By Moses Patience Chat
The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) has said that it will not continue to depend on the Federal Government and International Oil Companies to generate funds for development projects in the region.
The Managing Director of NDDC, Dr. Samuel Ogbuku, confirmed this during an Executive Management and staff meeting at the Commission’s headquarters in Port Harcourt on Thursday ,where he also revealed the Commission’s commitment to pursue Public Private Partnership (PPP) initiatives to enhance development in the Niger Delta region.
His words:, “We intend to leverage on our PPP initiative during the summit which will take place in April. It will help us to showcase what we can offer and show the world the future of NDDC. We cannot continue to rely on International Oil Companies and the Federal Government to raise funds for development projects. We intend to show the world that NDDC has been rebranded.
“We will take the campaign to all relevant organizations. Last week, we were at the meeting of the Oil Producers Trade Section (OPTS) of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Lagos. Henceforth, NDDC will be attending the OPTS quarterly meetings.”
The NDDC Boss further stated that the Commission will focus on capacity building for youths in the region.
“We are going to focus on youth development programmes, we have come up with a new concept of working with the Niger Delta Chamber of Commerce in the training of our youths and young entrepreneurs.
“We will show the world that we have young entrepreneurs. The various Chambers of Commerce will help us to make the programme sustainable. We will focus on empowering young people because government cannot employ everybody,” he said.