NDDC And The Expected Changes Under The Minister

NDDC And The Expected Changes Under The Minister

Whenever the issue of the Niger Delta region in Nigeria is raised, the writer’s mind will always run to Michael Peel’s thorough investigative work, as imprinted in his book, “Swamp Full of Dollars”. Peel’s book describes the rich and raucous characters and life in Nigeria and the geopolitics of oil, as well as her history, the corruption, the creativity and such a wealth of possibilities in her early post-independent life (1960’s) sidelined by so many built-in negatives that worked against her transformation from the giant to the star of Africa.

When narrowed down, the Niger Delta does more in modelling the book’s title, considering its situation as the goose that lays the golden eggs, yet the most underdeveloped region in the country.

Peel must have seen Nigeria and its government in the light of a wealthy man who enjoys making babies.

The region’s underdeveloped situation that persisted for decades, coupled with sustained revolts by militating forces rising therein, was what influenced the creation of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC). Put simply, the initiative that birthed the commission was triggered by years of neglect and cries by Niger-Deltans which culminated in an uprising aimed at forcing the attention of authorities to their plights.

The commission was given the mandate of proffering a lasting solution to the region’s socio-economic challenges, as well as facilitating for it, a rapid and sustainable development that will transform the region to an economically prosperous, socially stable, ecologically regenerative and politically peaceful one. The pertinent question after 22 years of existence is, how far has the commission gone in fulfilling this mandate? The pertinence of the question notwithstanding, the foregoing rather seeks not to delve into the past misgivings in the commission, especially the case where drivers of the commission had mistaken it for a platform to launch or relaunch political careers and a milk source to feed outrageous political ambition bills, but to evaluate the developmental prospects of Niger Delta as the current reign under the new minister beckons, and in line with the action plan drawn from the core mandates of the commission.

No doubts, the commission has over the years undertaken thousands of developmental projects. However, these projects seem to have made far less impact on the supposed benefitting communities and the people in them, and two factors widely cover up as reasons, namely: lack of pre-project needs assessment, and politically influenced projects, or projects awarded for political reasons.

In living up to their corporate social responsibilities, even private organisations understand the importance of proper needs assessment. The practice of public relations frowns at the CSR approach of imposing projects on host communities, but rather advises on the need for stakeholders interface for the purpose of identifying the needs of their hosts. By this, projects initiated and delivered will have more impact and appreciated by the people against the ones that would have been imposed. Hence, in finding solutions to the development issues in the region, the commission has to engage stakeholders represented according to each constituting part of the region through holding town hall meetings with community leaders and not politicians, where the real, not assumed needs of each community would be aired and taken note of for solution-based action.

This approach to CSR should be a lead to delivering the mandate of encouraging private sector contribution to the development of the region. Aside proposing partnerships with private establishments towards boosting targeted impacts from developmental projects and programmes, the NDDC appears committed this time to establishing for government, a database of community needs arranged in their order of urgency and importance. With this database in place, the commission would serve as a consulting point for corporate entities and community oriented non profit organisations who need information on communities, their challenges and core areas of need.

On improving security in the region, the commission has the responsibility of interfacing between the federal government and communities on conflict resolution before it escalate. It would recommend best approaches toward tackling insecurity in the region. Insecurity in the Niger Delta has been on the frontline of discussions over the years; as the region which bears the brunt of the nation’s crude oil exploitation, it has been enmeshed in conflicts for more than four decades due to neglect by government. The region is a horrendous tale of poverty and gross underdevelopment amidst wealth, left to face consequences of the destruction of its natural environments. Decades of environmental pollution has affected means of livelihood in most communities. The effect of oil spills and gas flares has brought death to aquatic lives and waste to farm lands. The negligence by government and exploring firms and resulting perception of apathy gave rise to insurgency and militancy. Since the administration of Late President Yar’adua, government has been struggling to end militancy and its negative effects on oil/gas facilities and the economy by extension.

The action plan of the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs for overhauling the NDDC is a appears geared towards adopting democratic approach that will play down on imposition and promote multilateralism and consensus on issues of development. Apparently, the ministry has adopted inclusive management principles which engenders cooperation. This multilateral approach will build a sense of belonging among local actors. Inclusivity will build trust in government, create a synergy with youths and have them turn their militating energy into community based security forces to protect rather than deplete public facilities in the region.