Set up in 2000 to tackle widespread poverty and devastating youth restiveness within the Niger Delta area, the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) came on stream as a tailored solution to the multifaceted conundrums within the oil-rich region at the time. Wanton destruction of national assets, kidnapping of expatriates, rival gang wars, bursting of oil pipelines, disillusionment, rising poverty, mistrust and general state of insecurity were among the milieu common to the region before the advent of the commission. More than two decades later, the commission, despite teething challenges, has continued to sustain the people’s hopes for a brighter future. On an incremental basis, there have been marked physical developments within the Niger Delta States that attest to adherence to the vision and mission of the commission. Not to mention the sheer quality of human capital development taking place regularly under the watch of the Commission especially of late. Since his appointment as Managing Director of the NDDC, many agree that Dr. Samuel Ogbuku comes with the requisite experience needed to creditably discharge his duties as NDDC boss. Little wonder why he has been able to crystalise President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s renewed Hope agenda in his operations at the NDDC where he provides economic life-lines that cascade down to a vast majority of the masses, especially among the nine Niger Delta states where the commission has a first line mandate. One of the unique ways in which Dr. Ogbuku has been transforming lives more than any other has been through the massive mobilisation of people especially the youth to form the core of his broad based human capital development program within and outside the shores of the nation. Pundits agree that since its inception in office, Dr. Samuel Ogbuku has successfully transitioned the commission from being a mere transactional agency to one that truly connects the region and its people to their true aspirations of living a sustainable and dignified life. This implies that through purposeful stewardship , the commission now places high premium on set objectives that directly impact on the wellbeing and prosperity of the people and the region over and above any group or individual interests . This perhaps explains why some aggrieved underdogs who once benefitted massively from the old transactional order find the new era in the NDDC highly disquieting and bad for business as usual, hence the stuttering rented crowd paid to destabilize the Dr. Samuel Ogbuku led NDDC and its board, albeit a failed hatchet job. Fortunately, Tinubu , a highly visionary and intuitional leader has long assessed and found the qualities needed in Dr. Samuel Ogbuku and appointed him as his ombudsman worthy to undertake the task of delivering prosperity ,equity, and peace throughout the length and breadth of the oil rich NDDC states. This is why despite distractions from fifth columnists, the commission has remained steadfast in actualising goals that are in keeping with the renewed Hope agenda of drawing many families and communities out of the clutches of poverty for life. This is no mean task but the commission is already fully equipped to achieve this feat, not only to prove cynics wrong but also to demonstrate goodwill to all people in the region.
NDDC Stability: Implications for Peace in the Region
