Regular visitors to the corporate headquarters of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) in Port Harcourt, Rivers State are seeing changes about the commission. Many things have changed within and outside the premises; it certainly looks different. There is a new air around the vicinity and members of staff. But the real changes are not necessarily physical; it is how the new NDDC now functions.
The era when contracts are literarily hawked around the commission’s headquarters on Aba Road, when touts, hangers-on and praise singers take up strategic positions around the NDDC premises awaiting the ‘big men’ to pass through and throw wads of naira at them like some American rappers are gone.
This new NDDC rekindles hope in the people of the region, despite the dirty politics by some stakeholders, who include governors. The awakening of the sleeping giant from its ennui towards the achievement of its core mandate, that is development of the oil-rich region, was foretold in February, when the board held a retreat for management and members of staff of the commission.
The retreat offered the Mr. Nsima-Ekere-led commission along with the board, chaired by Ndoma Egba, the avenue to unfurl its agenda, hinged on the 4Rs of restructuring its balance sheet, reforming governance protocol, restoring the core mandate of the commission and re-affirming a commitment to doing what is right and proper.
Topics discussed at the retreat revolved mostly round the issue of “corruption in the system”, how to initiate and execute projects that are beneficial to the people and not to serve interests; how to ensure transparency and redemption of the commission’s image in the eyes of the public.
Erstwhile Director-General, Bureau for Pubic Service Reform, Dr. Joe Abah, said at the retreat that the NDDC of the past was the worst-managed government organisation he ever saw. It was a damning assessment from the respected reformer, who saw lots of dirty government agencies and helped in their cleansing.
The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Ekere agreed. He lamented the image of corruption the mention of NDDC in the region and beyond conjured, and vowed that his team would work assiduously to correct the image and restore confidence in the commission.
To this end, the management met with dozens of development partners, which culminated in the signing of Memorandum of Understanding with BudgIT and the UK’s DFID-funded Oxford Policy Management Limited, among others.
The OPML implements the Facility for Oil Sector Transparency and Reform in Nigeria, while BudgIT is a Nigerian civic technology organisation that works towards raising the standard of transparency in institutions such as the NDDC, as well as engagement of citizens towards ensuring accountability in public finance. The MoUs, signed in May, raised the bar for the commission’s budgeting process as well as open it to public scrutiny and participation as never before.
Under the terms of the MoU, BudgIT worked with NDDC to develop ‘Open Budget Systems’ platform and the implementation of an effective Public Data Dissemination programme. It basically assisted the NDDC to develop an online portal for the NDDC Open Budget System, effectively communicate the transparency initiatives of the NDDC, engage policymakers, private sector actors and the public about initiatives of NDDC.
The key objectives and advantages of the collaboration, according to the two sides, include: improvement to NDDC reporting process, strengthening accountability, improvements to prioritisation of projects and budgeting, improving transparency and disciplined spending.
It will also provide support for project monitoring and evaluation, engender stakeholder engagement and generally promote value for money. These are areas that are crucial to the core mandate of the commission, which is to facilitate rapid and sustainable development of the Niger Delta region.
BudgIT has a reputation for transparency initiatives and it extensively works to spur members of the public to demand answers on budget and fund utilisation. BudgIT urges the public to ask questions about the nation’s resources and how their taxes are being utilised in provision of infrastructure and public services.
The MoU aims at encouraging the NDDC to take steps to institutionalise proactive disclosure of public data and information, and partner with it to develop and execute relevant engagement programme in the communities of the region.
Ekere described the MoU as a milestone for the management’s and board’s broad plan of action to strengthen NDDC for the achievements of its core mandate.
“We at NDDC will continue to remain true to our commitment to continuously engage with key stakeholders and partners towards the overarching goal of the development of the people and the region of the Niger Delta,” he said.
Besides, he noted that the partnership was in line with the Federal Government’s membership of the Open Government Partnership and its commitments towards ensuring that government and its institutions make a strong commitment to promote transparency and accountability; fight corruption and use new technologies to strengthen governance and empower citizens.
“The expected outcomes of this initiative are to ensure that not only is real change happening within the NDDC and in the Niger Delta region but that this change is benefitting citizens,” the MD said.
This initiative with BudgIT not only serves as a unique platform for public governance transparency reforms and illustrates the NDDC’s management’s determination and readiness for openness in its operations, but it has also provided a framework of much-needed change that helps the NDDC and its stakeholders decide what is most relevant in their regional contexts thereby leading to the successive tackling of a diversity of issues and a multiplicity of approaches taken.
Ekere further said: “Beyond the deliverables outlined in the MoU, we at the NDDC hope that this collaboration with BudgIT, will result, among many other things, in assisting management focus efforts and resources on social outcomes that really matter to the people of the Niger Delta.
“We hope to build a strong and broad-based transformative system that serves to provide citizens with more information about how NDDC functions and thereby enable them to be more informed and engaged and better able to hold NDDC to account. By this initiative, we hope to send a strong and clear message to the people of the Niger Delta, Nigerians at large and the international community that we at the NDDC are committed to doing the right thing regarding good governance.”
The commission also teamed with the Oxford Policy Management Limited as part of its efforts towards provision of services to strengthen management system and delivery of developmental projects in the region. Oxford is funded by the Direct Foreign Investment Department (DFID) of the United Kingdom and implements the Facility for Oil Sector Transparency and Reform in Nigeria.
The purpose of the MoU, according to documents obtained by Niger Delta Report, aimed “towards providing support services to strengthen the management system and delivery of developmental projects in the Niger Delta region.”
The implementing team, among others, worked on institutionalising NDDC budgetary processes, emphasising on depersonalisation of projects, as it was in the past where individuals, for selfish gains, chose projects that have little or no benefits for the ‘benefiting’ communities.
On his expectations for the partnerships, Mr Ekere said: “I look forward to working to deliver on the goals set out in the MoU and in the larger context, to make the Niger Delta the glorious, productive and constantly developing place we expect it to be.”
From what is happening so far at the commission, the NDDC, since its foundation 18 years ago, has never been in a better stead than now to achieve the purpose for which it was set up in 1999.
