NDDC has transitioned from transaction to transformation — Ogbuku

2026-03-07 - 07:57

The creeks and humid air of Port Harcourt have long been synonymous with the paradox of the Niger Delta, a region rich in oil wealth yet burdened by years of infrastructural neglect. At the centre of renewed conversations about change in the area sits the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), the federal interventionist agency established to drive development across the oil-producing states. On a warm afternoon at the commission’s headquarters, its Managing Director, Dr. Samuel Ogbuku, received a team of editors from Vanguard for a wide-ranging conversation on the state of the commission and the future of the Niger Delta. Calm but emphatic, Ogbuku spoke with the confidence of a man eager to convince his audience that the commission is charting a new course. For years, NDDC has faced criticism over abandoned projects, leadership instability and concerns about whether it was truly delivering on its mandate. But Ogbuku insists the narrative is changing. During the interaction, he highlighted ongoing reforms within the agency, efforts to restore public trust, and the push to complete legacy projects across the region. He also spoke about the importance of collaboration with state governments, development partners and other stakeholders in addressing the complex challenges in the Niger Delta. Since you assumed office there has been stability in terms of the leadership of the commission. How did you achieve that? For us in NDDC, we are here as ambassadors of the Renewed Hope of Mr President. Whatever you see we do today is based on the guidance of Mr. President and his directives. Mr. President, on assumption of office and when we were appointed, actually invited us and actually told us what to do and what he expected to see in the Niger Delta. Because of his love for the Niger Delta, he decided to have so much passion and decided to take interest in everything we do in the commission. You know it is said that the quality of a job is based on the quality of supervision. If the supervision is poor, the quality of the job will also be poor. Because it is the supervision that dictates what the subordinate does. Because every subordinate has their own limits and limitations. But if the supervisor has high standards, he will definitely ensure that you work and stretch yourself to meet those standards. So whatever we are doing today is part of the vision of Mr. President to ensure that the Niger Delta is one area that feels the impact of the Renewed Hope of his government. Having said that, in NDDC, we say we have transitioned from transaction to transformation because we believe the people of the Niger Delta should really have and feel the dividends of democracy and development. The people of the Niger Delta are in dire need of development, hence this commission was set up to mitigate the suffering of the people. Over the years, the people have actually had their own doubts on if this commission was really serving the purpose for which the commission was established. But right now, I can assure you that the people have been able to build that confidence in what we are doing.m What is the current attitude of the people towards NDDC? We have been able to slowly, steadily and progressively warm the hearts and the confidence of the people due to our activities from this end. Our activities and programmes, projects are not done out of assumption. We carry out our programmes and our activities based on needs assessment. We are trying to partner with the people at the grassroots level, stakeholders to ensure that whatever we are doing reflects our collective vision to ensure that the people get the impact of what they desire. So we are not here just administering projects and proposing projects that the people will just wake up one morning and see a project in their community. Everything we have done, just like I said, is based on needs assessment. We do a lot of consultations, stakeholders engagement at different levels. Even for us to carry out our budgeting processes, we start with the needs assessment process of the Partners for Sustainable Development. The Partners for Sustainable Development is a platform where we bring all stakeholders together, including state governments and representatives of the IOCs to ensure that at least their interests are also captured in our budget. We try to ensure that everything we are doing is holistic, where everybody participates. I think it is that participatory way of carrying out our programmes, projects and developments that has also brought about that confidence in the people and has also brought about peace in the region. So we are going to continue with that to ensure that we do more, because whatever that is successful, you just have to keep doing it. And the people have also shown us so much cooperation, so much love and so much patience too. We will not say we are 100 per cent at that level yet, but the people still have that confidence that we will get to that level. So we have enjoyed tremendous support from stakeholders from the region. We have enjoyed tremendous support from governors in the region, because we have also worked to see how we can partner with governors to carry out certain projects, because NDDC is not a government, it is just an interventionist agency. The state governments are the ones that have the geographical control of the states. On some priority programmes So we have to also partner with them where necessary to ensure that these projects that will serve the people, let them also join hands together with us to carry out these projects. Our programmes are not limited to infrastructural developments, just as you said, in the educational sector, we have done very well. You can see that I can boldly say our postgraduate scholarship programme seems to be the best in this country due to