Niger Delta Development Commission

The Niger Delta Development Commission is a federal government agency established by Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo in the year 2000 with the sole mandate of developing the oil-rich Niger Delta region of Nigeria. In September 2008, President Umaru Yar'Adua announced the formation of a Niger Delta Ministry, with the Niger Delta Development Commission to become a parastatal under the ministry.[1] One of the core mandates of the Commission is to train and educate the youths of the oil rich Niger Delta regions to curb hostilities and militancy, while developing key infrastructure to promote diversification and productivity.

Niger Delta Development Commission
FormationJune 5, 2000
HeadquartersPort Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria
Chairman
None for now
Acting Managing Director/CEO
Kemebradikumo Pondei
Websitehttp://www.nddc.gov.ng/

Background

The NDDC was created largely as a response to the demands of the population of the Niger Delta, a populous area inhabited by a diversity of minority ethnic groups. During the 1990s these ethnic groups, most notably the Ijaw and the Ogoni established organisations to confront the Nigerian government and multinational oil companies such as Shell. The minorities of the Niger Delta have continued to agitate and articulate demands for greater autonomy and control of the area's petroleum resources. They justify their grievances by reference to the extensive environmental degradation and pollution from oil activities that have occurred in the region since the late 1950s. However, the minority communities of oil producing areas have received little or no currency from the oil industry and environmental remediation measures are limited and negligible. The region is highly underdeveloped and is poor even by Nigeria's standards for quality of life.

Sometimes violent confrontation with the state and oil companies, as well as with other communities has constrained oil production as disaffected youth or organisations deliberately disrupt oil operations in attempts to effect change. These disruptions have been extremely costly to the Nigerian oil industry, and both the multinationals and the federal government have vested interests in permitting uninterrupted extraction operations; the NDDC is a result of these concerns and is an attempt to satisfy the demands of the delta's population.

On August 31, 2020, NDDC Paid 197 Stranded UK Scholarship Students.[2]

Mandate and operations

The NDDC mandate:[3]

  • Formulation of policies and guidelines for the development of the Niger Delta area.
  • Conception, planning and implementation, in accordance with set rules and regulations, of projects and programs for sustainable development of the Niger Delta area in the field of transportation including roads, jetties and waterways, health, employment, industrialization, agriculture and fisheries, housing and urban development, water supply, electricity and telecommunications.
  • Surveying the Niger Delta in order to ascertain measures necessary to promote its physical and socio-economic development.
  • Preparing master plans and schemes designed to promote the physical development of the Niger Delta region and the estimation of the member states of the Commission.
  • Implementation of all the measures approved for the development of the Niger Delta region by the Federal Government and the states of the Commission.
  • Identify factors inhibiting the development of the Niger Delta region and assisting the member states in the formulation and implementation of policies to ensure sound and efficient management of the resources of the Niger Delta region.
  • Assessing and reporting on any project being funded or carried out in the region by oil and gas companies and any other company, including non-governmental organizations, as well as ensuring that funds released for such projects are properly utilized.
  • Tackling ecological and environmental problems that arise from the exploration of oil mineral in the Niger Delta region and advising the Federal Government and the member states on the prevention and control of oil spillages, gas flaring and environmental pollution.
  • Liaising with the various oil mineral and gas prospecting and producing companies on all matters of pollution, prevention and control.
  • Executing such other works and performing such other functions, which in the option of the Commission are required for the sustainable development of the Niger Delta region and its people

Abandoned Projects & Programmes

Fiber Optics/Telecoms and Oil Spill: In 2015, the NDDC started a three(3) months twin certification programme in December 2015, running into billions of naira that was abandoned two months into the training - The Fiber Optics/Telecoms (Owerri) and Oil Spill Management (Port Harcourt) Training for youths of the Niger Delta region. The two programmes were abandoned by the NDDC and its contractors Mr. Alex Duke(CEO of GreenData Limited). GreenData abandoned the 200 trainees in various hotels in Owerri. This is 2019, and the programmes are still not completed. The Presidency, the NDDC nor its contractor Mr. Alex Duke have said when the training will resume. This and other issues have led the current board of the Commission to cancel some contracts. This is not the first time contracts worth billions of naira have been abandoned and monies going into private pockets, which has brought the NDDC into the watchful eyes of the Presidency. One of the core mandates of the Commission is to train and educate the youths of the oil rich Niger Delta regions to curb hostilities and also to reduce poverty.

Executive Chairman

The position of Executive Chairman of the NDDC has been a subject of much debate. A compromise was reached where the position would be rotated within the nine oil producing states in alphabetical order: Abia, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Edo, Imo, Ondo and Rivers.

Chairman State Term of Service
Sen. Victor Ndoma-Egba Chairman of the Governing Board 2016–Present
H.E. Mr Nsima Ekere Managing Director/CEO 2016–Present
Mr Mene Derek Executive Director (Finance and Admin) 2016–Present
Engr. Adjogbe Samuel Executive Director, Project 2016–Present

See also

References
  1. Juliana Taiwo (11 September 2008). "Yar'Adua Creates Ministry of Niger Delta". This Day. Retrieved 2009-12-26.
  2. "NDDC Pays 197 Stranded UK Scholarship Students". Geeky Nigeria. 2020-09-01. Retrieved 2020-09-06.
  3. http://www.nddc.gov.ng/about%20us.html
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