Niger Delta Development Commission

Last updated
Niger Delta Development Commission
FormationJune 5, 2000
Headquarters Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria
Chairman
Chiedu Ebie
Managing Director
Chief Dr. Samuel Ogbuku
Website http://www.nddc.gov.ng/

The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) is a federal government agency established by Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo in the year 2000 with the sole mandate of developing the oil-rich Niger Delta region of Nigeria. In September 2008, President Umaru Yar'Adua announced the formation of a Niger Delta Ministry, with the Niger Delta Development Commission to become a parastatal under the ministry. [1] One of the core mandates of the commission is to train and educate the youths of the oil rich Niger Delta regions to curb hostilities and militancy, while developing key infrastructure to promote diversification and productivity. [2]

Contents

Background

The NDDC was created largely as a response to the demands of the population of the Niger Delta, a populous area inhabited by a diversity of minority ethnic groups. During the 1990s these ethnic groups, most notably the Ijaw and the Ogoni established organisations to confront the Nigerian government and multinational oil companies such as Shell. The minorities of the Niger Delta have continued to agitate and articulate demands for greater autonomy and control of the area's petroleum resources. They justify their grievances by reference to the extensive environmental degradation and pollution from oil activities that have occurred in the region since the late 1950s. However, the minority communities of oil producing areas have received little or no currency from the oil industry and environmental remediation measures are limited and negligible. The region is highly underdeveloped and is poor even by Nigeria's standards for quality of life.[ citation needed ]

Sometimes violent confrontation with the state and oil companies, as well as with other communities has constrained oil production as disaffected youth or organisations deliberately disrupt oil operations in attempts to effect change. These disruptions have been extremely costly to the Nigerian oil industry, and both the multinationals and the federal government have vested interests in permitting uninterrupted extraction operations; the NDDC is a result of these concerns and is an attempt to satisfy the demands of the delta's population.

Mandate and operations

The NDDC mandate: [3]

Abandoned or incomplete projects & programmes

By 2021, more than 13,000 projects and programmes by NDDC have either been abandoned or are uncompleted. [4] [5] These contracts are estimated to have cost N15 trillion or $40bn.[ citation needed ] 953 of the abandoned projects are sited in Rivers State. [6] President Mohammed Buhari had ordered a forensic audit NDDC from 2001 to 2019. This led to termination of contracts of which there had been no activities on the contract site. [7] [8]

Some of the abandoned projects are as follows:

Fiber Optics/Telecoms and Oil Spill

In 2015, the NDDC started a three months twin certification programme in December 2015, running into billions of naira that was abandoned two months into the training - The Fiber Optics/Telecoms (Owerri) and Oil Spill Management (Port Harcourt) Training for youths of the Niger Delta region. The two programmes were abandoned by the NDDC and its contractors Mr. Alex Duke (CEO of GreenData Limited). GreenData abandoned the 200 trainees in various hotels in Owerri. This is 2019, and the programmes are still not completed. The Presidency, the NDDC nor its contractor Mr. Alex Duke have said when the training will resume. This and other issues have led the current board of the commission to cancel some contracts. This is not the first time contracts worth billions of naira have been abandoned and monies going into private pockets, which has brought the NDDC into the watchful eyes of the Presidency. One of the core mandates of the commission is to train and educate the youths of the oil rich Niger Delta regions to curb hostilities and also to reduce poverty.[ citation needed ]

Deferred by pandemic

In the year 2020 the NDDC Executive Management mandated G2TEL Consortium (George Oruma) a freelance Environmentalist/Engineering personnel to assist the organization in the area of developing and procurement of Garbage/Waste Trucks for the use and sanitizing the states of Niger Delta Development Commission. Due to pandemic disaster and situations affecting operations all over the world, the projects has been adjourned till 2021. The sum of $65M has been budgeted for the entire project including maintenance.[ citation needed ]

Executive Chairman

The position of Executive Chairman of the NDDC has been a subject of much debate. A compromise was reached where the position would be rotated within the nine oil producing states in alphabetical order: Abia, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Edo, Imo, Ondo and Rivers.

