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JOE EFFIONG, UYO
The current board of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) has promised to change the narrative of the commission to ensure that it meets the expectations of the people and justify the need for its establishment.
One of the ways of achieving this is throw sticking to the laid down protocol such as the submission its budget of its next year’s budget to the national assembly on or before September 30.
The commission made this promise through some of its officials at a two-day tagged: Partners fir Sustainable Development Forum, NDDC 2024 Budget Reconstruction Conference held at the Ibom Icon and Golf Resorts Uyo, Akwa Ibom state which had in attendance representatives of governments of the 9 Niger Delta states, international oil companies(IOCs), traditional rulers, youth groups, civil society organizations among others.
The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the NDDC, Dr. Samuel Ogbuku said the stakeholders forum was aimed at providing a veritable platform for achieving effective budgeting system in line with the ‘’Renewed Hope’’ project of the Federal Government.
“This conference is very vital. For one, it helps to revive the platform of the partners for sustainable development forum which was created as part of the regional master plan implementation guideline, to bring all service providers and project implementers to the same table to fashion a common pathway based on shared vision for the development of the Niger Delta region.
“For another, it affords all of us the incentive and opportunity to pool our resources together, initiate projects and programmes within the obligatory goal of building a better region and empowering our people.
“By so doing, we would, arising from the conference, galvanize our energies for a common purpose, eliminate duplications and institutional suspicions in the development process, reduce incidence of working at cross purposes as well as reduce wastage of scarce resources allocated for regional developmental initiatives by all stakeholders”, Ogbuku said.
In his keynote address, the permanent secretary of the Ministry of Niger Delta Development, Dr. Shuaib Belgore urged the NDDC to evolve budgets that will meet the development needs of the states and communities in the region.
Represented by the Director of planning and statistics, Alfred Abbah, Belgore commended the current management of the Commission for the stakeholders forum initiative.
“The way forward is to embrace robust and innovative pathways anchored on transparency and Stakeholder participation towards right-budgeting, thus maximizing the available resources to address the most critical needs of the people”, he said.
While explaining the reason to the forum, the executive director, finance and administration of the commission, Major General Charles Airhiavbere (retd) said the budget cycle of NDDC started in April 2023 with the inauguration of the management budget committee and eventual issuance of the NDDC 2024 budget guidelines by the managing director.
“The 2024 Budget of the Niger Delta Development Commission is christened the “BUDGET OF RECONSTRUCTION”. The Philosophy behind this is that it is the first time since 2018 that the full Budgeting Cycle of the Commission is strictly followed by the system and also full commitment of the Executive Management to do what is right.
“This represents a fresh start for the Commission and attempt to return it to its original mandate. The Strategy to achieve the “Budget of Reconstruction” is a multi-pronged approach.”Airhiavbere said.
