Ahead agric investment summit: Food, jobs to return to Niger Delta as NDDC launches food security scheme from summit

The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) is set to mount a world class agric investment summit. The upcoming summit is expected to open financing windows up to $5bn to help begin an agric revolution.

This is said to be part of a food security project by the interventionist Commission which is said to have moved from transaction management system to transformation.

The agric revolution backed by the Federal Government is expected to bring food back to the region.

For long, the Niger Delta region has been turned into consumer zone in food and manufactured goods. The region which was known to produce and supply fish, garri, palm oil, etc, to the rest of Nigeria has been pushed into a consumer region and importer of items.

The reason is not far-fetched. The oil boom that began at about 1960 attracted many waves of migration into the region, thus creating millions of mouths but no hands to produce food. This turn of event attracted a wave of suppliers across the country and beyond that pursued demand to wherever it was found and turned the oil region into a high-cost economy.

With the intervention of the NDDC, the greenery that once draped the Niger Delta landscape now looks set to return with its freshness and bounty. After many years of pollution from oil exploration and exploitation, the Niger Delta environment yearns for revitalisation.

The spark for the restoration journey begins with the Niger Delta Agricultural Development and Investment Summit (NDADIS) taking place in Abuja on July 15, 2026. Insiders said it is expected to unlock thousands of agricultural jobs, transform the region’s economy, and improve food security in Nigeria’s oil-rich region.

Organised by the office of the Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, in collaboration with the NDDC, the investment summit is said to be anchored on the theme: “Unlocking Investment for Sustainable Agricultural Transformation in the Niger Delta.”

According to Ibrahim Hassan Hadejia, the Deputy Chief of Staff to the President, Office of the Vice President, the investment summit will present a platform to leverage the region’s vast agricultural potential, attract $5 billion in investment and create over 500,000 jobs over the next five years.

Hadejia said that the high-profile Summit would formally launch the Niger Delta Agricultural Development and Investment Fund, inaugurate a High-Level Coordinating Platform for agricultural development and investment, and define a demand-side strategy to generate a credible pipeline of investible agricultural opportunities. “The summit will mobilise the collective commitment of Government, investors, development partners, and the private sector to transform the Niger Delta’s agricultural potential into measurable economic progress,” he added.

Insiders admit that the road to the summit began with a regional workshop convened by the NDDC in 2025, with support from the Niger Delta state governors, who delegated their state commissioners, permanent secretaries, and directors of agriculture to attend. The workshop set the stage for the Abuja summit.

Following the successful workshop, Samuel Ogbuku, the NDDC Managing Director, met with Kashim Shettima, the Vice President, to review the state of agricultural development in the Niger Delta and plan the Niger Delta Agricultural Development and Investment Summit.

The summit is tied directly to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s agrarian programme under the Renewed Hope Agenda. The gathering of agricultural stakeholders would provide a high-level platform to address systemic challenges in agriculture, unlock investment pipelines, and co-create actionable strategies to shape Nigeria’s agricultural economy over the next decade.

The Niger Delta region of Nigeria is known for its rich biodiversity and agricultural potential. It, however, faces numerous challenges that hinder the growth and sustainability of its agricultural sector and associated value chains.

The Agric Summit aims to reframe these challenges as opportunities for sustainable food security in the Niger Delta Region.

It is well known that over 80 per cent of Niger Deltans were farmers and fishermen before oil exploration and exploitation changed the equation. Now, most of these hitherto self-reliant people have been rendered jobless by the hydrocarbon industry with attendant activities of oil companies. This is made worse by many years of ceaseless gas flaring, combined with incessant oil spillages, which rendered the land and rivers unproductive.

The challenges of pollution notwithstanding, providing sustainable means of livelihoods for the teeming army of unemployed persons in the Niger Delta calls for a return to serious farming. This time around, however, emphasis should be on modern farming techniques.

The region is blessed with fertile soils, abundant water resources, and a favourable climate, making it an ideal location for agriculture. However, despite its potential, the region’s agricultural sector remains underdeveloped.

The summit provides an opportunity for stakeholders to come together and address the challenges facing the sector, including limited access to financing, low youth participation, and gaps in the agricultural value chain.

The summit’s focus on agriculture and agro-processing is particularly significant, given the region’s potential to become a major food producer in Nigeria. By investing in agriculture, the region can reduce its dependence on oil exports and create a more sustainable economy.

The summit’s emphasis on youth empowerment and job creation is also commendable, as it recognises the importance of engaging young people in the agricultural sector.

Experts in the agric value chain have made inputs in how to make the summit a success. They advised that to achieve its goals, the summit must prioritise practical solutions and actionable strategies.

This includes providing access to financing, improving infrastructure, and promoting technology adoption. The summit should also provide a platform for stakeholders to share best practices, showcase success stories, and forge partnerships.

The Investment Summit is seen as a crucial step towards exposing the region’s agricultural potential. With the right approach, the summit can catalyse investments, create jobs, and contribute to the region’s economic growth.

Top managers in the Commission hinted that the NDDC has taken up the challenge to lead the way back to farming with modern implements.

In what could be described as a swift response to the federal Government’s programme to diversify the Nigerian economy from dependence on oil, the Commission had not too long ago distributed over 100 tractors to State Ministries of Agriculture in the nine Niger Delta states to boost food production.

Apparently, this is in recognition of the fact that, for Nigeria to tackle youth unemployment and be self-sufficient in food production, the country has to adopt mechanised farming and effective tractorisation.

The NDDC’s interventions are expected to enhance productivity, stimulate economic growth, and create employment opportunities across the region. The target is to build on the strengths of the Niger Delta states in various crops.

The logic is simple, build on Bayelsa’s aquaculture, Delta’s cassava, Rivers’ fisheries, Ondo’s cocoa, Edo’s oil palm, among others. Alone, they’re state projects; integrated, they’re a food system, a source at the Commission declared to newsmen while previewing the upcoming summit.

According to the NDDC boss, the Commission would align with the President’s vision to ensure that agriculture serves as a platform for peace and security in the Niger Delta region. “Farms replace bunkering. Cooperatives replace militancy”, he stated.

On her part, Winifred Madume, the NDDC Director of Agric and Fisheries, said the Commission was determined to make the ‘Renewed Hope Agenda’ of the Federal Government a reality in the Niger Delta region by ensuring food security for the people.

To further take its agricultural programmes to rural communities, the NDDC is partnering with the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) on a $60 million (about N21 billion) job-creation programme designed to help reduce youth unemployment in the Niger Delta.

The NDDC has also made an impact in promoting agricultural development through the implementation of entrepreneurial skill development programmes for youth and women, the disbursement of microcredit facilities to NDDC-trained farmers, and the procurement and distribution of tractors and fishing tools for farmers and fisherfolk in the region.

The NDDC technical officials believe that the prospects for the future look good. “The gathering in Abuja is expected to produce a comprehensive master plan for the region’s agriculture”, the source stated.

Nigerians have grown weary of conferences and summits, but the upcoming agric summit seems to elicit huge enthusiasm for credible outcome especially as NDDC officials have lined up low hanging fruits that must be plucked right after the summit.

It would thus be expedient to set action plans, time lines, and expected outcomes, with a dedicated desk to monitor the action parties and outcomes. Regular or quarterly press briefings may be advisable to achieve the buy-in of the farmers and people of the oil region. This way, the President’s objectives and expectations in the food security ecosystem would be achieved with tangible and verifiable results.