There seems to be a new ray of hope in the operations of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), which can engender development in the Niger Delta region. In this report, BASSEY ANTHONY writes that for the interventionist agency to accomplish the task of providing infrastructural development and other welfare packages that meet the peculiar needs of the region, it has to adopt a people-centered approach.
Over the years, communities in the Niger Delta states have been agitating for the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) to live up to its responsibilities in terms of meeting their peculiar needs. The problem arose from a wide disconnect and a lack of engagement between the NDDC and the oil-producing states/communities and various key stakeholders of the region.
So, for the interventionist agency to accomplish the task of providing infrastructural development and other welfare packages that meet the peculiar needs and yearnings of the region, it has to adopt a people-centred approach. The reasoning is that critical stakeholders should be involved from the outset in the conceptualisation, planning and even the budgeting process that will help deliver good projects and programmes for the Niger Delta communities.
Inspired by the desire to entrench collaboration, cooperation, partnership and synergy in the development of the region by all key stakeholders and states in the region, the NDDC convoked two-day Partners for Sustainable Development (PSD) Budget Conference on the proposed NDDC 2024 Budget christened “Budget of Reconstruction.” The forum, which was held at the Ibom Icon and Golf Resort recently, had as its theme, “Partners for Sustainable Development Forum-NDDC 2024 Budget Conference.”
He emphasised the need for partnerships as the way forward for rapid sustainable development of the region; highlighting recent partnership engagements towards project development with the Rivers State Government, the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) and Chevron. He also made reference to the need for effective collaboration and synergy between the commission and stakeholders of the region in fashioning out a strategic and active development blueprint in line with the Partnership for Sustainable Development (PSD) initiative.
He said: “The collaboration and synergy must be implemented by the Partners for Sustainable Development (PSD) Forum, which had also been created as part of the Master Plan’s guidelines. In response to that presidential directive and in discharging that responsibility; key stakeholders in the region met several times under the PSD Forum and worked out the best strategy for actualising the provisions and prescriptions of the Master Plan across the board.
“For the first time in the history of the Niger Delta, governors of the nine-member states, through their state officials, worked with other stakeholders to build a synergy with the NDDC towards streamlining their 2008 budgets for optimum delivery of development initiatives. As ground-breaking as it was, however, that very important collaboration did not last long, definitely not as long as the master plan itself, which expired in 2020.”
On the reason for the PSD Forum in Uyo, the agency’s MD/CEO further said: “We are here, 16 years after that presidential directive, to renew our commitment as a region and as a people to work together for our common good and shared prosperity. Today, under a new leader, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu whose famed work in rebuilding Lagos State as governor emboldens us all to believe, once again, that there is hope for Nigeria and the Niger Delta region. In particular, we are laying a fresh foundation for the kind of partnership needed to facilitate regional sustainable development.”
Dr. Ogbuku said the Uyo conference was vital as it will help in reviving the platform for the PSD Forum created as part of the regional master plan implementation guideline to bring all service providers and project implementers to the same table to fashion a common pathway based on the shared vision for the development of the region.
The former Executive Director of Finance and Administration (EDFA) of the NDDC, Major-General Charles Airhiavbere (rtd), stressed why the forum was held, emphasising that the 2024 Budget of the Commission was geared towards stakeholders’ participation and restructuring of the Commission’s entire budgeting process. He said the aim was to achieve a realistic and implementable budget, as well as the achievement of strategic goals and objectives through the instrumentality of Public-Private-Partnerships (PPP).
“We are here today to give an account of the process the Niger Delta Development Commission has undertaken in the preparation of the NDDC 2024 Proposed Budget. The Budget Cycle of NDDC began in April 2023 with the inauguration of the Management Budget Committee and the eventual issuance of the NDDC 2024 Budget Guidelines by the Managing Director/CEO. The 2024 Budget of the Niger Delta Development Commission is christened the ‘Budget of Reconstruction.’ The philosophy behind this is that it is the first time since 2018 that the full budgeting cycle of the commission is strictly followed by the system and also full commitment of the Executive Management to do what is right.
