NDDC launches N30bn counterpart fund to rescue businesses

…Flags off Niger Delta Chamber of Commerce

The much-awaited N30billion fund to support businesses in the nine Niger Delta states was launched last Thursday in Port Harcourt, Rivers State capital.

Authorities at the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), who initiated the scheme, lamented the extinction of Nano and small businesses in the region in the face of ravaging economic hurricane.

The unveiling of the fund was done at the launch of the Niger Delta Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Trade, Mines, and Agriculture (NDCCITMA), an organisation that would operate side by side with the South-South Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (SSCCIMA) under the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines, and Agriculture (NACCIMA).

Flagging off the Chambers, Samuel Ogbuku, managing director of the NDDC, talked about the early difficulties of getting the scheme off the ground, saying that the scheme was in line with the original declaration his team had made when they took over the Commission, especially, on how to move the nine states of the region forward, economically.

He said that his team was pained by the way other regions looked down on the Niger Delta, adding that it was because of absence of platforms to showcase what people of the region are doing.

In the absence of anything else, he regretted that outsiders viewed the region as a zone of militancy, especially as Amnesty programme focused on youths of the Niger Delta. He also said that the impression held by the outside world was despite the abundance of talents and skills with many successful entrepreneurs in IT, etc.

Ogbuku said: “This was why we created this initiative, the Niger Delta Chamber of Commerce to bring all entrepreneurs in the region under one umbrella to showcase what we can do in the Niger Delta.”

The NDDC CEO hinted that a mega trade fair may happen next, saying: “Imagine a Niger Delta Trade Fair that will show what we can do in the area of entrepreneurship and skills. We must commend the South-South Chamber of Commerce. We chose to structure this the way we did.”

He regretted that efforts made by the International Oil Companies (IOCs) and the NDDC to promote many businesses over the years seemed to be lost because nobody seems to find such companies because they hardly would showcase the help. “So, we want to create a different platform to push businesses.”

He seemed to come down hard, saying: “Henceforth, no loan or grant (support) will go to any business directly from the NDDC except through the NDCCITMA. We urge the IOCs to follow this model too. We want to put an end to portfolio business. Now, only the NDCCITMA can verify a business and prequalify a business for any support. This way, transparency will be promoted.”

He said the N30bn was contained in the 2024 budget which has just been approved. He however warned that the N30Bn would not be handled by the NDDC but by the NDCCITMA and the Band of Industry (BoI) to support entrepreneurs in the nine Niger Delta states. “Our is to generate the fund and pay our counterpart fund but it’s the BoI that will handle it. We all know they cannot give free money.

“Nobody will help you to access the money except you qualify by BoI standards. The NDCCITMA will verify businesses and monitor use of the loans. This is what transparency and accountability mean.”

He said the objective is to transform the Niger Delta entrepreneurs. Thus, he said, this is a very serious scheme.

“We urge the youths to chase these benefits at the NDCCITMA, not at the gate of the NDDC. We will not micro-manage the Chamber, rather, it is the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA) that will manage the Niger Delta Chamber

“We urge the NDCCITMA to create its own activities and grow its own identity, though if they deviate, we invoke the memorandum of understanding (MoU) we signed

“The chairman is a renowned economist and a successful businessman. We trust him to drive this scheme very well to great success. Our target is to make the Niger Delta independent, not to always depend on handouts or paid employment. Not everybody will work in NDDC. The second charge to them is to create a way to grow university graduates into entrepreneurship. The government cannot employ everybody. Try and make a difference. Bring about prosperity in the Niger Delta.

“Your team was carefully chosen to change the economic face of the Niger Delta and to do battle with poverty.

“You are expected to create a data of entrepreneurs in the Niger Delta. It will help other agencies that want to help.”

In his welcome remarks, the NDDC Executive Director (Projects), Victor Etim Antai, said two striking programmes in the NDDC Project Hope and the NDCCITMA, saying sensitisation begins in the nine states.

He went on: “SMEs in the Niger Delta are suffering, and nano businesses are almost wiped off. This is scheme is therefore to develop strategies to help small businesses

“Businesses can get counsel from the Chamber. Successful business people were selected to manage this.”

The Secretary of the scheme, Solomon Edebiri, speaking on the ‘Making of the Niger Delta Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Trade, Mines and Agriculture,’ said it’s a product of the NDDC in the time of Ogbuku, and that it would help the NDDC help businesses in the nine states.

The chairman of the NDCCITMA, Idaere Ogan, said there has been search for credible place to get guidelines and counsel for businesses to cause an invigoration of businesses in the region. “This has created a system to support businesses especially by collaboration with national agencies that have things to do with the economy.”

In his intervention, Emi Membere-Otaji, national vice president of NACCIMA, a medical doctor and entrepreneur who represented Dele Oye, NACCIMA president, said the national body fully supports the initiative. “We as NACCIMA issued the letter of no objection required to get this body registered and recognized. It was my first task as national vice president who comes from the zone. The issue of how both bodies would operate between the South-South NACCIMA and the NDCCITMA was also sorted out.”

On what Oye said, the NVP said NACCIMA coordinates all chambers of commerce in Nigeria and bilateral chamber bodies. “The NDCCITMA is not a department of the NDDC but an independent body. This is a visionary product.

“Why Dubai Chamber is great is because the city made it a law that for you to operate any business there, you must register with the Chamber. It is headed by a prince and thus has respect and influence. We urge the NDDC to consider that model.”

In his remarks, the Rivers State representative on the board of the NDDC, Tony Okocha, said the scheme held deeper meaning and implication for the economy, and this would unfold as time would go on. He said the man who initiated it was a man of vision who can be trusted with visions and ideas. “The bottom line is that this project is to promote businesses in Nigeria and the Niger Delta,” he said.

Presentations and lecture took over after the opening session to create operational ways for the managers and businesses in the nine states of the oil region.