Continuity key to sustaining gains at NDDC – Pioneer chairman
The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) needs continuity in leadership, project conception and implementation to consolidate the gains recorded so far, the pioneer chairman of the commission, Chief Onyema Ugochukwu, has said. He spoke at the weekend in the wake of the 25th Anniversary of the NDDC which was established by former President Olusegun Obasanjo […]
The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) needs continuity in leadership, project conception and implementation to consolidate the gains recorded so far, the pioneer chairman of the commission, Chief Onyema Ugochukwu, has said.
He spoke at the weekend in the wake of the 25th Anniversary of the NDDC which was established by former President Olusegun Obasanjo to address teething challenges in the oil-rich Niger Delta, occasioned by neglect, environmental degradation and militancy.
In an interview with journalists in Abuja, Ugochukwu, 80, and a veteran journalist, said under Dr Samuel Ogbuku as the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, as well as Mr Chiedu Ebie as chairman, the NDDC was meeting the yearnings and aspirations of the people. He advised that they should be supported to continue with what they were doing.
“It’s been a long struggle for the commission and I am happy to say that we have noticed a change, a new determination to recreate the commission and I want to thank the current management in place for what they are doing to revive the spirit that was there at the beginning of the NDDC.
“When the idea of the NDDC started during the presidential campaign of President Olusegun Obasanjo after he visited Warri and some states and towns in the Niger Delta, he came up with the belief that something special should be done to tackle the problem in the Niger Delta and beyond what you saw in the neglected area, there was also agitation by the youths of the Niger Delta at a time.
“When he was sworn in, he had already prepared the NDDC bill; it was the second bill he submitted to the National Assembly, the first was the ICPC bill,” he said.
While admitting that the NDDC had faced serious challenges in the past, especially the frequency at which the leadership was being changed, he said the commission is now on the right trajectory and therefore advocated for continuity and increased funding to serve the people.
“The current leadership should do whatever they can to get the governors to buy into their plan and even this new idea of master plan, the federal government should buy into it because it has a lot to do in the implementation. They have more funds than anybody.
“Something they should change is the law to put the NDDC under the presidency, it shouldn’t be under a minister and I don’t think they have changed that law. It is irregular to put NDDC under a minister.
“They (current leadership) are doing a good job and I have said that so many times and in so many places and now I have no revision about commending them. You know what, so many things went wrong in the NDDC two years ago during the caretaker committee, sole administrators, and things being done irregularly and now they are doing very well to raise hope again.
“I think the government should let them stay together for some time because that is the only way to get the NDDC back to what it should be doing,” he said.