From Tony Osauzo, Benin
Ahead of the re-constitution of a substantive board for the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), a management and business development expert, George Omo-Idehen, has called for the overhaul of the operational mechanism of the Commission, stressing that it is the only way out for the agency to achieve its core objectives.
Idehen in a statement in Benin titled “NDDC: Promises Made, Promised Unfulfilled” said a clarion call is necessary now to change the narrative positively for the benefit of the people in the region.
He lamented that since the creation of the Commission it has been plagued by a high level of corruption, mismanagement and unnecessary political squabble by those entrusted to run it.
He recalled that the Commission was projected to fill the inadequacies of former agencies like the Niger Delta Basin Development Authority (NDBDA) and the Oil Minerals Producing Areas Development Commission (OMPADEC), set up to meet the infrastructural development of the Niger Delta but which failed on the grounds of mismanagement, corruption, and political tussles.
Idehen lamented that the NDDC presently treads a similar path as it has garnered notoriety for “under-performance and delivery of poorly executed projects” which have no direct or meaningful impact on the lives of the Niger Deltans.
‘Successful organisations, government or private, achieve positive results only when members of the organisation incorporate new policies and innovations into existing operations,’ he said.
He urged the federal government to present a new policy architecture to subsequently drive the NDDC, adding that such policy framework like the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) recently passed by the National Assembly, is plausible since it gives host communities a set percentage from oil revenues for accelerated development, among others.
Commending members of the National Assembly for their hard work and courage in finally passing the PIB bill, Idehen cautioned them that the work was not quite complete yet.
He said the PIB has not done justice to oil communities and therefore called for a mandatory and careful reconciliation and harmonisation of both versions of the bill by the Senate and the House of Representatives, with all objections voiced by the Niger Deltans adequately addressed before a meticulously revised version can be forwarded to President Muhammadu Buhari for assent.
‘In the fore of their objections, is the demand for an upward review of the equity sharing and its reversal to the initially proposed figure of 10%, from the passed figure of 3% and 5% respectively, which is proper,’ Idehen said.