MANAGING Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Mr Nsima Ekere, has clarified that the commission came into existence as a result of the agitations for improved redistribution of national wealth to the people of the Niger Delta region.
He said the demand for national wealth distribution by the people was as a result of the fact that the Federal Government was earning the majority of its foreign exchange from the region.
Ekere made this known while speaking at the 5th Niger Delta dialogue, held in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, on Thursday, adding that the present state of the region was a reflection of the governance challenges faced by NDDC, the nine state governments and the Federal Government.
He noted that the region had been wracked by persistent militant attacks and general breakdown in law and order, with kidnapping rising to alarming level and causing capital and expertise flight from the region.
The NDDC MD however declared that, in the fulfilment of its mandate, the commission had, since its inception, awarded 8,557 projects of which 3,424 projects have been completed and handed over to communities and states.
He also disclosed that there were 2,257 ongoing projects, while 2,506 were yet to be started for various reasons, adding that the project portfolio was distributed across civil works such as buildings, canalisation and reclamation, jetties and shore protection, electrification, roads and bridges, water supply, buildings, flood control and erosion and equipping and furnishing of schools and health centres.
“Our programme portfolio covers training and capacity building for oil spill response, telecommunications, building technology, entrepreneurship development and waste-to-wealth, among others. For instance, a total of 72,000 pairs of plastic chairs and desks have been produced and are about to be distributed to schools across the region’, he said.
Ekere also said the NDDC the healthcare programme had been quite extensive with over 1.2 million documented patients treated, 3,500 communities visited and 6,000 referrals cases managed.
“Emergency relief materials were recently supplied to several communities such as Okerenkoko, Oporoza, Opobo amongst others, seven healthcare facilities equipped, and over 30,000 protective kits against Lassa Fever distributed.
“Our education programme deserves a special mention: A total of 1,411 students have received scholarships since 2010 of which 1,066 were supported in MSc and 345 in PhD programmes. Five (5) of the MSc students graduated with distinction from Coventry University, England and one (1) from Aberdeen University.
“A PhD student, Mr Ubong Peters, won the three (3) minutes thesis competition in Australia; Mr Augustine Osarogiagbon of Memorial University is so brilliant he completed his PhD in less than the stipulated time and has been offered a dual PhD programme with two graduate assistants to work with him and a post-doctoral fellowship lined up.
“Finally Mr Charles Igwe studying a PhD in Construction Engineering at Concordia University, Canada saved the Montreal Area Municipality over $1billion by redesigning the TURCOT interchange road construction project costing $3.67 billion.
“These positive results show the depth of talent within the Niger Delta and what can happen if we just encourage the younger ones to stay focused on their education. We also have to create an enabling environment for them to return to and be productive citizens,” he added.
He restated that the new board of the NDDC was committed to tackling the root causes of the numerous challenges besetting the commission and, by extension, the Niger Delta region by adopting what he called the 4R Strategy.