NDDC No Longer A Transactional Agency, Say N’Delta Stakeholders

Stakeholders in the Niger Delta region have declared that the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) has transited from a transactional to a transformational agency.

The stakeholders, under the auspices of Niger Delta Opinion Leaders, Youths and Weighted Stakeholders, applauded President Bola Tinubu for the choice of Dr. Samuel Ogbuku as the NDDC managing director.

Addressing journalists in Port Harcourt on Monday on behalf of the group, President of Ijaw Youth Council (IYC), Freedom Atikpi, said under the current management of the interventionist agency, Niger Deltans were experiencing core development projects, which is a deviation from the previous norms and practices.

Atikpi commended Ogbuku for convoking another roundtable conference with opinion leaders and youth leaders in the region to give the people of the region an update on the position of the NDDC budget, as well as inform them about the implementation of programmes, policies and projects aimed at rebuilding the Niger Delta economy.

He said: “As independent minds, observers and partakers of the development process of our region, we witnessed that not quite two months after Dr. Samuel Ogbuku assumed office as Managing Director of NDDC, he called for an interactive session with opinion/youth leaders of the region where he sought for patience of everyone with the board and management.

“He also reeled our some viable and sustainable programmes and projects of the commission his leadership intends to implement for the development of the youths, weighted stakeholders and growth of the region after the budget might have passed by the National Assembly.

“Again, a few months after, he has convoked another roundtable conference through the office of his Special Adviser on Youth Matters, to give his people an update on the position of the budget and to inform them that implementation of programmes, policies and projects aimed at rebuilding the Niger Delta economy towards self-sufficiency would commence soon.

“Ladies and gentlemen, this is a leadership at its best where dialogue and accountability is on display. This convinces us that what we are experiencing in the Dr. Samuel Ogbuku-led management is beyond any describable form of leadership.

“We see it as a movement. It is a movement for the rebirth of a functional NDDC that transits from transaction to transformation. It is an idea which has come to give a new dimension to leadership in the NDDC and our region, and for making such appointment, we thank President Bola Tinubu for his visionary insight.”