Managing Director of the NDDC, Dr Samuel Ogbuku has listed some of the benefits that will accrue to the region after next week’s stakeholders summit slated to hold in Port Harcourt, with the president, Bola Ahmed Tinubu expected as part of the top dignitaries.
Apart from Tinubu, Dr Goodluck Jonathan is expected as chairman of the summit, while Senator Godswill Akpabio, the senate president, is the chief host. Ogbuku said at a world press conference in Port Harcourt on Friday that the summit will provide the opportunity for the stakeholders to brainstorm on how best to develop the region.
He also said part of the decisions expected to be taken by the attendees will centre around the NDDC masterplan which has long expired, especially how a legislative framework can be developed to address the development needs of the long neglected Niger Delta.
Saying that the NDDC under his leadership had got the mind and will to work in the interest of the people, Ogbuku noted that various programmes and projects were already being enunciated towards achieving set goals.
He expressed appreciation to the National Assembly for the quick passage of its budget and noted that once the clean copy gets to his team, all or most of the remaining abandoned projects in various parts of the region would be addressed.
He recalled that a few weeks ago, the commission embarked on the commissioning of mega projects which were started by previous administrators of the commission, but which his team decided to take over and complete for the benefit of the people.
Ogbuku said the theme of the summit was carefully chosen so that participants can place the president’s renewed hope mantra side by side with the renewed hope agenda of the people of the region and take a position on the nexus between the two.
Decisions taken at the end of the summit, he noted, would form part of the communique that will be released, while a legal framework that may lead to some legislations would also be produced for the National Assembly’s attention and necessary legislative actions.
