Why Niger Delta region needs the likes of present NDDC leadership

Vainglorious activities do not allow Nigerians know when a man in executive position is actually doing well. There are praise-singers for hire that even start dishing awards from day one of a man’s tenure.

This is said to have robbed the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) the opportunity to differentiate the good from the bad leaderships that have passed through its doors.

Now, a group of youths, leaders of various ethnic groups in the region, and those regarded as weighted stakeholders, have decided to make what they called independent assessment of what is happening in the NDDC at the moment.

Addressing the press in Port Harcourt on Monday, April 22, 2024, the spokesman, Freedom Atigba, who is deputy president, Ijaw Youth Council (worldwide), gave what looked like a vote of confidence on both the managing director of the Commission, Samuel Ogbuku, and the man who saw him fit and appointed him, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

Atigba said: “We speak as independent minds and observers of the activities of our region, also as active partakers of the development process. Therefore, we will be as objective as we can; not minding whose ox is gored.

In this part of the world, when someone is in position of power, he is often regarded and praised as the best leader, but when he leaves such office, the worst form of aspersions is cast at the once tagged ‘best leader of our time’. That is why to a large extent, leaders fail; and this informs the hindsight of our narratives from both positions we prolonged earlier.”

Mentioning key things that attracted the stakeholders of the oil region, the spokesman said Ogbuku called for an interactive session with opinion/youth leaders of the region where he sought for the patience of everyone with the then Board and Management, while also reeling out some viable and sustainable programmes and projects of the Commission his leadership intended to implement for the development of the youths, weighted stakeholders, and for the growth of the region after the budget might have been passed by the National Assembly.

“Again, now, a few months after, he has convoked another roundtable conference through the office of his Special Adviser on Youth Matters to give his people an update on the position of the budget and to inform them that implementation of programmes, policies, and projects aimed at rebuilding the Niger Delta economy towards self-sufficiency would commence soon.”

On what has been achieved now, he mentioned; “Completion of Ogbia-Nembe Road with bridges; Operation of Light Up The Niger Delta which has drastically reduced crime and enhanced commercial activities; Postgraduate overseas scholarship programmes; The project HOPE programme aimed at generation a database to aid the planning and execution of training and provision for skilled works; The incorporation of the Niger Delta Chamber of Commerce aimed at growing businesses and entrepreneurs in the region; and the completion of multiple strategic roads and bridges in our communities.

“Ladies and gentlemen, this is leadership at its best where dialogue and accountability is on display. This convinces us that what we are experiencing in the Dr Samuel Ogbuku-led Management is beyond any describable from of leadership. We see it as a movement. It is a movement of rebirth of functional NDDC that transits from transaction to transformation. It is an idea which has come to give a new dimension to leadership in the NDDC and our region, and for making such appointment; we thank President Bola Tinubu for his visionary insight.”