By Emmanuel Uffot
For Niger Delta region indigenes, NDDC staff and stakeholders that were clamouring consistently forthe constitution of the board of Niger Delta Development Commission ( NDDC), they can now heave a sigh of relieve following the Inauguration of the new board of the Commission on Wednesday January 4, 2023.
The Inauguration of the board which took place at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja came few days after the appointment of Ms Lauretta Onochie as the Chairman and a month after the Senate screened and cleared the board members on December 1, 2022 after President Muhammadu Buhari submitted their names to the upper Chambers for clearance.
Inaugurating the new 14 man NDDC board, on behalf of the president the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs Mr Umana Okon Umana urged to go to work immediately and ensure the implementation of the recommendation of the Report of the Forensic Audit of the Commission carried out in 2019.
He charged them to look into the allegations of irregular employment from 2019 and follow up on the ongoing personnel audit in NDDC to ensure that all cases of employment during the period under review were in accordance with extant rules and regulations of the service.
Umana also enjoined the new board and management to adhere strictly to the Procurement Act as well as financial regulation to ensure prudent management of resources. ” Every contract above the threshold of management is to be referred to the Ministerial Tender Board of the Federal Executive Council. Any breach of contract approval limits will attract severe sanction”.
The Minister therefore advised the board and management to prioritise the completion of ongoing projects and shun the temptation to award spurious and indiscriminate contracts in order to help in repairing the bad image and negative public perception of the NDDC over the years.
The Secretary to the Government of the Federation ( SGF), Boss Mustapha represented by Mrs Habiba Lawal, a former Permanent Secretary attributed to successful Inauguration of the NDDC board to the cooperation of the senate, charged them to bring their expertise to bear towards transforming the lives of the people of the region and urged to be transparent and follow due process in all their activities so as to restore the hope of the Niger Delta people in the Commission.
Responding on behalf of the newly inaugurated board, the Chairman Ms Lauretta Onichie solicited for support from Nigerians, especially people from the Niger Delta region to enable them deliver on their mandate.
Taking a cue from marching order given by the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs
Mr Umana that the board should hut the ground running, she disclosed that the board has already put in place a template for the speedy development of the region. ” We cannot continue to work with failed templates and get a different result, we are going to do things differently so that the people of Niger Delta can benefit from the Federation Government investment in the region over the years through NDDC “.
Ms Onochie said part of the goal of the board is to change the narratives from the current situation whereby youths sought positions of Special Assistants ( SAs) and Personal Assistants ( PAs) instead of seeking to be employers of labour.
The 13 man NDDC board has 
Ms Lauretta Onichie from Delta State as Chairman and Samuel Ogbuku from Bayelsa as Managing Director.
Other members of the board are, General Charles Airhiavbere Rtd ( Edo) Director of Finance, Charles Ogunmola ( Ondo) Director of projects, Orok Duke ( Cross River), Dr Emem Wills ( Akwa Ibom), Dimkpa Erugba ( Abia), Elekwachi Dimkpa ( Rivers), Professor Tallen Mohammed Mamma (Adamawa) representing North East, Mohammed Abubakar ( Nassarawa, North Central) and Sodique Sani ( North West).
The Inauguration of the NDDC board came on the heels of the appointment of Ms Onochie as Chairman of NDDC a fortnight ago on December 20, 2022 and Senate clearance on December 1, 2022.
Onochie, the new Chairman of NDDC Onochie, who was Special Assistant to the Predident on new media, made headlines last year when Predident Buhari appointed her as INEC Commissioner to represent Delta State. The appointment generated outcry and controversy among many concern Nigerians especially the opposition PDP. The party argued that as a card carrying member of the ruling All Progressives Party ( APC) it was wrong to appoint her to such a sensitive position as INEC Commissioner as her partisanship is not in doubt. The stiff opposition led to the senate turning down her appointment.
The Inauguration of the board after 3 years has brought release to many given the wanton corruption that permeated NDDC management over the years especially during the tenure of Interim Management which led to the forensic audit whose report is said to have been submitted to the President and recommendations made.
The Niger Delta Development Commission was established in 2001 under the NDDC Act of 2000 by former president Olusegun Obasanjo.
It was established with a 10- point mandate which included formulation of policies and guidelines for the development of the Niger Delta region and conception, planning and implementation of projects and programmes for sustainable development of the Niger Delta area including roads, jetties, waterways, health, education, employment, industrialisation, agriculture, fisheries, housing, urban development, water supply, electricity and and telecommunication among others.
It is note worthy that over the years successive management of NDDC have deviated from the mandate and rather turned the commission to a drain pipe with the resources used to settle political cronies and frivolous expenditures at the detriment of the people of the region the Commission was set up to develop.
So for stakeholders of the region, they will be waiting with keen interest to see what the new board will bring to the region.