“This represents a fresh start for the Commission and an attempt to return it to its original mandate. The strategy to achieve the “Budget of Reconstruction” is a multi-pronged approach, which is: stakeholders participatory budgeting which is the involvement of all the stakeholders (internal and external) of NDDC in the budgeting process of the Commission. The stakeholders will be firmly determined by a thorough stakeholder mapping process. The entire budgeting process of the Commission is being restructured in order to achieve a realistic and implementable budget. The approved budget cycle will be adhered to as much as possible so that the NDDC 2024 Budget will get to the National Assembly via the Presidency by September 30 2023.
“We have set out our strategic goals and objectives for 2024 which are centred on the drive to implementation of Legacy Projects and Programmes through the instrumentality of Private-Public-Partnership (PPP) as well as setting outside 20 per cent of each state’s revenue for payment of legacy debts and 10 per cent for counterpart funding.”
Continuing, he said: “The NDDC budget is a product of participatory Budgeting process, which was done by the State Project Committees in conjunction with their respective stakeholders. The stakeholders will also be crucial in the quarterly Performance Implementation process of the Commission. We are here as critical stakeholders to review, harmonise and adopt the budget for onward transmission. It is our expectation that, by the end of this exercise, duplications of projects will be completely eradicated while having regional project ownership.
“This exercise we are holding today is in fulfilment of the present Executive Management’s promise to the Niger Delta people that NDDC’s budget will be participatory and transparent.”
The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Niger Delta Development, Dr Shuaib Belgore, commended the Executives and Management of the NDDC for convening the forum to seek stakeholders’ participation in the 2024 budget process of the region. Represented by the Director of Planning and Statistics, Alfred Abbah, Belgore commended the current management of the Commission for the stakeholders’ forum initiative. He said: “The way forward is to embrace robust and innovative pathways anchored on transparency and stakeholders’ participation towards right budgeting, thus maximising the available resources to address the most critical needs of the people.
“Undoubtedly, NDDC budgets, over the years, have been faced with challenges, which included belated submission and delayed approvals, among others. These challenges have led to low/poor implementation which this conference intends to address. I commend the current management of the Commission for this initiative which has not happened in a long while, and it is the first since the ministry started supervising the Commission.”
Stakeholders, in their goodwill messages at the forum, hailed the collaborative initiative of the NDDC. They promised to work concertedly to help the Commission to fulfil its mandate to holistically develop the region. For instance, the Acting National Chairman of the Association of Traditional Rulers of Oil Mineral-Producing Communities (TROMPCON), Oba Obatemi Ogbaro, called for more involvement of traditional rulers in the activities of the NDDC. “The NDDC should consult royal fathers in the region in the siting, supervision and protection of projects in the region,” he said.
In a communique issued at the end of the two-day conference, it was resolved that the NDDC should strike a balance between meeting the political demands and serving the people of the region by executing people-centred projects. It was agreed that the Commission should operate a lean budget that will enable her to commence and complete projects within a certain and realistic budget cycle.
Other recommendations were that “the budget of the Commission should have a spread to cover the several ethnic nationalities and communities in the region. For the 2025 Budget, less of new projects should be captured in order to ensure the quick completion of all ongoing projects under the 2024 budget.
“The timeline for payment of contractors should not exceed 45 days, allowing for 15 days buffer after which penalties will accrue for non-payment of contractors. That a town hall meeting and engagement of the several ethnic nationalities of the region be convoked prior to budget sessions. This is to ensure that the budget receives inputs from the people directly. That completed projects should be removed from the budget to allow for more new projects to be introduced into the budget.”
The communique also stated that “due to flood predictions and impact on the region, there is a need for provisions for flood-control measures in the 2024 Budget under the regional provision, as well as provision of Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps in the local government areas of the region for flood impact reduction.
“To ensure equity among all the councils regarding the 2024 budget, the Commission should identify deserving ongoing projects with significant completion status and where the funds committed to such projects is insufficient; funds may be drawn from the legacy debt to augment.”
