The Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, has reaffirmed its commitment
to ensure the sustenance of projects executed by the Commission, in the
Niger Delta region for the benefit of the people through a community-based
management template.
This was stated by the Acting Managing Director of the commission, Prof.
Nelson Brambaifa, during a meeting of the Commission’s Focal Task Team
(FTT) with delegates of the European Union Niger Delta Support Programme
(EU-NDSP), at the NDDC headquarters in Port Harcourt.
The NDDC Chief Executive Officer, who was represented by the Director,
Community and Rural Development, CRD, Dr Solomon Ita, commended the
EU-backed initiative, stating that the Commission would adopt the
community-based management approach to ensure the maintenance of other
projects in the region.
He said: “I want to commend this team that has been handling the capacity
building of our communities and promoting synergy towards the
implementation of Niger Delta pilot project scheme.”
Dr Ita remarked that recently, the Focal Task team had a meeting, which
produced an estimated cost of rehabilitating 45 selected water projects
across the nine mandate states of the NDDC.
According to him, the NDDC and the European Union would continue to build
community-based management that would properly take care of the projects
even when the parties had moved to face other areas of intervention.
He added: “We are hoping that this template will be used by the commission
and other agencies in implementing and managing some of the abandoned
projects we have in the region.”
In her remarks, the Leader of the European Union delegation, Cecil Collins,
said that the purpose of the meeting was to review and evaluate the results
and the impact of the various interventions, as well as understand the
extent they had met the demands of the people, noting that such appraisals
would enable the EU do things differently in the future to contribute to
the prosperity of the nation and the Niger Delta region.
She said that it was very important to have a feedback on the extent to
which the EU’s intervention had complimented efforts made by the Commission
in providing portable drinking water in the region.
*Charles Obi Odili*
Director, Corporate Affairs.