Is Ogbuku, The Face Of Hope For NDDC?

By Desmond Ekwueme

Proverbs 29 vs 2 says, “When the righteous are in authority the people rejoice.”

The above aptly describes the feelings, thoughts and actions of the good people of Niger Delta since the appointment of Dr. Samuel Ogbuku on January 4 as the Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC)

The children on the streets, the women in the creeks, high profile political leaders and traditional rulers in the region are singing a new song of hope given the light they have seen in the body language, interactions, policies, utterances and activities of Dr. Ogbuku since his appointment.

In one of his numerous project commissioning exercises, the immediate past Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike said, “The appointment of Dr. Samuel Ogbuku is a testament of the seriousness of the Federal Government to transform the Niger Delta region through the activities of the NDDC.

“But I hope politics won’t box Ogbuku into a corner like we have observed in the internal wrangling within and outside the Commission which sidelined his predecessors.”The FG should simply ensure that the politicians appointed into the board should allow the technocrats to work for the Commission and people of Niger Delta.”

Corroborating Wike is the former governor of Cross Rivers State, Donald Duke in a recent chat with the media men said, “The NDDC is a laudable idea from government to give the people of Niger Delta hope of inclusion in the Nigeria project.

“However we have often witnessed power tussles which reduces the activities of it’s managers to politicking instead of productive management performance. I don’t know much about the new Managing Director but I trust from the feelings of the people that he has the capacity to do a better job. He needs to be assisted and supported to succeed.”

Indeed, the word support is fundamental to the activities of the new management of NDDC headed by Ogbuku. This support should come from the good people of Niger Delta but most importantly, the Federal Government which appointed him.

The silence of government in the internal wrangling of major Commissions like the NDDC has been the bane of progress and development of the Commission, regions where they are established and governance at large.

Critics have often accused government of turning a blind eye to the crises rocking most of these Commissions. They say the body language of government has always been, “since it is their commission, let them sort their problems out.”

This should be prevented by the Bola Tinubu administration since it has been discovered that the past Managing Directors of NDDC suffered from this attitude of “let them sort themselves out” by government.

It has been established that Dr. Ogbuku possesses the ideas, knowledge, wisdom, educational qualification, character and temperament to do a damn good job at the NDDC, but like Donald Duke pointed out, he needs support to excel.

By support Duke certainly is referring to the bureaucratic bottlenecks, muscles flexing and politics played between the board and it’s leadership on one hand and the resistance by the management on the other hand particularly when the later is oppressed and suppressed.

Ogbuku no doubt has all the qualities to drive the process of lifting the people of Niger Delta out from decades of infrastructural deprivation through his plans, policies and programs in the NDDC but he needs to be fully supported by all parties concerned to be able to deliver better life to people of the region.

Like Ogbuku puts it, “The task of serving the people of Nigeria through the NDDC particularly the region is a collective responsibility. There is no donut that it achievable if all hands are on deck. The success of the Commission is the success of all. We must always remember that injury of one is injury to all and.

“On our part as a management, we are totally committed to sacrificing our time, energy and professional ability to serving Nigeria, the NDDC and region. We hope our performance will.leave a lasting legacy that will be a benchmark for those coming behind us.”

•Ekwueme is a journalist and public affairs commentator. He writes from Abuja