By Our Reporters

The Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, will give full effect to the NDDC Act of 2,000 which established the interventionist agency in order to create synergy and achieve its core mandate of sustainable regional development.

Speaking at a three-day retreat at Onne in the outskirts of Port Harcourt,  with the theme, “Collaboration for Sustainable Development” for members of the Governing Board, Directors and strategic stakeholders, the commission’s Chairman, Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba, said the commission was committed “to audit processes, systems, projects and personnel for integrity, efficiency, transparency and accountability.”

Head of Corporate Affairs of the NDDC, Mr. Chijioke Amu-Nnadi stated this in a statement made available to Vanguard, yesterday.

According to Sen.  Ndoma-Egba “the Niger Delta Development Advisory Committee, made up of the governors of the member states of the commission, and two persons to be determined from time to time by the President would be revived”

He said: “The Advisory Committee is charged with the responsibility of advising the board and monitoring the activities of the commission.

“A full functional Advisory Committee will ensure harmonisation of projects and programmes with the member states and will make the commission a partner to the states, rather than the competitor it now appears to be.”

He stated that the Monitoring Committee “consisting of such number of persons as the President may deem fit to appoint from the public or civil service of the federation, will also be revived, in order to “monitor the management of the funds of the Commission,” as well as the implementation of the commission’s projects.

He declared that the Committee “will have access to the books of account and other records of the Commission at all times, and submit periodic reports to the President,” saying that these were measures being put in place by the Governing Board and Management to reinforce transparency and accountability, as well as strengthen the governance framework required to improve performance.

“Governance issues beguile the Commission,” Senator Ndoma-Egba said. “Its systems and processes are weak and opaque. Those who hold this view cite the sheer volume of over 9,000 contracts and the rate of failure of these contracts without consequences or sanctions to anyone whatsoever as evidence. We have no option but to change things.”

He added: “It is in the best interest of the Commission that all its organs are active.”

The Chairman also blamed the budget process for being “largely responsible for the spate of abandoned projects” in the region, adding: “The approach to the project has been ad hoc, arbitrary and self-serving, with very little end-user content. Many projects appear strange to beneficiary communities. The projects are imposed on them and it creates a crisis of ownership.”

He promised to work with communities, states and local governments in developing the Commission’s projects, declaring: “Our vision is the creation of a regional economy with identified drivers that will be youth-friendly, as a motivated, educated and empowered youth remain the real resource of any nation, not oil or mineral resources.”

Senator Ndoma-Egba listed ICT, sports, the creative industry, agriculture and manufacturing “supported by inter-modal transportation, health, education and infrastructure, with adequate power supply” as key to the new thrust of the NDDC. He added that this vision would be achieved within a “Master Plan that must be stakeholder-generated and owned.”

He called on all parties in the region to work with the Commission towards enthroning peace and security in the Niger Delta, saying: “I will continue to appeal to all militant groups to stop the breaches and vandalisation of oil facilities. Their point has long been made. Now they are inflicting injuries and suffering on themselves and our already hapless and helpless people.”

Poor governance bane of development-Nsima Ekere

In the meantime, the Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission, Mr. Nsima Ekere, has identified poor governance as the biggest challenge to achieving the sustainable development of the Niger Delta region.

Mr. Ekere’s position is contained in a paper entitled, “Dangerous Beasts and How to Tame Them: The 4-R Strategy”, which he delivered at the three-day retreat organised by the commission for key officials and critical stakeholders in Onne, Rivers State.

Ekere said, “Poor governance of self and institutions is at the heart of public sector delivery challenges and these have resulted in poorly delivered infrastructure which decays rapidly, lack of social services, pervasive poverty, resurgent militant attacks, pollution of the environment and decreased revenue to government.”

He disclosed that the Niger Delta Master Plan, which originally required 15 years to implement at a cost of $50 billion, has failed to achieve its vision and objectives, despite the region receiving, according to figures released by the Ministry of Petroleum, $40 billion in ten years, declaring: “Sadly, there is little evidence to show for the sums spent.”

Mr. Ekere also stated that 50 years ago, “Nigeria, China and South Korea were at similar stages of development, but due to poor governance, Nigeria is way behind,” pointing out that while the 1960 per capita income of the three countries were $155 for South Korea, $89 for China and $92 for Nigeria. By 2015, according to the World Bank, the per capita income stood at $27,221 for South Korea, with a population of 50 million, $8,000 for China with a population of 1,370 million and $2,600 for Nigeria, with a population of 180 million people, he said.

He identified weak internal processes, procedures and control, weak organisational culture and unethical practices, among others, as factors impeding the successful implementation of the NDDC mandate and declared that the 4-R Initiative of the Governing Board was set to change things for the better.

“The 4-R strategy encapsulates the solution required to address the myriad challenges facing NDDC,” the NDDC MD said, adding that the Board will restructure the balance sheet, reform governance protocols, restore the core mandate of the Commission and reaffirm “a commitment to doing what’s right and proper.”

Mr. Ekere said: “With about N1.2 trillion of the contingent liabilities on its balance sheet, NDDC needs to find ways to free funds for urgent development projects and programmes,” promising to review over-invoiced projects, determine wrongly procured contracts and recover mobilisation from abandoned projects

We will also recover excess bank charges, recover outstanding IOC contributions and reschedule payment of outstanding statutory contributions of the Federal Government.”

He called for collaboration among stakeholders to achieve sustainable development in the Niger Delta, adding that the NDDC Governance and Reform Project (NGRP) will “catalyse the irreversible reform of the NDDC by enforcing compliance with rules and regulations.

“We must begin to do the right thing in the Commission, no matter what it takes. Two things are likely to happen: it’s either we tame the beast or we get bitten by the beast. We hope to tame the beast, for the good of the people.”

The three-day session was declared open by the Minister of the Niger Delta, Pastor Usani Usani, and attended by ministers of Environment, Mrs.  Amina Mohammed, Ministers of State for Environment, Health and the Niger Delta, Chairman of the Senate Committee on the Niger Delta, Senator Peter Nwagboshi and his House of Representatives Committee Hon Mutu; members of the diplomatic corps, international donor agencies, representatives of international oil companies; representatives of civic societies,  oil producing communities and other stakeholders.