The Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, has emphasised the need for stronger collaboration and sustainable partnerships among stakeholders to accelerate human capital and infrastructural development across the Niger Delta region.
Speaking during a pre-conference briefing ahead of the 2026 Partnership for Sustainable Development Conference in Port Harcourt, NDDC Managing Director Dr Samuel Ogbuku said the conference would give the NDDC an opportunity to account to the people of the Niger Delta for its stewardship.
Ogbuku urged stakeholders to actively participate in the discussions, contribute constructive ideas, and critically appraise the Commission’s activities to achieve collective progress in the region.
The NDDC Managing Director described the conference as a platform for accountability, transparency and probity, noting that the Commission had made significant progress over the years.
According to him, the absence of a comprehensive governance framework had been one of the challenges that contributed to failures within the Commission in the past, and the new framework would provide clear guidelines for NDDC management and staff while also regulating stakeholder expectations and demands.
Ogbuku explained that the governance framework was designed to serve as an institutional safeguard for the Commission and protect its development mandate from practices that could undermine the interests of the Niger Delta region.
He said that once adopted, the framework would become a stakeholders’ document against which the Managing Director, Governing Board and management of the Commission could be held accountable.
On digital transformation, Ogbuku said the NDDC was on course to become fully automated, adding that the Commission’s directors were currently undergoing training as part of the digitisation process.
According to him, the digitisation process would help reduce corruption and human interference, eliminate unnecessary delays and make it easier to track and retrieve official documents and files.
Ogbuku solicited continued support and constructive engagement from stakeholders, stressing that the progress recorded by the NDDC was partly attributable to their support.
“With your support, the NDDC is respected today. We want to solicit more support. Where we make mistakes, call us; we shall listen to you. That is why we are here today, to submit ourselves to you and hear from you. Without such a stakeholders’ forum,” he said.
Ogbuku also attributed the current performance of the NDDC to the support of President Bola Tinubu, urging stakeholders to use the summit to identify and deliberate on social challenges confronting the Niger Delta and examine the roles that the NDDC and other stakeholders could play in addressing them.
In his remarks, the NDDC Director of Community and Rural Development, Engr. Theophilus Alagoa, said the summit would provide a platform for meaningful discussions on Niger Delta development.
Alagoa said the meeting would help develop a policy framework that promotes synergy among stakeholders and fosters adoption of a common development plan for the region.
He noted that the NDDC had moved beyond the mantra of “determined to make a difference” to actually “making a difference” in the Niger Delta.
Also speaking, the Chairman of the Pan Niger Delta Forum, PANDEF, Ambassador Godknows Igali, called on stakeholders to unite and work together towards achieving sustainable development in the region.
Igali urged traditional institutions, host communities, youth groups and other stakeholders to collaborate, stressing the need for government agencies, including the South-South Development Commission and the Niger Delta Basin Development Authority, as well as civil society organisations, to support the NDDC.
