The Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, Dr. Samuel Ogbuku, has pledged to support the Commission’s Staff Cooperative Microfinance Bank, as part of its efforts to boost morale towards enhancing service delivery.

Speaking when members of the Board of the Microfinance Bank led by its Chairman, Dame Joy Adewuyi, paid a courtesy visit to him at the NDDC headquarters in Port Harcourt, Ogbuku stated that the Commission was interested in the success of the bank and would explore areas of cooperation with it.

He stated: “We are interested in the success of the micro-finance bank and we will explore areas of mutual benefit. The leadership of the bank has shown capacity and this gives us confidence that they will deliver on their set goals.

” We look forward to seeing the bank grow from a one-unit bank to a national Bank. We will assist where necessary to strengthen the bank and at some point, we may also invest in it. Our vision is not to depend on only one source of income.”

Ogbuku urged the bank’s management team to explore collaborations and partnerships from other parts of the country in order to grow the bank, noting: “Capitalising the Bank to N1 billion can be achieved through collaboration. You need to look beyond the Niger Delta region.”

Speaking earlier, the Bank’s Chairman, Dame Joy Adewuyi commended the NDDC Staff Cooperative for setting up the Microfinance Bank, which she said would support the Commission as an interventionist agency.

She stated: “The bank being aware of the core mandate of the NDDC, is determined to pursue the exploration of new areas of strategic partnership towards the actualization of the Commission’s mandate.”

Adewuyi noted that the Bank’s Board comprised of seasoned financial management experts and retired Directors of the NDDC, who were prepared to work towards complementing the efforts of the NDDC in job and wealth creation, human capital development, tackling pervasive poverty and reducing insecurity in the Niger Delta region.

She said further: “The Micro-Finance Bank is strategically positioned to partner with the Commission in the area of implementation of staff welfare allowances, payments and utilization.

“We are equally poised to support the growth of small, medium enterprises, SME’s in the Niger Delta region. The SME’s are a veritable driver of economic growth and development in any economy. “