the kind of performance that our scholars are putting out there. Just last year in July, during the convocation of the scholars in Coventry University, about 34 of them actually came out with distinctions out of 75. So that is to tell you the level of quality process which we use in selecting the scholars. It is not politically influenced, it is based on merit, because we try to ensure that at least those who deserve it are the ones that should get it. I think they are actually proving themselves out there to ensure that they are good ambassadors of the region and good ambassadors of this country. In terms of infrastructural development, as part of the ones you mentioned, there are other bigger ones that we are also aiming at completing and commissioning very soon too. We have a very big project that we are running around, bracing to ensure that we complete, which is the Kaa–Ataba Bridge, which is about 1.2 km of road. How important is the bridge to socioeconomic activities in the region? The bridge, which will be one of the longest bridges in the country too, apart from the Third Mainland Bridge and maybe the Second Niger Bridge. I think it will also be among the longest bridges in the country. It is ambitious, but we hopefully wish to complete that project by the middle of this year. By next week, the board will be going on an oversight visit to inspect that project and other projects which the board has actually earmarked to visit as part of their oversight after our board meeting next week. We have other bigger projects that we are also pursuing, because we want to ensure that we meet all the requests and demands of Mr. President because Mr. President has actually demanded that we should ensure that all legacy abandoned projects are completed here by us. So we are working very hard to ensure that we make Mr. President proud, to ensure that we don’t disappoint him, to ensure that we don’t disappoint the people of the Niger Delta. And God has also blessed us with a minister who is also helping us technically and administratively too, because he himself is also an engineer. I think with all this, we have no complaints at all. We have a National Assembly that has given us the best of cooperation. Everything we do, they also share in that credit too. I think whatever that is coming out of NDDC is a collaborative effort from both the executive arm of the federal government, the legislative arm, and here that we are. If all these sectors refuse to collaborate with us, we will not have achieved all this. April 24 Vanguard’s Award to NDDC under him This award goes to everybody, all of us that have been part of this collaboration to ensure that we bring unprecedented development to the people of the Niger Delta. I think we’re all share in it. We’ve received several awards in the past from last year. These awards and accolades do not also make us rely on oars. We’re not actually slowing down. We believe it’s an application for us to do more. When people say we appreciate you, it’s an appreciation for you to do more. So for us, we consider it as a challenge for us to do more so that we don’t come down on our grades and our levels. It is left for us to just keep improving. So we know that for you to have come to say you’re giving us this award, it is to say please do more. So we are telling you that we are going to do more and probably win bigger awards than this at the international stage. I want to believe we have actually got so many awards at the national level and local level, which I can personally say that, yes, among all the parastatals and agencies of the federal government, we stand top. And I want to say officially that we have actually conquered Nigeria. Now we are looking at the international stage. Partnership For us to achieve that, it also depends on the kind of publicity that goes out there. I always say that governance is all about collaboration. For us in government to also succeed, that also depends on what you tell the public. There is no government that is perfect. We are bound to make mistakes as humans. But when we make mistakes, sometimes you can also call us and admonish us. You can also advise us. That is the partnership we seek because we are all working for society as much as it is also your responsibility to report to society what is happening. But there must also be issues of national unity. This news I’m sending out, is it going to unite Nigeria or is it going to break Nigeria? What impact is it going to create in society? You must also make those evaluations. In areas where you see where we are doing wrong, please call on us and tell us that this area, please, you have to change. This is the feelers we are getting from the grassroots. We also have to change. You are also an instrument of change by also guiding us. You also have to guide us and correct us when necessary, but not just to hit us hard. Because sometimes people in the media, because they say the pen is stronger than the sword, please mind how you use the pen. Because some people use the media to also blackmail political office holders and politicians. Because you have that pen does not mean you just have to destroy somebody’s personality and somebody’s character. So I want us to work together in that partnership to ensure that your publicities about the NDDC, the government, both at the federal and state level, is also something that can also help in nation building. Because we have to work collectively to ensure that we build this country, especially in the face where people are trying to fan the embers of religious crisis and banditry and terrorism. We all have to work together to conquer all these vices. But if we work at cross purposes, there is no way we can conquer all these vices. Because you have a pen that you think you can use to amplify the situation, know that when the house is burning, you are also in the house, you are not outside the house.