NamePostTerm of Service
Chiedu EbieChairman of the Governing Board2023–Present
Sen. Victor Ndoma-Egba Chairman of the Governing Board2016
Engr. Dr. Emmanuel Audu-OhwavboruaActing Managing Director/CEO2022
Mr Mene DerekExecutive Director (Finance and Admin)2016
Engr. Adjogbe SamuelExecutive Director, Project2016
Chief Dr. Samuel OgbukuManaging Director2023-Present
Laureta OnochieChairman of the Governing Board2023

Sole administrators

However, On December 12, 2020, President Buhari named as sole administrator, Effiong Akwa, a lawyer and accountant, former Special Assistant, Finance at the NDDC, and former Acting Executive Director, Finance. [9]

On the 20th of October 2022, The President appointed a new Acting Managing Director, Engr Emmanuel Audu-Ohwavborua, for the Niger Delta Development Commission.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Akwa Ibom State</span> State in Nigeria

Akwa Ibom State is a state in the South-South geopolitical zone of Nigeria, bordered on the east by Cross River State, on the west by Rivers State and Abia State, and on the south by the Atlantic Ocean. The state takes its name from the Qua Iboe River which bisects the state before flowing into the Bight of Bonny. Akwa Ibom was split from Cross River State in 1987 with her capital Uyo and with 31 local government areas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ijaw people</span> Nigerian ethnic group

The Ijaw people, otherwise known as the Ijo people, are an ethnic group found in the Niger Delta in Nigeria, with significant population clusters in Bayelsa, Delta, and Rivers. They also occupy Edo, Ondo, and small parts of Akwa Ibom. Many are found as migrant fishermen in camps as far west as Sierra Leone and as far east as Gabon. They account for about 1.8% of the Nigerian population according to CIA Factbook. The Ijaws are one of the most populous tribes inhabiting the Niger Delta region and the eighth largest ethnic group in Nigeria.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Niger Delta</span> The delta of the river Niger

The Niger Delta is the delta of the Niger River sitting directly on the Gulf of Guinea on the Atlantic Ocean in Nigeria. It is located within nine coastal southern Nigerian states, which include: all six states from the South South geopolitical zone, one state (Ondo) from South West geopolitical zone and two states from South East geopolitical zone.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bayelsa State</span> State of Nigeria

Bayelsa is a state in the South South region of Nigeria, located in the core of the Niger Delta. Bayelsa State was created in 1996 and was carved out from Rivers State, making it one of the newest states in the federation. The capital, Yenagoa, is susceptible to high risk of annual flooding. It shares a boundary with Rivers State to the east and Delta State to the north across the Niger River for 17 km and the Forçados River for 198 km, with the waters of the Atlantic Ocean dominating its southern borders. It has a total area of 10,773 square kilometres (4,159 sq mi). The state comprises eight local government areas: Ekeremor, Kolokuma/Opokuma, Yenagoa, Nembe, Ogbia, Sagbama, Brass and Southern Ijaw. The state is the smallest in Nigeria by population as of the 2006 census. Being in the Niger Delta, Bayelsa State has a riverine and estuarine setting, with bodies of water within the state preventing the development of significant road infrastructure.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta</span> Militant group in Nigeria

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) is a decentralised militant group in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. MEND's actions – including sabotage, theft, property destruction, guerrilla warfare, and kidnapping – are part of the broader conflict in the Niger Delta and reduced Nigeria's oil production by 33% between 2006-07.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Conflict in the Niger Delta</span> Ongoing military conflict

The current conflict in the Niger Delta first arose in the early 1990s over tensions between foreign oil corporations and a number of the Niger Delta's minority ethnic groups who feel they are being exploited, particularly the Ogoni and the Ijaw. Ethnic and political unrest continued throughout the 1990s despite the return to democracy and the election of the Obasanjo government in 1999. Struggle for oil wealth and environmental harm over its impacts has fueled violence between ethnic groups, causing the militarization of nearly the entire region by ethnic militia groups, Nigerian military and police forces, notably the Nigerian Mobile Police. The violence has contributed to Nigeria's ongoing energy supply crisis by discouraging foreign investment in new power generation plants in the region.

