NDDC reforms: Why resources should be invested in high impact projects

By Alfred Nwosu

There are a myriad of Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) projects littered around the 9 states of the Niger Delta region. These projects range from road constructions, electrification, pipe borne water, to renovations and building of classroom blocks, among others.

In the last seven years of the President Muhammadu Buhari led administration, it is on record that the NDDC has completed about 2,506 projects across the 9 states of the region. These number of projects is significant for a single administration, although it is a drop in the ocean compared to the over 8,000 projects reportedly executed by the commission since its inception, most of which are left abandoned or uncompleted.

Interventions in infrastructure by NDDC are in line with the core mandate of the commission, which is to offer a lasting solution to the socio-economic difficulties of the Niger Delta Region and to facilitate the rapid and sustainable development of the Niger Delta into a region that is economically prosperous, socially stable, ecologically regenerative and politically peaceful, however to ensure these projects are delivered and put to use, there is need to consider priority in the award of contracts by the commission.

Accordingly, part of reforms of the interventionist commission, according to the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Mr Umana Okon Umana, is to ensure that projects that will have more impact on the people are given more attention going forward.

Umana said the ministry would prioritise project execution and payments that deliver up the most impact for the country. He listed the new focus in project execution to cover “security, health, education, water and road infrastructure.”

The approach adopted by the ministry is understood since major issues plaguing the Niger Delta region have been insecurity, health challenges arising from air pollution which is a byproduct of oil exploration in the area, lack of clean water, lack of roads, among many other challenges.
With few weeks to handover, the ministry should redouble its effort at enacting policies that ensures necessary checks are in place channel the commission’s resources towards these pressing areas of needs as opposed to spreading them to other projects that may not have direct impact on the people of the region.

It is only by strict adherence to the new policy thrust that the commission can be made to achieve more for less and sustain legacies of the ongoing reforms.