*Contracts KPMG to strengthen corporate governance systems 

*MD tells funding partners commission not a criminal organisation 

*Projects worth N2.5tn completed since inception 

Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja

The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) yesterday continued its efforts at wooing the private sector and international funding organisations for many of its ongoing uncompleted projects, valued at over N1.5 trillion.
The interventionist agency during a one-day policy dialogue with development partners and donor agencies themed: “Deepening Governance through Transparency and Value-added Partnership,” in Abuja yesterday, also disclosed that since inception about 20 years ago, projects valued at about N2.5 trillion had been completed.
Speaking during the event, the Managing Director of the organisation, Dr Samuel Ogbuku, maintained that the perception that the NDDC was a rogue agency was untrue, explaining that to strengthen its governance system, the NDDC was working with world renowned KPMG.
Ogbuku insisted that NDDC has not failed in its entirety as many Nigerians are wont to believe, stressing that many of the ills that bedevilled the agency in the past were being dismantled by the current management.
“NDDC has not failed. The NDDC has done very well. You don’t judge a child from the baby steps…many people have a blinded perception about NDDC.
“But from the presentation, you can have an idea of how much NDDC has received so far and what NDDC has done so far. I am not saying we are at 80 per cent or 70 per cent.
“But at least if someone has done 60 per cent, you cannot be classified to be a failure. We know there are so many hitches, political influences that have also slowed the growth of NDDC. But from what we have seen, you know that even in spite of all that, NDDC has tried. I wouldn’t be the one to start saying NDDC has failed,” he pointed out.
Acknowledging that the NDDC may have made mistakes in the past, Ogbuku noted that the continued disruption in previous managements of the commission also added to the challenges faced by the organisation.
“Previous administrators came with their visions of NDDC. Sometimes, these visions were truncated halfway. We believe if these people were there to complete their vision, probably we wouldn’t have been where we are today because you’d have been holding them responsible for their four-year tenure. But because sometimes they do not complete it, they have excuses,” he added.
The MD stressed that if in the past, development partners had fears of insecurity, it was time to return to the Niger Delta and partner the organisation since the region is now more secure.
“We have tried, we have gone ahead to reorganise our internal administration in NDDC and having reorganised our internal administration, we have said let us come out and put in certain policies in place that will strengthen our corporate governance. That is why we’re also engaging KPMG to come and put together our internal corporate governance system so that we can all operate at the same frequency,” he noted.
Assuring that the NDDC is henceforth open to proper international best practices of corporate governance, Ogbuku urged the partners to trust the organisation to deliver this time.
In his remarks, the Director and Chairman, Public Private Partnership (PPP) Committee, Dr Emmanuel Audu-Ohwavborua, stated that 80 per cent of the nation’s wealth currently resides in the Niger Delta, describing the region as a sea of opportunities.
He assured the development partners that there’s no way they can put their money in the Niger Delta and lose, explaining that the commission to meet its targets was diverting its attention to private funding rather than overdependence on government.
He added that the NDDC has so far built over 5,000 kilometres of roads, comprising 42 bridges, explaining that there’s currently 3,000 ongoing projects, costing over N1.5 trillion, which need the support of development partners.
He added that since inception, the commission has awarded contracts worth N5.2 trillion, but has only received about N2.5 trillion during the period, including overheads.
Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, Dr Shuaib Belgore, in his comments, said the plethora of abandoned projects in the region was not only negatively impacting the developmental efforts but also giving a worrisome concern to the ministry.
He noted that the meeting therefore presented another opportunity for  stakeholders and development partners to assist on the best mechanism to be evolved and adopted at ending the unkind narrative in order to continue to jointly develop the Niger Delta region.
“In the 2022 and 2023 fiscal years, the sum of N21,149,342,457.00 and N11,948,769,209 were approved respectively, for the ministry for capital projects and programmes in the Niger Delta region. The yearly budget of the ministry has continued to dwindle, thus making it difficult to meet the ever increasing financial needs of the region,” he noted.
Belgore stated that opportunities abound for partnership in the construction of roads, bridges, markets, agro-processing plants, skill acquisition centres, health centres, explaining that some of the projects had attained appreciable level of completion from between 30 per cent to 70 per cent, while new ones could be initiated for partnership.

Some of the partners invited to the event were: the World Bank, United Nations Development Programme, European Union, British High Commission, Embassy of the United States and Mac-Arthur Foundation.

Others were the BRACED Commission, Ford Foundation, Convention on Business Integrity, Representatives of the Oil Producers Trade Section , African Initiative for Governance, among others.