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The following lists events that happened during 2000 in Nigeria.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Etche</span> Local Government Area in Rivers State, Nigeria

Echie administratively known as Etche is an indigenous Igbo group mostly found in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. Presently, its people makeup Etche and Omuma, two of the 23 Local Government Areas of Rivers State the can also been found in Ngor Okpala L.G.A and Omuma town both in Imo state. They are part of the 13 federal constituencies representing River State in Nigeria's National Assembly and part of the Rivers East Senatorial District. Its people are mostly farmers, and they speak the Etche dialect of the Igbo language family.

Magnus Odion Ugbesia is a Nigerian politician who was elected to the Nigerian Senate in 2007 representing the Edo Central Senatorial District of Edo State on the platform of People's Democratic Party (PDP).

The Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs is one of the Federal Ministries of Nigeria. It focuses on the infrastructural development, environmental protection and empowerment of youths in the oil rich Niger Delta region.

Ufot Ekaette was appointed the first Nigerian Minister of Niger Delta on 17 December 2008 by President Umaru Yar'Adua. He left office in March 2010 when acting president Goodluck Jonathan dissolved his cabinet.

Ekpo Una Owo Nta is a Nigerian lawyer and Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC).

The 2016 Niger Delta conflict is an ongoing conflict around the Niger Delta region of Nigeria in a bid for the secession of the region, which was a part of the breakaway state of Biafra. It follows on-and-off conflict in the Christian-dominated southern Niger Delta in the preceding years, as well as an insurgency in the Muslim-dominated northeast.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Usani Uguru Usani</span> Nigerian politician

Usani Uguru Usani is a Nigerian pastor, lecturer and politician who served as Minister of Niger Delta Affairs in the Nigerian government.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">South South</span> Place in Nigeria

The South South is one of the six geopolitical zones of Nigeria. It designates both a geographic and political region of the country's eastern coast. It comprises six states – Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Edo, and Rivers.

Timi Alaibe is a Nigerian technocrat, businessman and politician from Bayelsa State. He is former Managing Director, Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC)

Bassey Dan-Abia is a Nigerian politician. Before entering politics, he practiced as a lawyer in Kano, Cross River and Lagos States of Nigeria.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Niger Delta swamp forests</span>

The Niger Delta swamp forests is a tropical moist forest ecoregion in southern Nigeria. It consists of freshwater swamp forests in the Niger Delta of the Niger River. This swamp forest is the second largest in Africa after the Congolian swamp forests. Although there are large cities just outside the ecoregion, the area has been relatively isolated by the difficulty of building roads across the swamps, although this is changing with development of oil and logging industries. Scientific surveys have only begun in recent years, and new species were being identified into the 1990s. Crude oil exploration and pollution has been a threat to forests in the Niger Delta region.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry Nwawuba</span> Nigerian politician

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References

  1. Juliana Taiwo (11 September 2008). "Yar'Adua Creates Ministry of Niger Delta". This Day. Retrieved 2009-12-26.
  2. "NDDC Trains 22,612 Youths, Women on Vocational Skills - THISDAYLIVE". www.thisdaylive.com. Retrieved 2024-01-22.
  3. "ABOUT US". www.nddc.gov.ng. Archived from the original on 2020-02-03.
  4. Nnodim, Okechukwu (2023-08-10). "Over N612bn N'Delta projects cancelled, abandoned – NDDC report". Punch Newspapers. Retrieved 2024-01-22.
  5. Nigeria, Guardian (2022-08-17). "1,700 abandoned NDDC projects in Bayelsa unacceptable, says Diri". The Guardian Nigeria News - Nigeria and World News. Retrieved 2024-01-22.
  6. "NDDC Says over 900 Projects Abandoned in Rivers State - THISDAYLIVE". www.thisdaylive.com. Retrieved 2024-01-22.
  7. "NDDC: On the awaited forensic audit report…". Daily Trust. 2020-06-28. Retrieved 2024-01-22.
  8. AriseNews (2021-09-03). "Nigeria: Forensic Audit Uncovers Colossal Mismanagement of $14.5bn NDDC Funds". Arise News. Retrieved 2024-01-22.
  9. Effiong Akwa and the NDDC
  1. NDDC, Information Technology Department. "NDDC Restores Flood Ravaged East West Road". nddc.gov.ng. Retrieved 2022-11-10.