PIND, BudgIT Foundation sign pacts with NDDC for Niger Delta sustainable Development

As part of its strategy and vision to drive sustainable development in the Niger Delta region, the new management of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), has signed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Foundation for Partnership Initiatives in the Niger Delta (PIND) and BudgIT Foundation.

The MOUs signed on Wednesday in Port Harcourt the River state capital, were a follow up to similar ones signed on May 15, between the NDDC and Facility for Oil Sector Transparency and Reform in Nigeria (FOSTER), and the Market Development Project in the Niger Delta (MADE).

Speaking during the signing ceremony at the NDDC headquarters in Port Harcourt, the commission’s Managing Director, Mr. Nsim Ekere, stated that the NDDC governing board and management were determined to establish the right institutions, partnerships and strategies imperative to bringing true development to the Niger Delta region.

The NDDC Chief Executive Officer said that the partnerships would reaffirm the collective commitment to building a better Niger Delta region and the generations to come.

Mr. Ekere said that the partnership with PIND, a Chevron and USAID-funded non-governmental organization, would assist the NDDC in “building peace, resolving conflicts, building capacity and providing the enabling environment for sustainable living in the region.”

He declared: “The Governing Board and Management of the Commission has approved the collaboration which will make it sustainable for the continuous professional development of the Commission and the socio- economic regeneration of the Niger Delta region.”

He highlighted the key objectives of the collaboration with PIND, which included “Provision of technical assistance to the Commission in strategy development, monitoring and evaluation, partnerships and stakeholder management; Human and institutional capacity building/utilization, to improve productivity and service delivery in the Commission.”

The partnership, he said, would also help the NDDC in monitoring, evaluation and impact assessment of the Commission’s funded projects and programs; support for its efforts in research, analysis, information gathering, advocacy, peace-building and conflict resolution and facilitate advocacy for the review of the Niger Delta Regional Development Master Plan, to reflect extant vision and priorities of stakeholders.

Commenting on the MOU with BudgIT, the NDDC Managing Director noted that it would offer mobile, online and offline solutions to trigger discussions around budgets and take budgeting beyond being a news item to becoming a focal point of debate among Nigerians.

“This is what we are determined to achieve, an openness that attracts interrogation and communal and stakeholder support and input,” he said.

Mr. Ekere said that in a democracy, citizens had the right to know how their taxes were expended in the delivery of public infrastructure and services. He noted: “BudgIT, as this Governing Board does, believes that for effective policies, citizens need data to make informed decisions on what will impact them.”

Dr. Dara Akala, the Executive Director of PIND, stated that the value of partnership could not be overemphasised, adding that collaboration was at the core of his organisation’s DNA. He said that PIND, as a foundation established by Chevron to promote economic growth in the Niger Delta, relied on partnership as the key part of its strategy.

In his own remarks, the leader of the BudgIT Foundation, Mr. Oluseun Onigbinde, said that they were signing the MOU “to forge a partnership in transparency and accountability, efficiency and proper use of resources.”

The NDDC had earlier signed an MOU with the Ondo State Government for the construction of the 50-kilometre Akodo-Araromi/Ibeju-Lekki Road, connecting Ondo and Lagos states.

The Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, Mr. Nsima Nkere,(right) and Mr Oluseun Onigbinde, (left) Leader of BudgIT Foundation, during the signing of an MOU at the Commission’s headquarters in Port Harcourt. In the middle is NDDC Director Legal, Mr Moljengo Kaltungo.