginalisation of the region since the discovery of crude oil in commercial quantities at Oloibiri Ogbia in 1956 in Bayelsa State. Unfortunately, rather than changing the region’s sad tale of marginalisation, the NDDC as an intervention agency has become even more pathetic; characterised by the waste of funds, non-compliance with the agency’s development master plan, and the lack of political will.
The saddest of it all is the high-wire corruption indices and several abandoned projects littering the entire landscape of the region. The forensic report on the activities of successive managements of the agency and the role of the briefcase-carrying politicians is quite revealing and mind-boggling. Happily, there is light at the end of the tunnel since the Dr Samuel Ogbuku-led NDDC management took over.
The Ogbuku-led management is working conscientiously, leaving no stone unturned to reverse the negative narratives about the commission by setting the tone for value reorientation in service delivery. This is in line with the NDDC mandate of facilitating “the sustainable, even and rapid development of the Niger Delta into a region that is socially stable, politically peaceful, economically, prosperous and ecologically regenerative.”
To this end, the management held a four-day retreat at the Ibom Icon Hotels and Golf Resort in Uyo, Akwa-Ibom State. The message at the retreat, which was instructive, centred on the fact that it would be no longer business as usual. It marked the launch pad for setting priorities right. The agency with the new sheriff in charge, engaged the services of KMPMG, a globally certified organisation in professional services in auditing to design a governance system for the commission. This is in line with the new vision and value reorientation to inaugurate a regime of transparency, accountability, and open corporate governance.
This was followed by the stakeholders’ summit, with the theme – Renewed Hope for Sustainable Development of the Niger Delta. This is indeed a paradigm shift from the past with the cardinal objective of entrenching an all-inclusive approach to needs assessment. The summit which was the first of its kind brought together critical stakeholders across the nine states that make up the oil-producing region, where each state seized the opportunity to identify and capture their various needs in the execution of projects.
Apart from identifying projects according to the needs and aspirations of oil-producing communities, it provided an opportunity for the first time in fostering unity of purpose to fast-track the task of confronting the development challenges in the Niger Delta. Already, the dividends of such an uncommon approach in laying the foundation for sustainable development are yielding bountiful results across the region. For instance, the nine Niger Delta states have become a construction site in the massive execution of road projects connecting oil-producing communities in the hinterland to the urban areas.
Within the short period, the management took over, it has executed the construction of 5,141 kilometres of roads across a region that is environmentally unfriendly and with terrain difficulties with swamps and rivers. As a matter of fact, against all odds, the Ogbuku-led management has put a broad smile on the faces of many oil-producing communities by connecting roads. The people of the region are beginning to keep behind them their days of lamentation when travelling was a difficult task because the use of river crafts and boats was the only means of transportation; thereby making commercial and social life difficult.
Though, when the management took over, the situation seemed insurmountable. Today, with the application of the political will in confronting the challenges in the region, the narrative is positively soaring to greater heights. Apart from completing and inaugurating the independent power project in Edo State to fast-track industrial take-off, there are concerted efforts in promoting large-scale investment in agro-allied businesses and social welfare programmes.
The broad vision of the agro-allied businesses is to take off the street the army of unemployed youths for meaningful engagements. The multiplier benefits of this proactive initiative are not only to stem the time bomb of young stars resorting to militancy, terrorism, and armed insurrection, but also to empower, engage, and equip them with entrepreneurial skills for self-reliance. Intestinally, since Ogbuku mounted the saddle, it is not an overstatement to state that the nagging problem of youth restlessness in the Niger Delta has dropped drastically. This is the direct result of the various empowerment schemes rolled out for the overall benefit of the people of Niger Delta.
In addition to that, human capital development is a prominent priority in the development agenda of the current management. Several scholarships have been awarded to both undergraduate and postgraduate students. Some of the beneficiaries of the programme today have turned out to be worthy ambassadors in promoting peace and entrepreneurial skills among youths in the region.
In the same vein, the management is not only distributing educational facilities to schools in the nooks and crannies of the Niger Delta for a functional educational system; it is also providing medical outreaches to serve the primary health needs of the rural communities to enhance their access to medical treatments. Those who have suffered a lack of access to medical evaluation and treatment are applauding the management for the unusual sense of human face, and honest and innovative leadership it has brought to bear on the leadership of the NDDC, with several testimonies to that effect.
Mr Sunday Odion from Edo State said, “I had an eye problem for years, I had no money to treat it. Today, I am relieved as one Ogbuku of the NDDC has sent his medical team to my village in Edo like a God-sent angel to treat my eyes and others suffering various sicknesses. May God bless him and we pray President Bola Tinubu continues to keep him there to do this good work.”
This is a quantum leap from the past when people rather saw the NDDC as a political cash cow. The management has effectively changed the narrative from a transactional mentality to that of a transformational road map for the overall benefit of all. The management deserves a pat on the back for charting a new path of the Renewed Hope Agenda of Tinibu which centres on the people. They have aptly demonstrated to the whole world as agents of transformational leadership.
This is where Tinubu needs to ignore the naysayers who revel in the campaign of calumny against the management and allow them to serve out their four-year mandate. The benefits of stability of any organisation cannot be overemphasised, and saying that the people of the Niger Delta are happy with the current management is not an overstatement. This is where the Federal Government needs to also increase the NDDC funding to make the desired impact; as such increase is critical to the peace and development in the Niger Delta.
The multi-national oil companies should equally do the needful by paying up the statutory funding provided in the Act establishing the commission to avoid unnecessary restlessness in the region. The NDDC management on its part should not rest on its oars. It must keep alive the shining testimonies of its people-oriented projects being executed across the Niger Delta region, which the people are already appreciating.
Okah is a public affairs analyst based in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State
