NDDC strategy gets UN endorsement

Strategies worked out for the development of the oil region by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) has been boosted by an endorsement by the United Nations (UN).
The UN has also undertaken to work with the Commission to facilitate the sustainable development of the Niger Delta region.
Permanent representative of the UN in Nigeria, the ambassador, Edward Kallon, made the pledge while endorsing the strategies for intervention in the region by the current governing board and management of the Commission in Port Harcourt.
Kallon, who led a delegation of UN officials to the NDDC headquarters, said he came with a proposal for supporting the UN sustainable development goals.
He stated: “We will bring global best practices. The concepts of living no one behind and inclusive growth are so important to the mandate of the NDDC. The Niger Delta region has the oil wealth to finance development, so we must tap into that quickly to change things for good. We want to link the efforts of the NDDC to international programmes for development.”
The UN envoy said: “If the people have a livelihood, potable water, good roads and power, they will be relieved. I want to see how we can enrich the intervention in the area to calm frayed nerves.”
He pledged to support the NDDC in the areas of staff capacity building in global best practices and institutional strengthening. “We will also support the NDDC in its efforts to review the Niger Delta Master Plan.”
He added: “We need to support national institutions to foster growth and development. The NDDC is the institution that ensures that the people of the region get what is due to them in terms of development and infrastructure.”
Welcoming Kallon and his team, the chairman of the NDDC board, Victor Ndoma- Egba, said “the Commission wants to create sustainable partnerships to speed up development across the Niger Delta region.
“Moving forward, we require sustainable partnerships that will bring sustainable development to the people of the Niger Delta region. We crave your support to act as an advocate for the Niger Delta region. We owe our young people in the Niger Delta region a responsibility to ensure that they remain a resource and not a curse to the region.”
He said NDDC was established as a regional interventionist agency to drive an integrated regional economy, saying, “It is work in progress and we appeal to the UN to lend us a helping hand.”
In his presentation, managing director of the NDDC, Nsima U. Ekere, noted that continuous engagement of development partners would help the Commission achieve the goals of the Niger Delta Regional Development Master Plan.
Ekere gave a report card of what the NDDC had done over the years and what the present board has achieved so far, especially in agriculture.
 

Ignatius Chukwu