Former Minister of Petroleum Resources and Foreign Affairs, Henry Odein Ajumogobia, has called for a stronger and better-coordinated Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) to effectively drive sustainable development across the oil-rich region.
Ajumogobia made the call on Wednesday in Port Harcourt while delivering the keynote address at the NDDC Law and Development Summit, where he stressed that the commission must be repositioned to fully perform its original mandate as the central coordinating agency for development in the Niger Delta.
He noted that although the NDDC was established to harmonise development interventions in the region, it has yet to fully achieve that objective.
According to him, the commission currently operates within a fragmented system where responsibilities are shared among multiple federal and state institutions, private sector actors, and corporate social responsibility initiatives, leading to duplication of projects and uneven development outcomes.
Ajumogobia said, “Its limitations are not merely administrative; they are structural. The NDDC operates within a fragmented governance architecture characterised by overlapping mandates among multiple actors.”
He argued that strengthening the commission’s coordinating role would reduce duplication, improve accountability, and accelerate meaningful development in the Niger Delta.
Speaking at the summit, NDDC Governing Board Chairman, Chiedu Ebie, described law as a key driver of development, noting that it plays a central role in shaping governance, economic transformation, and institutional growth.
He said the summit’s theme, “The Role of Law in Driving Sustainable Development in the Niger Delta,” was timely, given the persistent gap between the region’s natural resource wealth and the living conditions of its people.
Ebie stated that the commission has adopted innovative approaches to address regional challenges, including strengthening governance systems and accelerating development programmes within legal frameworks.
“We have repositioned the Commission’s operations, strengthened internal governance, and accelerated our development programmes with a renewed sense of urgency and purpose,” he said.
In his remarks, NDDC Managing Director, Dr. Samuel Ogbuku, said sustainable development in the Niger Delta goes beyond infrastructure, stressing the need for economic inclusion, environmental protection, and social balance.
He noted that the current management has embarked on reforms aimed at transforming the commission from “transactions to transformation,” including procurement reforms, digitalisation of processes, and improved corporate governance structures.
Ogbuku also revealed that about 90 per cent of the commission’s operations have been digitised, enabling contractors and stakeholders to process transactions electronically with reduced physical contact.
He added that the Law and Development Summit was convened to deepen institutional reforms and strengthen legal frameworks guiding the commission’s operations.
Earlier, the NDDC Director of Legal Services, Sir Victor Arenyeka, explained that the summit brought together stakeholders across sectors to examine how law, policy, and governance can be used as tools for sustainable regional transformation.
