A former Chairman of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba, SAN, has appealed to the Federal Government to stop the frequent changes in the leadership of the Commission to allow for continuity and growth in the Niger Delta region.
Speaking during a two-day Board and Management Retreat in Lagos, Ndoma-Egba advised the government to ensure the completion of all Boards’ tenures, stating that continuity was key to project completion and the success of the intervention agency.
He stated: “The law is clear, and I think it is in Section 3, which states that if you’re appointed for four years, it is renewable for another four years. I believe the law’s drafters appreciated the need for stability and continuity. They understood that projects, programmes, and plans would be negatively affected without stability and continuity.”
The former NDDC Chairman advocated the need for a review of the Niger Delta Regional Development Master Plan. He advised that “the roadmap for the development of the Niger Delta should be owned by all the key stakeholders, especially the state governments.
Speaking in a similar vein, the NDDC Executive Director of Projects, Sir Victor Antai, underlined the need for stakeholders to collaborate with the NDDC as an interventionist agency mandated to fast-track the development of the Niger Delta region.
He noted: “Stability in the leadership of the Commission will foster long-term strategic planning and consistent leadership, ultimately contributing to effectively executing its mandate and objectives.”
Antai lamented that the NDDC had suffered in the previous years due to inconsistencies in leadership tenures. “Most board and management *teams* have not completed their tenures, and this has led to consistent policy somersaults at the region’s expense,” he said.
“The lack of continuity has been a serious problem and a drawback to the development of the Niger Delta region,” he stressed.
The problems in the Niger Delta should not be left to the government and NDDC alone but all the other stakeholders. He observed:“I must also tell you that the current management is doing well. If the government can retain them longer and provide more resources for them, they will be able to perform much better.”
Making a presentation to the NDDC Board and Management, a partner in KPMG Nigeria, Mr. Tolu Odukale, called for NDDC to practice good governance by implementing the basic rules, practices, and processes of corporate governance and adopting a set of relationships between the organisation’s board, management, and key stakeholders.
“Most stakeholders are yearning for the region’s transformation, and their perceptions are important. The commission should continuously imbibe openness and transparency, which, in turn, *build* confidence in decisions made by the board members.”
The NDDC Director of Planning Research and Statics/MIS, Mr Davies Okarevu, affirmed that continuity in leadership, project conception, and implementation was needed to consolidate the recorded gains.
He said the NDDC was meeting the people’s yearnings and aspirations. He advised that they should be supported to continue the development activities in the Niger Delta.
While admitting that the NDDC had faced serious challenges, Okarevu said the Commission was on the right trajectory and advocated continuity and increased funding to serve the people.
