…Stakeholders tip IPP as best model to develop Niger Delta region
Samuel Ogbuku, managing director and chief executive officer (MD/CEO) of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), has said that the Commission adopted Tripple T (Transition, Transaction and Transformation) option to ensure accurate data-keeping and transparency.
Ogbuku said that the Commission adopted Project Hope Programme which has ensured that a database was built for the youth of the Niger Delta.
He spoke during the opening ceremony of the Technical Committee Meeting of the 6th edition of the National Council of Niger Delta (NCND) held at the Government House, Asaba, Delta State, with the theme, ‘Stimulating Strategic Economic Development of the Niger Delta Region.’
Ogbuku, who identified lack of database by the previous administrations in the Commission, said that the era of empowering youths through personal recognition rather than on merit has gone and that with the introduction of database, every registered youth in the region could be reached.
“Currently, we have about 471,000 youths that have registered. Yet, we are pushing for more to be registered,” he said.
He also said that the database for the youth would enable the Commission intervene on any training programme that may be necessary to equip the youth in specific training areas.
He disclosed that the commission has come up with Niger Delta Chambers of Commerce to strengthen entrepreneurship in the region.
Ogbuku, who listed the numerous projects by the NDDC, said that the Commission would soon be inaugurating an electricity power project in Ondo State to light up about five local government areas in the state.
He however, said that the Commission alone as an interventionist agency cannot do all the projects in the region and called for partnership with the state government and other corporate local and international organisations to further develop in the region.
Ogbuku lamented that instability in the constitution of leadership of the Commission had partly contributed to the setbacks suffered by the Commission but however, noted that despite the numerous challenges facing the Commission, a lot of successes were achieved which the previous administration couldn’t tell the story.
“Because NDDC had failed to tell its story, people started saying what was not correct about the Commission.
“The Commission also failed to generate data of its projects and programmes to prove what it has done over the years,” he said.
He assured that the era of not having data evidence of projects and programmes were gone, adding that the current administration has adopted needed strategies to showcase its activities transparently even as there are ongoing projects through PPP.
“The Commission when constituted had taken care of the needs of the people in the region based on their need assessment then.
“This is because crude oil exploration eroded the economic lifestyle of the people, their agitations then were just the basics- community roads, schools, jetties, water projects which were the need assessment when NDDC was constituted.
“Then NDDC met the people according to their needs. However, the Commission has graduated above that today. I can assure you that most of our communities today are sufficiently okay with some of the projects the Commission has done. What we are doing now is to connect most of the communities to the cities,” he said.
The Director, Public Private Partnership Research Development, Johnson Oseodion in a paper presentation, said it was not possible for government to provide all the needs of the people in terms of infrastructural development and suggested the need for Public Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement in execution of projects.
“To bridge the infrastructural investment gap in Nigeria requires $3 trillion over the next thirty years to build and maintain infrastructure. So, it will require the adoption of the PPP model in energy, transport, agriculture, ICT, water, mining, amongst others.
“PPP model is adopted globally and Nigeria and Niger Delta can do same to bring about desired development for the people.
“That NDDC is called an interventionist agency, no doubt, but I’m telling you to identify 25 projects which you could run, that both government and private sector could partner. The duty of the government is to provide enabling environment,” he said.
In his presentation, Kingsley Emu, Secretary to Delta State Government, x-rayed the economic opportunities and challenges as well as potential abounding in the Niger Delta region in tourism, agriculture, crude oil deposits, gas reserves, ICT and other physical infrastructure developments like the coastal super-highway that is expected to begin in Lagos through the coastal states of the Niger Delta to terminate at Calabar.
