By Obiabin Onukwugha
The Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, explore areas of possible partnerships with the UN and its affiliate agencies in the area of technical support and provision of expert services in the development of the Niger Delta region.
NDDC Managing Director, Dr Samuel Ogbuku, who led a delegation of the Executive Management of the Commission to the regional office of the UN in Abuja, expressed NDDC’s willingness to work with UN for the development of the Niger Delta.
Ogbuku explained that the NDDC needed to partner with the UN because of its international reach as a world body with several affiliations.
The NDDC boss sought collaboration to provide portable and affordable drinking water powered by a high-tech Solar generator as an energy source.
Ogbuku, who noted that the region has suffered environmental degradation due to oil exploration activities, called for support from the UN to reforest the mangrove swamp in the area, in order to protect the environment.
While re-emphasising the advantages of renewable energy, the NDDC boss highlighted the successes recorded in providing solar street lights across the region’s communities and appealed for support to bring solar-powered energy sources into individuals’ homes.
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He said: “Apart from the Solar street lights, we can also explore the possibility of providing Solar Mini grid as energy source in the various homes in the Niger Delta communities as this would also encourage commerce and trade in the localities.”
In the areas of health, education, youth training, gender development, and food security, Ogbuku called for greater UN involvement to enhance the social status and economic well-being of the region’s people through effective collaboration.
Responding, the United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator, UNRHC, in Nigeria, Mohamed Malick Fall, expressed the UN’s willingness to collaborate and partner with the NDDC to accelerate development in the region.
He said: “We want to look at the Niger Delta in the context of accelerated development not to isolate the pollution of the environment.”
The envoy also stated that the UN would accelerate development through its six transition partnership policies, including access to food security, job creation, education, and renewable energy.
Having listed the components with which the World body planned to engage with the NDDC, he said this could only serve as an entry point as their vision revolves around the SDGS, which can impact different aspects of the people’s lives in the region.
He noted that the Niger Delta region deserved the attention of the UN, having contributed to the economic development of the country, and assured of more fruitful engagements with the Commission.
