NDDC: Niger Delta Youths Coalition pass vote of confidence on Ogbuku

Emmanuel Nlewedum, Port Harcourt

Youths from the nine states in the Niger Delta region have passed a vote of confidence on the Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, Dr. Samuel Ogbuku.

The youths coalition, under the aegis of Niger Delta Opinion Leaders, Youths and Weighted Stakeholders at a press conference in Port Harcourt on Monday, said they are pleased with the ideologies and vision of the current NDDC management led by Dr. Ogbuku.

The youths, at the conference attended by stakeholders and leaders of different ethnic groups from Rivers, Bayelsa, Ondo, Edo, Abia, Delta, Cross River, Akwa Ibom and Imo states thanked President Bola Tinubu for the appointment Dr. Ogbuku whom they said have changed the narrative in the commission in just few years in office.

Sir Jonathan Lokpobiri Senior, the President of the Ijaw Youth Congress (IYC) Worldwide, who read the press statement on behalf of the youths, said the NDDC under Dr. Ogbuku as MD has embarked on several people’s oriented and human/community developmental projects.

The IYC president, who was represented by his deputy, Comrade Freedom Atigbi urged the NDDC Boss, Dr Ogbuku not to be distracted that the Niger Delta Youths and opinion leaders are impressed with what he is doing and that they are solidly behind him.

“As independent minds, observers and partakers of the development process of our region, we witnessed that not quite two months after Dr. Samuel Ogbuku assumed office as the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the NDDC, he called for an interactive session with opinion/youth leaders of the region where he sought for the patience of everyone with the then Board and Management, while also reeling out some viable and sustainable programmes and projects of the Commission his leadership intends to implement for the development of the youths, weighted stakeholders and growth of the region after the budget might have been passed by the National Assembly.

“Again, now, a few months after, he has convoked another roundtable conference through the office of his Special Adviser on Youth Matters to give his people an update on the position of the budget and to inform them that implementation of programmes, policies and projects aimed at rebuilding the Niger Delta economy towards self-sufficiency would commence soon.

“Within the period under review, the Board has done a lot to include; Completion of Ogbia-Nembe Road with bridges, Operation Light up the Niger Delta which has drastically reduced crime and enhance commercial activities, postgraduate overseas scholarship programs, the Project HOPE program aimed at generating a database to aid for the planning and execution of training and provision for skilled works, the incorporation of the Niger Delta Chamber of Commerce aimed at growing businesses and entrepreneurs in the region and the completion of multiple strategic roads and bridges in our communities, among others.”

Speaking further he said, “this is leadership at its best where dialogue and accountability is on display. This convinces us that what we are experiencing in the Dr. Samuel Ogbuku led Management is beyond any describable form of leadership. We see it as a movement. It is a movement for the rebirth of a functional NDDC that transits from transaction to transformation. It is an idea which has come to give a new dimension to leadership in the NDDC and our region, and for making such appointment, we thank President Bola Tinubu for his visionary insight.

“The NDDC as a developmental agency which stands as a buffer between the oil producing region of the Niger Delta and the Federal Government is often faced with how to judiciously allocate the patrimony of the oil wealth. To overcome this challenge, we need someone in the person of Dr. Samuel Ogbuku at the helm of affairs who knows how to tip the scales to achieve a balance.”

He said, “With all the reasoning put forth, we conclude that, Dr. Samuel Ogbuku is the balancer and unifying power of our region. And because poverty and misery are not God given curses that man must passively accept but they are largely man made and can be remedied by man, it is only ideal that leadership should be the prerogative of the man who knows how to feel the pulses of his people, and Dr. Samuel Ogbuku fits perfectly for the NDDC, in this instance. He has our support and vote of confidence.”